Tuesday, January 21, 2025

On this really, really cold day (8ºF, with wind chill of -10ºF) the two Brandons are delivering soybeans to market.  As of today, we are now MT (empty) of 2024 soybeans; only corn remains in our bins.  It is both good and bad to be MT… it’s nice to have those bins cleared, but it would be nice also to have more to sell!   But the 2024 crop was a good one, and we are grateful for it.  There are still several truckloads of corn to deliver!

Little by little, the snow and ice from a couple weeks ago are slowly leaving. A warm weekend will speed its departure.

John has the backhoe in the shop, replacing a fuel line that was leaking a tiny bit.  He is fashioning it from a hose and clamps.  Our old backhoe has performed pretty well for us, but it does require a bit of maintenance occasionally.  Last winter, John spent a lot of effort rebuilding a couple hydraulic cylinders… an expensive repair!  Even if it has many years of service on it, the backhoe starts readily in cold weather and has been very reliable for us.

John has been working on our backhoe… our shop isn’t big, but it’s warm enough to make this job better on a cold day.

We are meeting Thursday with the accountant to review the farm’s tax returns and year-end results.  This will prepare us for the annual meeting next Monday evening.

After a couple nights at or near zero, the temperatures are supposed to rise over the next few days, reaching the 40s by Saturday.  Yes, it’s been cold, but the warm days make for some messy conditions underfoot here at the farm.   That’s one reason that I’d prefer winter days of 20ºF (with zero wind).  But we take what comes, and roll with the ups and downs of SWIN winter days and nights.  For example, it was zero last night, but that didn’t stop a big crowd from showing up at the basketball game!

Have a great week.