Monday, September 30, 2013

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Dayphoto

The Last Day of September the year 2013 (30 days hath September –April, June, and November).

Although, the morning’s have been very frosty (that is frost on the grass)

The days are warming up nicely, even to the point I can open the windows and pretend it is still Summer. The Daily View taken at 4 O’clock in the afternoon is still looking very nice.

Harvest is going on strong for the pinto beans, onions, and the end of the silage. The frost has taken the weight/moisture out of the ensilage corn, but it still has to be chopped and packed into the pits.

Another storm is due in Friday therefore causing everyone to work diligently in hopes of getting done, or at least as much as possible done before it hits.

We are waiting for the corn to reach the perfect amount of dryness before we must begin our corn harvest. We are thinking around the third week of October, but only time will tell.

I’m off now to help Terry work on our oldest Daughter’s wood stove. Then we will work on the getting the corn combine ready for harvest. After those two things are in place I hope to get my lawn mowed. In many ways fall is just as busy, if not more so than spring.

Your friend on the farm,

Linda

Sugar Beet Harvest

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Dayphoto

Way back when our kids were growing up the Holly Sugar Factory still operated here and farmers in the area grew sugar beets for a cash crop. Not only did they grow the beets, but the factory hired many farmers to help process the beets into sugar. The job was a very welcome thing—fall and winter (sometimes until March) employment. Right during the time many farmers had to be very careful with their money.

Farming gives you ONE paycheck a year…yes, one per crop you grow. This is the money that a farm family lives on and uses to purchase all the necessities, pay the taxes, and pay the huge irrigation bill plus to start and continue farming until the crop ‘comes in and is sold’.

If you know what a once a month paycheck is like to stretch – try a once a year paycheck! Then get all your expenses out to start your business all over again in the spring and carry you over until the crop is sold. Sure can be hard at times.

Holly Sugar was a great and wonderful thing for ‘tiding’ a farm family over—not only did they buy your crop … paid on the sugar content of your beet…poor beets poor paycheck…rich in sugar beets really nice paycheck. They hired four shifts of men and sometimes women for certain jobs. The pay was always very welcome…you work you get paid.

Holly Sugar left town in the 70’s. It was sad for everyone.

Sugar Beet harvest always started in October giving the beets a chance to get cold so the sugar content in the beets would rise. Many times the harvest happened in wet, frozen, turned to mud fields. Right along side the corn harvest and the apple harvest and the turning of the leaves.

This is the way our local farmers used to bring their sugar beets to market. This photo shows a line-up of wagons loaded with beets waiting their turn to dump their load at the Delta beet dump. Beets were dumped directly into open rail cars prior to 1921, and after the factory was built in Delta, they were dumped at the factory site where they were transferred mechanically to the processing at the facility.

My sweet corn is ready for picking so I’m off to start my tiny harvest of sweet corn. When winter comes we will enjoy rich, golden, sweet, sweet corn once in awhile. A small delicious reminder of summer.

Have a good one my friends!

Linda

Corn Harvest 2012

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Dayphoto

Busy, busy! I hope to get myself organized soon…but until then just know

Day one is over.

The wait at the silo’s is intense…four hours yesterday, then unload, back into the field until dark.

Take a load down BEFORE six in the morning…get in line, wait…

You get the picture.

Hope to get around to visit everyone soon!

Linda

Once Upon a Time …

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Dayphoto

… in a corn far, far away. A farmer was trying to get all of his corn picked. Every day he greased up his combine, poured fuel into the combine, and drove it way, way out into the corn field.

Up and down the rows went the farmer, filling his big red-orange truck with golden seeds of corn.

Gradually, as the harvest kept on the farmer grew very tired — fill the hoper of the combine, then dump into the truck, when the truck was full he then would drive it to the elevator and wait his turn to dump his truck so he could start over.

The day came (when after sitting at the elevator since 6 o’clock in the morning–until 9:30 a.m. when he was able to finally dump and get back home) he became overly tired.

But wait…..

What is this?!?!?