Friday, April 13, 2018

Yesterday’s 75ºF (24C) temperature coupled with the stiff winds, made a lot of progress to dry the fields.  Ross pulled  home a couple ammonia tanks, just in case he finds a field dry enough to apply today.  If it looks like Ross is going to try field work, I may try to pull around the field cultivator to smooth some ruts just ahead of him.  The wind is picking up again today, which will likely keep the sprayer in the shed.  Some rain is predicted for tonight and tomorrow.  So will we get to inch in to some field work?  Sure hope so.

Brandon has been very occupied for several days, working with Olan Worland to repair some tile holes and construct a rock chute.  There is also some repair work needed to the newest WASCoB built late last fall.  The repair list is shorter this spring, and hopefully that will all get done soon.

John has been assisting the electrician on the new grain leg project.  Progress is being made there!

If you want to compare our spring progress to other years, the one that sticks out most is 2012–the severe drought year.  On this date in ’12 we finished planting season!  On that day we were very confident that we could be looking ahead to a fabulous year–since we are convinced that early  planting is best, what could have been better than that?  Well, as it turned out, July and August the rain clouds disappeared, and the crops suffered mightily.  Therefore, we make the best effort we can to plant our crops as early as we can, but that is only one factor on the way to a bountiful harvest.  ( i.e. We can remember one particular year when a field of corn in the White River flood plan was replanted on June 14, and it had a very good yield.) We must depend on our Maker to provide.

One of the Nebraska farmers I follow on Twitter has been doing some field work for a couple days, but last night he showed a picture of the tractors in the shed, as they were preparing for a predicted blizzard today.   Wow.

Now I anticipate this day, and hope for at least some small steps toward #plant18.

Have a good weekend.