Thankful Thursday- Three Things

This week for Thankful Thursday, I'm pulling a page out of my friend Christy's book (or, blog, rather!) and just picking three things to write about. Three things I'm thankful for today.

1. We are harvesting.  This harvest has been incredibly stop and go. We've hit the 1-month mark of harvest today. I'm thankful that we are actively cutting wheat today because the more we get done, the sooner we will be DONE with harvest. It's just been dragging on forever. So, today, I'm thankful for progress on that front.

Harvey in the Spring Wheat field.

The wheat in that photo is all gone and cut now! The photo was taken a few days ago. We're getting closer to being done with harvest!

2. Garden produce. Our garden has been bountiful this year again. Right now we have zucchini, beets and green beans in high numbers and the tomatoes are just starting to really turn on. Our neighbors planted a huge garden this year, too, and were kind enough to share a few squash and zucchini with us. I really love summer meals with produce from the garden. Just can't beat the flavors!

The mango did not come from the garden, but everything else did! Aren't those watermelon zucchinis so cute?!

3. Much-needed haircut! I got my haircut this morning and I'm so happy with the new length. It had gotten pretty overgrown over the summer and it was high time for a chop. Just in time for back to school! Just excuse the no-makeup, crappy lighting selfie. It looks like I'm drunk or high, but I promise I'm not! Focus on the hair, not the face! Either way, so happy and thankful for the haircut!

Eeek...

So, there you have it! Short and simple Three Things Thankful Thursday post! What are you thankful for this week?!

Stay tuned for tomorrows post on Oiselle Flight Friday!! I'll be reviewing another piece of my Oiselle gear and going over the first Principle of Flight! :)

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?! 

Is It Ready Yet?

Well, it's still harvest time around here and looks like it will be for a while yet. Harvest this year has felt very disjointed as compared to previous years. At this point we are more or less half finished, maybe slightly less than half. We have Tom's winter wheat and barley cut as well as some re-crop spring wheat. I'm not sure, but I think each field has some pot-holes or patches left uncut that we'll have to go back for. 

Beautiful Spring Wheat!

Right now, we're waiting for things to dry up enough to be able to continue on. In the meantime, our crew has been helping a neighbor and dear friend of ours, Brett, with his harvest. My understanding is that his wheat will all be cut sometime yet today, then the plan is to move all the way up to some re-crop spring wheat that Jeff and I have on our leased ground way up north. 

Jeff is checking on some wheat near the only tree on our farm ground.

There's been a lot of crop tours wherein we'll drive out to the fields, walk around looking at the wheat and assessing it's done-ness. Is it ready yet? Probably not. Jeff thinks the majority of our crop has probably another week-10 days to go. Maybe more. Hopefully we do get to try out the re-crop this evening and it will be cut-able. It would be nice to keep rolling along!

We have had a lot of humidity and rainy weather patterns this August, which is a big reason behind the slow cutting season. You can't cut wheat if it's too wet. It just doesn't go through the combine. All the moisture may not make good cutting weather, but it's great for the impending winter wheat seeding season, which will take place yet this fall. Always look at the bright side! 

Outstanding in our field.
The joke that never gets old!

Today was actually my first day back at my "normal job" at school. We had staff meetings today, then tomorrow is the actual first day of school. I've had a lot of mixed emotions about starting back. I feel bad that I'm not around the farm to help more, but also thankful that we have Stephanie here to help out. I also have some regret over not getting more done over the summer from some arbitrary mental list I created for myself back in May. Trying not to be too hard on myself, though, as we were nevertheless very busy this summer with travel. I did work some over the summer, too, with our Altacare Summer Program. Despite all of this, I am proud of myself for continuing on with running and fitness all summer long, which has been a challenge for me in the past. I feel stronger than I ever have, since high school, so that's good. I am excited for the kids to come back to school tomorrow and to see them all, which will make this wistful feeling of summer's end a little easier.

And, someday too, we'll be done with harvest. Just not anytime in the next couple weeks. We'll keep you posted!

Can you find Quincy, the cat?

Puddles and Pests

We are definitely in the throes of summer heat these days with temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s and nary a breeze to be felt or cloud to provide a moment of shady refuge. The heat certainly puts stress on the crops, especially our spring wheat, which was seeded later in the spring. 

Because of this heat stress, we were especially glad to drive up the road Friday morning and see this:

(This and all subsequent photos were taken by Jeff on his phone.)

Puddles!

 We had a little rain event on Thursday at about Midnight that gave the wheat a quenching shower and vastly improved our outlook for the success of our crop. Jeff and I spent some time walking down the road, checking the rain gauge, and walking through the spring wheat.

 

It was a pleasant 60 degree morning with cloud cover-- a much welcomed change from the recent heat-- and nice weather for a crop tour. The wheat liked it, too!

There is one particular creature that always seems to be more abundant in heat, however, and that would be rattlesnakes. We hadn't seen any in the yard yet this year, but had seen a few on the roads among our fields, and had just been discussing that it would only be a matter of time before we encountered one up close and personal.  

That afternoon, as the day warmed to around 80 degrees, we spent some time doing yard work-- mowing, weedeating, eradicating weeds, and getting some of our grain bins ready for harvest. I was up near the house working on weeds when I heard Jeff yell from one of the back bins on the other end of the yard. Based on what I knew he was doing, and where he was, I figured one of two things had happened:

1) He needed some help with machinery

or...

2) He had an encounter with a rattlesnake. 

If you guessed option 2, you are correct! Jeff had been cautious approaching the bin, but we hadn't quite trimmed the weeds around it's opening yet and as he reached down into the grass to look for something, he heard the telltale, unmistakable warning of a snake's rattle. If he had been 18 inches closer to the snake, he would have had his hand right on him. That's when he backed away slowly and started yelling for me to come over. 

The snake was hard to see at first. Natural selection creates some excellent camouflage. But once I found him, coiled, milky-eyed, and angry, I stayed and kept an eye on him (from a safe distance!) while Jeff went after the shotgun. 

Shortly thereafter, the snake met his untimely end:

(Warning: Somewhat gruesome photo to follow!)

 Since he was coiled when Jeff shot, the snake lost his head, his rattle, and a few chunks of his midsection. Needless to say, he wouldn't be bothering us anymore.

We talk all the time about how rattlesnakes are part of the ecosystem here and are actually quite good at keeping gophers, mice, and other small rodents from overpopulating and becoming a nuisance. But. BUT. A person can't allow a dangerous rattlesnake to be living near a grain bin in their yard. Especially when that person has a curious farm dog and with harvest approaching. Our general rule is that snakes in a field or pasture will probably be left alone, but in or near the yard and they should probably be toasted. 

So, now we know for sure they're out there. Time to make sure the yard and surrounding environs stay nicely mowed and trimmed, keep a cautious eye and ear out, maintain eye contact on the dog as much as possible, wear close-toed shoes, watch where you're walking or running, etc. Trying to keep close encounters of the rattling kind at bay until fall. 

To read more about snakes in the yard, check out this post I did from about a year ago-- one of my most popular ever! http://www.prairieponderingsmt.blogspot.com/2013/07/snakes-on-plains.html.

Until next time, readers! 

Harvest Mid-Point Report

 

We are really in the thick of harvest right now.  The official first day was July 28- Jeff and I cut a few peas that night.  Following that, harvest was routinely interrupted by rain events impacting the region.  Again this year, thankfully, both Jeff and I and Tom and Carol escaped the pop-up showers and thunderstorms with very minimal hail damage.  Some of our neighbors were not so lucky. We also were getting used to the quirks of a new combine and header set up early on in harvest. Now, with inclement weather and machinery breakdowns behind us (knock on wood) we are able to roll through the acres.

We finished with all the winter wheat Saturday evening and decided to move on to spring wheat. Though the late-season rains put a slight delay on cutting some crops, rain is almost always good for the quality of the crops.  This makes for happy farmers and lots of bushels being cut.

I have not been around long enough to appreciate fully what a blessing rain (with no hail) can be. Tom was telling me today about some of his land referred to as the Home Place, which is where Jeff and I had spent the morning cutting spring wheat.  In 2001, which was a horrible draught year, Tom said they cut the whole Home Place and didn't even fill one small truck.  Today, Jeff and I filled one small truck in about 2 passes down one strip.  It's hard to put that in perspective for people who have never been here and can't get an idea of the size of the fields, strips, etc. but suffice to say it is a much, much better year than 2001.

Here's a few photos from the field for your perusal, and here's to a happy continuation and completion of harvest! We probably have ten days to two weeks left of cutting if everything continues to run smoothly. 

Jeff and Tom threshing spring wheat in their hands, to determine ripeness.



Harvey weighs in with his two cents on the ripeness of the wheat...

 

Cutting wheat on the School Section.

And... another gratuitous Harvey photo. You're welcome.
It's probably a bit presumptuous of me to assume everyone loves Harvey as much as I do.