All Through—Monday, September 15, 2014

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Dayphoto

Thankfully the pinto beans are at the Beanery (this is the name of the elevator that cleans and stores the pinto beans in our area—the Olathe Producers is another elevator which does the same thing).

At the elevator the pinto beans will be cleaned and sorted and culled…any broken (splits), discolored beans, and green pintos will be sifted into the proper pile to be sold.

Green pinto beans will be thrown away along with any chaff or weeds or weed seeds. The discolored beans has a very small market for animal feed….cows love pinto beans. The splits will go to a factory to be made into smashed canned pinto beans ready for your taco.

The other pinto beans…the really nice ones will be sold at market value for whole pinto beans to be used however the buyer wishes. The whole pinto bean market is what a farmer strives for…that is where the most money is to be made—right now the market is extremely volatile/unstable. Terry will talk with the owner of the Beanery sometime today to see if they can sell the beans for us and for what price.

Then Terry will decide if we hold them for a spell or sell. Mostly he likes to sell because a truly fresh pinto bean is liked by most people. If you have ever eaten a truly fresh pinto bean you will be stunned at the difference in the cook time, the flavor and the size of the bean.

There isn’t pay check until the beans are sold!

Oh, for the record….I’ve been asked several times if we take subsidies for farming.

NO! NEVER! Neither did my parents or grandparents and neither has Terry’s Dad or grandfather. If we can’t pay our own way we don’t do it. That is why we both worked in town…and why we have old equipment…if you can’t afford it you don’t need it…has always been the mantra on our farm.

ENOUGH of that ….since Terry got Linkin a new compound bow, we thought it would fun to take Tally shopping. She wanted a “REAL COWGIRL HAT”. Not a fake one made of plastic.

Off we went to the Davis Clothing Company where she picked out a black hat…no pink one for her, Thank you Very much! It was really nice to shop at the Davis Clothing Company, Rena, Mr. Davis’ daughter, let Tally try on several different colors—then she steamed the hat so it was the perfect COWGIRL shape, and took her to the special three-way-mirrors so Tally could see which one was just right for her. The experience was very nice.

Later, at home, Tallin wanted to practice with Terry’s longbow and her ONE arrow, of course wearing the COWGIRL hat! What a hoot!

Well, the two big harvests are out of the way (the hay and the pinto beans), and the irrigation is about done— now we wait until the end of October or later for the harvest of the field corn. A little break in the farming before the next big round of hard work.

All is good and right with the world!

Your friend on a farm

Linda

Moving Along-Harvest-Sunday, September 7, 2014

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Dayphoto

Friday and Saturday were super busy!

Terry got the pinto beans bladed and

placed in nice fluffy rows to dry. We are still holding our breath that the rains stay away…(OH! PLEASE STAY AWAY! Just until the pinto beans are in the Beanery!) It might be like wishing in the wind

since we can see storms moving all around us.

Terry has all the hay baled and part of the field in the hay yard…this afternoon should see every last bale stacked and ready for sale. (Fingers crossed)

You can see the storms playing on Grand Mesa in this photo.

Everything seems like a ‘race against the weather’ this time of year.

I’ve got part of the fence scraped and brushed ready to paint down at the other house and I even have all but the two biggest flower beds weeded in my yard. Sure feels good to start getting caught back up.

Tuesday and Wednesday Misty will be back for some training she needs for her new job, Linkin has asked to come with her. It will mean missing two days of school. Linkin is a very good student, so I think she will get to come with her mother. It will nice to have that ten-year-old here again. Her Grandpa has bought her a neat surprise. He will give it to her at this point, if she comes. Otherwise it will wait until a later, or even much later date.

Maybe Linkin’s Best Friend can come out after school on Tuesday and stay for supper. I’ll ask Misty and Ellie’s Mom. Hopefully she can.

Today we only do what we must do…a day of rest. Makes the week go faster.

Your friend,

Linda

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Dayphoto

We started the pinto bean harvest –which reminds me, Terry raises Bill Zee pinto beans. Pinto beans have many different types of beans just like apples have different varieties.

Everything was going really good

Until around Three in the afternoon

When the auger broke. A belt.

The hopper had to be unloaded by hand.

This is the sunshine on Grand Mesa

What a day..

That evening I went up to fork the ends on the hay and to fluff the rows. (While Terry changed the water).

I must say I enjoyed myself very much, I even saw a tiny (almost) rainbow.

The hay is ready to bale. I’m not sure if Terry will bale today or tomorrow morning, but he will have to soon. Plus keep on combining.

Lots of work hitting us right now, but when we are done we can take a break until the corn is ready.

Exhausted but happy,

Linda

Wednesday September 4, 2013

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Dayphoto

Sort of in a rush…we begin combining in an hour.

So far the rains are staying away…

if everything holds together we hope to be done by this week end.

Your harried friend, Linda

Four Pair on July 25, 2013

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Dayphoto

I have four pair of Bullock Orioles, although only three females are sitting here. I liked the photo because each one was on a different feeder!

A summer storm has blown in last evening. Although, it cooled things down (which is really nice) it also has brought with it the potential for rain.

We really would NOT like to have rain right now…after the hay is up and stacked — rain would be nice. Keep your fingers crossed that we make it. We have people either calling or driving down the lane to ask if we are ready to sell.

Not yet. But soon if the weather holds off.

Terry is working on the 630 John Deere to get it ready for the pinto bean harvest. Boy, that seems to be coming fast. He thinks by the last week in August we will be able to start harvesting the pintos. Whew! Time is flying.

Well, off to get many, many things done as I have let stuff slide since the 6th of July. Things are starting to even out now so I hope to get past ‘maintain’ into fix.

Linda

Harvesting Pinto Beans

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Dayphoto

Of course you have to hook everything up to the tractor. Terry likes to use the 730 to pull the beans

That thing on the front is the bean puller…here’s a better photo of it

Then the bean blade

The puller lifts the beans up and the blade cuts them off

Moving down the field everything is pushed together into rows

The rows are allowed to dry for week (unless it rains, then a mess occurs)

All pulling of the beans occurs in the morning, while the dew is still on the plants. If you look you can see how dry the bean pods look. They are very dry. A little dew holds the pods together so they don’t shatter and spill the beans into the ground. If a pod shatters and the beans spill, that is then end. There is not a way to pick up the beans from the dirt.

After a week. It’s time to start combining. Combining is ALWAYS after lunch. You don’t want the plants to be wet and clump in the combine and cause a wad mess. You also don’t want wet beans going into the combine and molding. If you deliver wet beans to the beanery (where they sort, sack, and sell the beans) they will refuse your load.

For a farmer that is money and time lost.

Dry beans for the combine only!

We are not big farmers and our equipment is not new, but it is paid for and Terry knows how to fix it if something goes wrong. He also has a small combine herd of combines that he uses for parts since our stuff is really dated.

Here the combine is picking up two rows of a time and shelling them and putting the beans in the hopper

The weeds and the bean straw is flung out the back

Leaving just the straw behind.

Once the day turns to evening and the cool comes on, the farmer must stop. Lots of time the lights run until the operator just gets too tired and calls it a day.

The hopper of the combine is dumped into the bin of the grain truck

When the truck is full, but no over flowing it will be driven to the beanery about 5 miles from our home. The trash you see in the beans (weed leaves that made through the trasher into the beans) will be screened out. Then the beans are sacked ready for market.

But first….we got to get them there!

After we get done with the pintos our next crop to harvest will be the corn. But that won’t be until the end of September.

Linda

Last Load

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Dayphoto

We finished! The last load of the beans left the field at 6:00 p.m. heading to the Beanery. The truck will get in line. By 6:30 the next morning we will be there to drive the truck through the unloading area. We are about 7th in line so by noon or 2:00 depending on if something doesn’t break down the 2011 Pinto Bean Harvest will be over for the year!

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Then in about two to three weeks (if the weather holds and the moisture level drops) we will start combining corn!

Whew!

This is what we work for…Harvest!

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Linda

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