Harvest: Take 2!

After a long rainy break in the harvest action, I'm pleased to say that we have started cutting again as of yesterday at about 4:00 p.m.  Hooray! Right now we are cutting spring wheat on the fields that Jeff and I are farming. Tom and our friend Brett are driving combines and Jeff and Stennie are driving truck back and forth from the field to the yard. Carol and I are on home-support/meal crew. I would like to say that we are getting back into routine quickly, but this year's harvest has been anything but routine.  It is definitely good to be cutting again, though.

The yard is filled with trucks and machinery during harvest!
How many trucks can you spot?
How many pickups?
(Did you know those were two different things?!)

Last night we had dinner in our house, provided by Carol and Jeff's Aunt Dorothy (Tom's eldest sister). Dorothy has been visiting and staying at Tom and Carol's since last Friday. It was so great to have the meal all thought up and prepared by them so that when I got home from school, I didn't have to worry about it. I even had time to sneak in a short run with Harvey, since we didn't eat until late.

Harvey is always ready to run! 

Dorothy and Carol are both great cooks, and had planned a delicious meal for the evening. Dorothy has a specialty sandwich called Muffaletta that Carol had requested the recipe for upon hearing that Dorothy was going to be visiting. Dorothy did her one-better and brought most of the ingredients to make the sandwich, too! They also had made a peachy rum upside down cake, which was fantastic as well.

Me and Dorothy with the muffaletta.
The photo should have been Carol and Dorthy, since they were the ones who actually made it! 

Close up of the sandwich. The ladies baked the bread from scratch, too. 

Delicious sandwich, corn from the garden, pickled beans (also from the garden), and a delicious Montana brew! 

Peachy pecan rum upside down cake. Yum! 

Tonight, we'll be taking dinner out to the field and then, hopefully dodging a rain shower that is supposed to be in the area later this evening. If we miss the rain, I think the plan is to cut wheat late into the night, or at least as long as it doesn't get too dewy. I haven't taken a meal out since the very first night of harvest, so that will be fun. It will be nice not to eat at 9pm.

Yes, that's our dog...in our bed...
He likes to have his head under the sheets. Goofy creature!

Because it was so rainy over the weekend, some farmers are experiencing wheat sprouting in the head. We've heard whispers of that occurring in our area, but haven't been seeing it in our own wheat yet. It's not good if the grain is sprouting, but the elevator will still take it-- they just dock your price because of it. We're hoping that we continue to see good, dry wheat kernels. So far, so good.

This is some grain that had spilled onto the ground before the rain, and since sprouted.
I think it's pretty and it reminds me of spring. 

It's so satisfying to finally be cutting our own crop off our own fields. I think so far Jeff has been pleasantly surprised with the yield on the fields that have been cut. Always a good thing to be pleasantly surprised. If we stay dry, we should be finished with harvest more or less within a week. Here's hoping for steady progress and no breakdowns!

Life is good!
Can you spot the Vizsla?! 

Wildflowers of Mid-July

The alfalfa is blooming right now.  Its blossoms range in color from pale yellow and white, to a variety of purples and lavenders. When the wind blows, its sticky saccharine scent carries in ambrosial waves.  When cut at the right time, alfalfa can make tremendous hay. 

This year, the yellow sweet clover is abundant. It looks much different from clover varieties I am accustomed to from growing up in Iowa, a state of tall-grass prairie, marshes, and woods. I am told yellow sweet clover is usually biennial and largely dependent upon moisture. With the unusually wet spring, the clover has taken off.  It grows like a small bush aflame with yellow pinpoint blossoms and is a beautiful contrast between green grasses and bright blue sky.  Because of its height along roadways where it will seldom be cut, it provides a thick hiding place for deer and other animals. 

Cheerful yellow sunflowers are blooming wild along the roadsides right now, too. Their heavy blossoms follow the sun like a penitent pilgrim. They will not likely be cut by the swather or mower.  Instead, a few flowers were harvested by my scissors and happily fill a stoneware vase on my kitchen table. 

Walking yesterday afternoon, my copper-colored dog nearly swimming in the green waves of roadside grasses, I saw each of these plants plus many more I cannot yet identify.  My husband and father-in-law seem to know the names each of the multitudinous grasses, herbs, and wildflowers in the fields and along the roadsides. They know which are good for grazing, which are weeds in a wheat field, and which are simply wildflowers doing no harm, nor good for farming, but provide beauty to this great northern landscape.  I have much to learn.