Tuesday, March 28, 2023
This morning we see some sun peeking out occasionally, but we started with frost on the roof. It may get up into the 40s, and we should have 3 dry days in a row. Rain is predicted again for Friday.
Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day. Warm, sunny, 69ºF (21C). You couldn’t ask for a nicer spring day. Then, Sunday night, we got some more rain… on top of the 4.3″ (110mm) that came Thursday and Friday. Oh, boy. The White River at Edwardsport is 7 feet above flood stage, but is predicted to quickly fall back to flood stage by the weekend. The creek bottom lands around here are beginning to have the flood waters recede. It is several days yet before any soil-engaging work can begin. We are hopeful we can get into the wheat fields by Thursday to make a herbicide application. That will be pushing it quite a bit, but this herbicide need has become urgent!
This graph shows how fast White River came up after the Thursday-Friday big rain event.
I spent about 4 hours yesterday with Davis from Hutson, Inc. He was here to assist me in learning two of the new features of the new soybean drill… the N550 no-till drill plus the 1910 air cart. I had to become acquainted with the set-up and calibration of the “Tru-Set” downforce on the drill, and the “Relative Flow” blockage monitor. Davis was very patient and methodical with his training. He walked me through the many steps of the set ups, and then through the calibrations. It was more extensive than I had anticipated, but by the time he left, almost all my questions had been answered. There were 2 questions about the operation of the Tru-Set that he could not answer, but he has sources up the chain of command at Hutsons and at Deere that he is confident he can discover what we need. It was so very helpful to have him here while the weather has us stopped, rather than trying to get this machine set up and calibrated on the first day in the field. Davis will return also on the first day that I take this soybean planter to the field… just in case there are some unforeseen details that need his expertise. That is very reassuring for me. Although I’ve been using a similar machine for many years, the latest improvements are significant enough that this assistance is welcome. I expect a very seamless and relatively easy start for the first day of soybean planting. God Himself only knows what day that will be…but we have done all we can to be ready for that day! (There’s a spiritual lesson in that statement, too!).
In order to calibrate the row units, we had to unfold the drill. Then we could move the units up and down fully.
John is preparing the sprayer for use as soon as the wheat fields will allow. It might (probably will) leave a few muddy tracks, but the weeds need stopped immediately.
Bill Atkinson and his crew are here making more progress on the new water line installation. When complete, the farm will have its own dedicated water supply. It has been quite an undertaking, but will be very helpful once Bill is done.
We hope we can make some field progress this week, but time will tell. Once April arrives, we will begin to feel more pressure to get going. It is always better to get planted in April, and we will do our best to do so. But in 2022, we began planting on May 2… and that turned out okay too. God tells us not to worry, so we will trust Him again in 2023.
Have a good day.
