Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Round II with Mother Nature

Well our crops have survived our 2nd hail storm once again with minimal damage, especially at our Southern Tammany farm.  This new round of nasty weather from Mother Nature has ratcheted up the nervous level among us and our fellow farm pals.  On Friday, just days after posting  my blog about sitting on pins and needles as we wait for the crops to ripen so we can get them safely in the grain bins, we witnessed a fast moving thunderstorm that dropped pea size hail for 1-2 minutes!   Here is a short video (as I ran out of battery power... oops) that barely shows the intensity of the storm.   Golf ball size hail was reported around the area and that sent Farmer Joe down to check our fields down at the Southern Tammany farm.  There he noted that a neighbor about a mile from us had the golf ball size hail wipe out about 50% of his field.   Yikes.  



I'm just wondering if "Tums" and beer will help me get through this harvest (just kidding) but yes we feel like we are in a race to get the crops in before some other crazy weather pattern hits our area.  Unfortunately, it is going to be a late harvest due to the cold spring...... big sigh.  Here is picture of what the fields look like all around us at the Genesee farm.
 
Spring wheat is the green field and the winter wheat field behind the spring wheat
 is ripening - but is a few weeks away until ready to harvest (at the Genesee Farm)
 In preparation to begin harvest at the Southern Tammany farm (which is usually 2 weeks ahead of the Genesee farm), we have begun having our own personal parade of farm equipment make its 37 mile journey. It takes a lot of big equipment to feed America. So far one combine, 3 semi-trucks, and 2 tractors along with the grain carts are down there.






Moving the combine down the road on a 2 lane highway.  Just shows how big the combine is

A picture of what the farm parade looks like

This combine is next to be moved down and it travels without it's header

The 40' header will be towed behind the pick-up on a trailer
This tractor with the disk will also go as it is for fire prevention... cuz there is dust, chaff and hot equipment and farm fields are miles away from fire departments so extra precaution is a must.  After the opening round of wheat is harvested, someone will jump in the tractor and disk up the ground as a "fire wall".
Do you notice the "Red" theme among the equipment?
One more semi that will be sent down, and here the hired man, Cody and seasonal help, Ryan are checking lights, brakes lines, and other fun under the truck tasks to make sure everything is working okay.  Just so you know, I sped off on my trusty bike in case they had a really yucky job that they would try to pawn off on me (not really, they know to keep in good graces with the one who supplies the cookies)   =)

Cody on the left and Ryan under the truck

Once again, thanks for stopping by and I will keep you posted as we begin our harvest season.  In the meantime, I am still working on the blog to showcase the faces of the other fine folks who keep our nation fed - so come on back soon.   Besides quality time with the back pack sprayer, I'm becoming quite chummy with the computer as I work on the farm wedding blog too. Hope all is well for you, and I'll sign off for now.  All my best, Gayle (oh and if you have farming questions you want to ask, please drop me an email at idahofarmwife@gmail.com)