Monday, July 1, 2013

Today, we say our good byes to Yvertin Jaquet, the french agricultural university student who spent the month of June with us.  We will take him to the airport in Evansville for his departure.  It has been a very wonderful experience, and I’m sure we have added a dear ‘french son’ to our family.

After church yesterday, we went to the wheat field at the Roberson farm and began cutting wheat.  It seemed to be going very well, but it wasn’t long until the broken clouds and sun gave way to a downpour of rain.  Again, we got wet as we covered the truck and grain cart, and as we made our way to the pickup to go home.  That’s not the first time this summer we’ve been drenched in the wheat field.  We are very near the completion of the wheat harvest, maybe 35 acres remain.  The wheat harvest is usually a short few days of work, but this year it has been more like a marathon than a sprint.  Pat remarked that in our almost 35 years of marriage, she does not recall that we have ever had wheat harvest remaining in the month of July.  I agree.  And we have not begun to plant the DCB.  The soils have never been dry enough to run the planter.  Also, I’m concerned about the straw covering the soil at Roberson and Crook.  Our neighbor stopped baling the straw; he got enough for his purposes.  That straw spread over the soil surface may make it difficult for the air drill to get the seed into the ground.  And that straw will act like a mulch, keeping the soil moist underneath.

Enough about the challenges:  let’s remember that the wheat yields have been the best in many years… maybe the best ever!