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.

July Part 2

Wow have we been busy bees this month-I've tried to narrow it down a little for posting but I'm going to have to start getting to this a little more often when things are going and growing this fast. We are officially into wheat harvest as of last Saturday, which for us is incredibly late but we won't complain about the all the free moisture we've been receiving either :) Here are some pictures of wheat harvest for us-this is not one of our main crops, we use wheat mostly for dry land spots and rotation for moisture control but I still love the color of dried wheat, it truly is gold in the field.

Dry wheat right before it was cut and the front and rear view of the combine moving right along

 

Filling the truck to take the wheat to town

This is the inside of the combine, the view
 from the cab right after they emptied

Getting filled up again

 Along with trying to get the wheat out of the field we are also trying to keep the corn watered. Right now the corn is pollinating so it is very important to keep the plants from being too stressed so they produce well. The mid-summer heat wave we are in has kept the temperatures well above 90 and the heat index over 100 degrees so water is extremely important right now. The corn plants are starting to grow ears and are now well over nine feet tall!  We are also trying to ridge the remaining soybeans that are looking better and bigger too.

Beans out the back window being ridged and across the field

Jenna helping carry socks

New ears!

Jordan showing how tall the corn is now

Look at those tassels-that is where the pollen is in the corn plant

We also hid inside from the heat for a day to celebrate Jenna's birthday, can you tell she is very into Tangled right now :)

And this is what happens when we are busy in the field, busy with homework, yard work and housework (the pile of clean clothes we lovingly call Mt. Laundry-we aren't proud of it but it happens so all we can do is laugh) 

 Dinner from the garden-we love summer at our house-fresh summer squash with fresh basil, green beans and cucumbers and farm grown beef we just got back from the butcher. It truly does not get much better than this-unless we fix steak instead!!!

Well I am off to another round of homework to keep up with my classes and maybe finish folding more clothes :) Hope the summer is treating you all well and the heat isn't too unbearable!

July 2011!

Well another three weeks has passed and this family has been very busy keeping up with all the summer work and also the activities! Chris has been very busy getting the corn and beans prepared to be able to irrigate, and now that we are just about there, we've had some very timely rain to get a few more days worth of pipe laid. The wheat is finishing up nicely. Here's a picture of what it looked like Saturday the 3rd.

the same field from 3 weeks ago

some of the wheat berries we shelled out to check moisture

(these are the part of the plant that is ground up to make flour)

close up-getting dryer but still a little green-another week or 10 days until harvest

We also went to the cornfield to update growth and show what the field looks like after it has been ridged. This is the same corn form three weeks ago as well-noticably taller thanks to some great sunny hot weather and a few rainshowers along the way.

corn ready for water

 From the top-last chance I will get to take this picture.

Amazing how much it looks like our very own fireworks this way!!

 Chris in the corn-just for a height comparison-looks about 4 feet tall now-he is 6 feet tall.

I also got to take an up close look at the alfalfa-its ready to be cut again and the neighbors just happened to have some cut that day.

Just about ready-doesn't it just look gorgeous!

The neighbors just cut this earlier that day

Up close to the alfalfa plant and its bright purple flowers.

We were also very blessed to have my Aunt and cousin volunteer to take our children to Sioux Falls, SD for the weekend to visit my Uncle and his family (for those who haven't made this trip-it is eight hours by car!). It was strange-our kids have never been away from home that long without us but I am very happy to report they did well and are already ready to go back again!! We were able to spend some time with both sides of our family over the weekend and for that we are truly thankful and very much blessed to live our life in the heartland!!

Happy Independence Day!!

We are off to another busy week, the guys got the combine ready for wheat harvest today and more pipe will be strung tomorrow. Never a dull moment here!!





June 2011, so far!

Ohh our crazy summer days! I was hoping to update this at least every two weeks, but last weekend caught me off guard. I finished the first of my two summer classes and got ready for our church's annual BBQ baking pies, cakes and making rice krispie treats on Saturday. Sunday was the big day and we spent the majority of the day at the church. We followed with showers and dinner and Chris and I attended our marriage encounter circle in the evening. We have found that keeping our family strong through our faith and great friends has made a huge difference in our family-and when your family and work spend so much time together, its important to keep them all healthy!

I started a new online class on Monday and the week also included two softball games for Jordan, and a special treat, my sister was here from Lincoln to see one of them!!

(our lefty up to bat)

(at the rodeo)

 We also got to enjoy free tickets to the Nebraskaland Days rodeo Thursday night and took in the parade Saturday afternoon. The weather has been typical of June around here, we joke that Nebraskaland Days brings in thunderstorms and boy this year has been no exception-Thursday night we had a good soaker two to three inches around most of the North Platte area. So my pictures of cultivated corn don't look much different from the last time-except it is taller now :)

I also decided to check in on the rest of the crops.  The first cutting of hay is baled and looked really good thanks to a wet spring, the wheat is starting to turn from its fresh deep green to a little paler on its way to gold (probably by the end of the month) and the beans that were planted about three weeks ago are about 4-5 inches tall now.

We are ending our week with a nice relaxing Father's Day, then it is back to another crazy week. However we are excitedly looking forward to Brad Paisley in concert this Friday-a great reward for a stressful spring!

Done Planting-Bring on the Sun!

June 1st 2011, finally saw us out of the field with the planter for the last time this spring. Praise the Lord, it has been a long spring! Now Chris is in the field today (June 6th) cultivating the flood irrigated corn. We have about 1/2 of our acres in the valley still flood irrigated with pipe and those acres must be cultivated and ridged to make a row for the water to travel from the pipe to the other end of the field when it is time to irrigate. We have officially hit summer weather with the last few days into the upper nineties-wow what an adjustment from last month! I can practically hear the corn growing it is coming up so fast now!

Corn Planting

As I'm posting Chris is still playing beat the rain in the field. We have been fortunate to have a fairly dry planting season but lately have been trying to find the driest field to keep going and finish up. The pictures are of the tractor and planter and our rented acres as we planted. The same field this last Saturday with "baby corns" my youngest likes to call them :) and a field of dryland that was quick to become wetland after the thundershower came through.

 

and my favorite of Saturday-Jenna fell asleep in the tractor right before I got there to pick her up from her long afternoon working with Dad!!

Our Family

Well little did I know that when I decided to start this blog how much the TIME factor would overpower what got done. I started and realized I really-didn't have a great postable family picture with all of us in it-I am usually the one behind the camera! We did finally get a couple of beautiful sun shining days and a great friend/budding photographer to help us out. Welcome to our family!