Wednesday, May 7, 2025

We had a really nice day yesterday, in the low 70s, with brilliant sunshine.  Today, there are a few clouds, but it is warming up again nicely.  Monday of this week was the 7th day in a row with rain, and the weeks total was over 3 inches!  The fields are beginning to dry out, and that’s a good thing.

We are closely monitoring our wheat fields.  The heads are emerging and beginning to flower.  This is a critical stage for the final application of fungicide.   The timing is essential to the effectiveness.  With all the recent rains, it appears that we will be required to hire an airplane to get this applied… the fields are simply too soft to support the sprayer.  There are two fields that will have the airplane flying on the fungicide today, and 4 more tomorrow.  The others will wait until later in the week, maybe even over the weekend.  The wheat crop is the one thing that really looks good right now, and we are doing our best to take care of it.  Dad always told us that you need “a cool, dry May” to make for the best wheat crop.  We learned in 2024 that he was right; the wheat crop that was beautiful in April, was held back by the very wet month of May.  Let’s pray for sunny, dry days!

The heads of wheat seem a bit bigger this year.

The view across this wheat field is pretty nice today. We are grateful.

If the rest of the week remains dry, we may be able to begin again with the planters by Monday.  We are now reluctant to plant into damp conditions.  The soils are more ‘forgiving’ in April than May.  Therefore, the soil conditions need to be more ‘ideal’ when planting now, as compared to April.

In the few fields we have planted, the baby corn and soybeans are beginning to emerge.  They could use some sunshine to perk up in color and vigor.  Hopefully, that will happen this week.

You can begin to see the rows of little corn coming up here at the VanVleet farm.

This Sunday, we will not only be celebrating Mothers’ Day, but also the 150th anniversary of the founding of our church, Wheatland Christian Church.  Sunday evening there will be a cook-out, some old-fashioned hymns, some remembrances from older members, and testimonies about the work of the Lord at WCC.  It is an event I’m eagerly anticipating, as we consider how blessed we have been to be in a church that has been around for a century and a half!

Have a great rest of your week.