Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Farm to Fork Harvest Report 2012, Days 3-5

What we grow will end up in some version on your dinner plate.... so come along read how one farm family is growing some of the food you and your family will eat.

Breakdowns and illness are not welcome events during harvest and while you can't plan for these kinds of things, you try your best to deal with them if they do happen. 

On Monday our crew got started in the field after having the week-end off to allow the hot sunny weather to help ripen the winter wheat.  The guys are still having to harvest only parts of each field due to the uneven ripening of the grain, so it means they are having to move from field to field to only harvest the ripe wheat.  On Monday afternoon, while doing some grocery shopping, I got an emergency text and call from Farmer Joe asking if I could pick up a part for him, as he was broken down.... eeeeh, I was in another town so farm-wife Lisa was able to run to the parts dealer and meet Farmer Joe to get the needed item to him.  Whew!  Teamwork is a great thing.  =)

Later Monday night Farmer Joe told me Farmer Jay had come down with bronchitis, but was able to get into the medical quick-care office and the doctor had prescribed  a good dose of antibiotics to get him well.  On a farm and especially during harvest you just don't call in sick (unless it is really bad and/or you get admitted to the hospital). Many a time we all have felt under the weather during harvest and the crops don't have a "pause button" and the wheat has to get harvested, so you "suck it up" and out the door you go and do what you need to do. Luckily  those things have  been far and few - and most of the time we are running on Adrenalin and it's a high energy state of mind.   
This is what wheat kernels look like from the wheat head and as I said
before, this is our paycheck
From yesterday's blog, I mentioned the great improvements  that  science and biotechnology have done in helping farmers feed more people.   And here is an excellent video about that and I hope you will take a moment to view it as there are many misconceptions about the use of technology in the production of our food supply - if anything I hope it will ease your mind on the safety as well as benefits in utilizing the innovations that will help the 2% of us whose job is to feed our world.



At the end of the day, keeping the equipment free of chaff and dust are critical as chaff/dust on the hot equipment can lead to an equipment fire, so throughout the day the excess debris will be monitored, blown off and  a thorough blowing off of the equipment will be done. 

Cody blowing the chaff and dust off one of  the combines at the end of the day.
I love this bumper sticker from the I love Farmers. org    It says it all, I wish it was available on a T-shirt. =)

As Farmer Joe left this morning, he said they would know by about 2pm today if we would be able to harvest any more wheat - and may have to be out of the field a few more days to let the sun do its job and finish the ripening process of the wheat.  So for now, you have the scoop on our wheat harvest.
Many thanks for stopping by and come on back to see how our harvest is progressing.  If you have questions, email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave a comment.  Talk to you soon!  All my best, Gayle