Wednesday, May 22, 2013
After visiting the unplanted fields today, it is certain that resuming planting is days away. We received rain for each of the past two nights, and the temperatures are cooler today…. mid 70s. The sun occasionally breaks through the clouds. The 9330 and air drill sit quietly, filled with seed and ready to go. It won’t go to the field today, but it is poised to go when conditions permit.
Nick Burke has assisted Brandon for parts of 3 days cleaning the corn planter. They are giving it an exhaustive and thorough cleaning. It looks new again.
In some of the corn fields, there will be some small areas– bottoms of WASCoBs and such– that will need replanted, but Ross will use the little 6-row planter to do that.
We met with Sam Shepard late this morning to outline some additional work needed at the new Burke farm. Because of the recent heavy rain events, we have identified some additional soil surface shaping that needs done. This work will include another culvert through the Kessinger ditch levee, and a WASCoB-like large surface drain. They plan to enter the farm as soon as the soil dries sufficiently. The areas they disturb doing their work will need to be replanted in soybeans when they finish. It’s a little backwards, perhaps, but the heavy rains made these upgrades apparent and necessary. It will be better to have a few acres of later soybeans instead of drowned-out spots!
In a few days, we will welcome another French ag college student to the farm. Yvertin Jaquet will spend the month of June here, observing our methods, working alongside us, and practicing his English skills. He comes to us from his family’s farm near Artenay, France. (Between Paris and Orleans) He will be the 31st French student to visit our farm and experience Indiana agriculture from our perspective. We hope he feels ‘at home’ and among friends. He should gain a varied experience from his month with us. We will be completing spring planting, spraying corn and soybeans, harvesting the wheat crop, and planting double-crop soybeans. That should get him some hands-on experience in many different machines. He sent an email today, explaining that he was “impatient and excited and nervous”. I understand.
As we think about the delay to our planting season, we realize that there is Someone wiser than us who is directing all these events. We have been asking for sunshine, and we trust that our Maker will send what is best.
