Monday, November 11, 2013
Yesterday afternoon, we took advantage of the beautiful sunny November day to harvest double-crop soybeans (DCB). After church, we went to work at the Roberson farm, in the last field of the year. The dry and windy conditions allowed us to move through the crop at a little faster pace. At 4pm, the final pass across the field was finished.
The 2013 harvest is complete!
The post-harvest crush has already begun. In some ways the 3-4 weeks after harvest is more complicated than the harvest time… for you now have 5 or 6 things upon which to focus, rather than the singular task of harvesting. There is spraying to do, a series of calculations and meetings to determine which seeds to acquire for ’14, a boat-load of papers to prepare in order to report the yields for crop insurance and FSA, and some soil conservation construction to oversee. We started the long cleaning process before dark yesterday, by washing the grain cart. The combines are pretty dirty, but they will look ‘like new’ as soon as possible. Hoping to help beat tonight’s rain, I returned to the Roberson farm last night from 9 to 12:30 in order to do some disking and rolling. Larry is coming to finish that off this afternoon.
Larry is disking and rolling at the Roberson farm.
Haley works with the pressure washer on the CIH 8120 combine. It’s a little chilly for this job!
John is in to refill his sprayer. Then, he will go out for another 80 acres. Fall herbicide application has become important in the last few years as different species of weeds have arrived.
Ben is delivering corn to market today, as part of the 50K+ bushels yet to be delivered this month. This morning, Chuck Mansfield from Vincennes University is coming to prepare some sites for a soil judging event here this weekend. We are providing a “practice area” for a special junior college contest.
To quote an old saying from the 70s, “the beat goes on”.
The last bit of harvest came earlier in the afternoon than I anticipated, and that gave me a very happy result. I was able to return to Wheatland Christian Church for a very special evening service. The Choir from South Knox High School came for a concert. Those 60+ kids gave a tremendous program… I cannot fully express how special it really was. The church was packed, and the audience was not disappointed. It was a celebration of praise! Yes, it truly was a blessing to see and hear the South Knox Choir last night. Thank you to those talented students, and their Director, Mrs. Misty Mosby.
Even though it’s cloudy this morning, and rain/snow is predicted for tonight, we can breathe a bit easier knowing the harvest is done. Have a great week…
