Tuesday, June 3, 20 14

A very rainy weekend has slowed our activity.  It has been spotty, with some of our farm locations receiving much more rain than others.  Especially hard hit was the Huey farm, east of Wheatland.  With the way that water is standing on that later-planted soybean field, I will be surprised if there will not be some dozens of acres to replant.

Nicolas Haigron  (pronounced “a-GROHN”) arrived on the 10 pm flight to Evansville from Detroit.   He had arrived in Detroit from Paris in mid-afternoon.  He was questioned a bit more closely by the Immigration folks, and they even made a call to me about his travel.  But he cleared their hurdles and arrived in EVV on time.  It was a very long day for him.  By the time we said our good-nights, he had been up 24 straight hours.  He said he did not sleep much on the long flight.  But he slept well his first night in Indiana!

We have been getting acquainted.    During breakfast this morning, he brought out gifts for us… special candies and cookies that are famous in his home region of Brittany.  He lives there on the family farm with his parents and brother and sister.  They produce corn, wheat, canola, cattle, and pigs.  His pictures of home are quite fantastic.  His polite manner has made him a welcome guest almost instantly.

We are getting acquainted with Nicolas HAIGRON. His hometown is Poce-les-Bois… in the Brittany (Bretagne) region of NW France. Nicolas’ parents- Stephane and Christine- are farmers with diversified production of corn, barley, wheat, canola, along with cattle and hogs.

We toured the farmstead this morning, had subs from “Quickies” for lunch, and then went to the conservation construction site at the Lett farm.

Nicolas is a 20-year-old student in an agricultural college in Angers, France.  He is here for the month of June to observe life and farming in Indiana.

Nicolas observes the construction of a WASCoB at the Lett farm. We hope to get this finished soon, and get the rest of the corn planted. Ross has already put in half the field where there was not construction work.

After that, he is taking a test drive in our 9360R tractor.

Nicolas takes a test spin in the 9360R tractor.

Life will get more interesting for Nicolas as we get into wheat harvest.  We have many experiences to share with him.

Ross has his new CIH 8230 combine in the shop, installing a camera on the back, and a 2-way radio in the cab…. all part of the preparations for the coming wheat harvest later this month.

In other news, Haley is out on the ‘suntan machine’ spraying the ditch at Dunn.  We work diligently to keep tree sprouts from growing up to clog our ditches.

Haley is ready to depart with the suntan machine!

And, our good friend Stan Robertson, now of Brentwood, California stopped in to visit us this morning.  A longtime local resident, he is back for a few days.  We were honored he took time to come and see us.

Dennis with Stan Robertson