Beans and baby calves!

Beans, beans, beans!!!

These soybeans are all dried up and ready to be cut. You can see the fuzz still on the pods but if you grab one, the fuzz will come off and the pod is likely to spill the beans~sorry couldn't help myself :)

 A good look at the field from the front of the combine. To the left are the rows already cut and to the right are the rows Chris is working on. These were irrigated beans and made about 73 bushels per acre.

And this is what a whole trailer full of beans looks like. This load is ready for the trip to the elevator.

We are almost done with the soybean harvest here, had it not been for a welcome little vacation due to a good amount (almost three inches here) of much needed rain we would be on to the corn already. However we also had multiple fires in the area last week because of the hot, dry and very windy conditions so we just smiled and enjoyed it when the drops started falling.  Praise the Lord for all of the dedicated firefighters and volunteers that saved as much as they did, it was really amazing!

We were also blessed with a welcome chore last week! One of the fall calving cows had a set of twins so the whole family has taken turns bottle feeding the little guy pictured below. Twins are fairly common in cows and many cows have to have help to feed both of them. This calf was the smaller of the two so he got to come to the barn and be bottle fed until we have another cow to put him on. I have to say this is one of my favorite farm activities and it is never complained about by our girls either :)

He is a fiesty little bull calf, and both girls were a little surprised by his sucking and head butting strength already, this picture was taken when he was just four days old.

Up close, such a cute little guy! Hard to believe he will be almost full grown by this time next year.

Where has the time gone?

Wow feeling a little discouraged about not getting back to the blog to keep everyone updated, but the beginning of the school year has us all running ragged.

We started August off with a bang and picked and put up sweetcorn for the winter. We even included a few friends of ours that had not enjoyed the experience before and made a day of it. We did the whole process in one Saturday from picking at 8 am to ending all cleaned up about 3 pm. We shuck, wash, blanch, cool, cut and bag our corn to go into the freezer. Everyone seems to have a little different process but this one works great for us.

Going in to pick the corn-you can't see Klayton but he is getting a lesson on which plants to pick from (we had a little trouble with some mixed seed this year)

 The back of the pick up getting loaded up.

 Jordan and Jenna-we were all soaking wet from the dew by the time we were done :)

 I forgot to get the camera back out while we were shucking but after that we started cleaning the silks off of the corn.

        The guys doing a fine job of cooking

After its cooked it takes a nice cold bath to shock the corn to keep it from over cooking

The kids eating a little for lunch-Owen got to have his off the cob for the first time-he loved it!

 Cutting and bagging-I have to say a little painter's plastic is a great investment-we cover everything to save a little clean up later-all that sweet corn sugar is sticky :)

And finally the bags of corn ready for the freezer! We will enjoy these until next summer's corn is ready.

 And in the middle of August, Jordan and Mom started back to school. In class for her and on-line for me after work.




Jordan's first day of school, getting on the bus. Holy cow 3rd grade already!








We also got to take in the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island for the first time. The kids and I posing for a picture in the exhibition building. I was truly impressed by the new fairgrounds and great 4-H exhibits!

 And checking in on the crops......

This is what the corn was looking like at the end of August. It is beginning to dry out but the cob is still soft with moisture and nutrients it is taking out of the plant to feed the kernels.


This is what the outside of the ear looks like, this corn is starting to dent which is a good indication the corn is maturing properly.

 Some round kernels that have not started to dent, but are dry enough to not be broken by my thumb nail.

Mature ears now have brown, dry silks.

And Jenna finally got to start preschool in September, she loves going to school again like her sister!

We are now a little more back into the swing of things with school for the girls, however this Mom is feeling the pressure of family, jobs, farm, her own classes, outside commitments and keeping the house in some kind of order. Sadly, now that harvest is officially upon us so it will probably only get worse. Harvest is a loved and hated time for many of us, as it means loooonngg hours for the guys in the fields and less time for them to be home with family. But the end reward is always fabulous seeing a crops out from the field, happy men at home and payment in the bank. Chris started picking soybeans this week with the dry land acres running about 30 bushels per acre and the irrigated fields running much better in the 65-70 range. The irrigated plants produce much better in our hot summer sun and with very little rain in July and August this year the dry land really produced as well as could be expected. The harvest in our area is really just getting started good with silage being about done for most, wet corn is starting to come out and is either going through dryers or being ground up for feedlot use. Our dry corn will be starting soon with many reports of 20-25 moisture around the area and 15 being the prime moisture target for many of us taking it to the local co-ops. We wish all of you a happy harvest season!! And I promise more pictures of harvest will be coming soon.