(Snow clouds blowing in)

We had the corn tested and the moisture went UP…it’s so damp here. It’s now at 15.6% ….in order to harvest it the moisture HAS to be below 14%.  We have so hoped to start Monday, but that isn’t going to happen.

The weather channel has this to say:

…STRONG PACIFIC STORM TO IMPACT THE REGION FROM SATURDAY NIGHT
THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK…
EARLY INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS STORM IS LIKELY TO BRING PERIODS OF WIDESPREAD SNOWFALL TO THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH…WITH RAIN AND THEN SNOW FOR THE VALLEYS. THIS STORM HAS THE POTENTIAL OF PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW IN MOST MOUNTAIN AREAS…WITH STORM TOTALS OF 1 TO 2 FEET BY LATE IN THE DAY WEDNESDAY. IN ADDITION…STRONG SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS MAY CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.

Harvest is just going to have to wait.

  We have a couple of worries now, besides the weather and the moisture and if and when we can harvest, that the wind will blow the corn off the stalks, break the stalks and in general dump all the kernels on the ground where they will be lost forever.

The other worry is that the moisture content will stay so high that the ears will mold. It they mold we are done, you can’t harvest moldy produce.

This has been a pretty bad year for wind anyway; it started in March and has stayed pretty consistent.  This will give you an idea of wind tossed stalks.  We can still harvest these, but once they twist to the ground it’s over.

So we’ve bedded down the combine and brought the truck back into its place in the yard.  It would be wonderful if this storm would just stay on the ski slopes and miss us and dry sunny weather would return. 

Linda