Feeding America Day 2 of Harvest 2011

Day 2 of the winter wheat harvest went better for our crew and we were able to get into the field after lunch.  Above is actual video that Farmer Joe took on his camera.  The yields look good, some parts of the fields are yielding better than others, so until we harvest the entire field, we will not know what the average bushel to acre is, but we anticipate it being good.

Here is another video that showing Farmer Joe unloading the combine into the grain cart.  As the farmer said in the video, he is unloading the grain from the combine into the grain cart which is pulled by a tractor (and driven by Ryan) of which it will then be unloaded into a waiting semi-truck.  Once the semi is full it will head to the grain terminals which are located on the Port of Lewiston.

Ryan (sitting) and Cody on hand to help the mechanic if needed
while repairs are being made to one of the combines



The semi-trucks in the field waiting to be loaded

 As I've said before in my blogs, it takes a lot of equipment to feed America.

Farmer Joe and his big red combine

Thanks for stopping by and please email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have questions, or post a comment.  Thanks and keep watching for more updates on the wheat harvest.  All my best, Gayle

Feeding America, Day 1 of Harvest 2011

It’s harvest time and there is a certain smell in the air that I can’t explain, but it is fresh and earthy.  Farmer Joe was excited to get into the field and begin cutting, (it’s a lot like the first day of school as for excitement level), and so as I packed his lunch, the dog and I sent him off with well wishes..... 

Josie, the spoiled dog, is the "tester" of the lunch meat, her favorite job!
She likes to make sure it is the best & tastiest for her beloved  master

Lunch box in hand, sipping the last cup of coffee
Farmer Joe is ready to head out for the day

The harvest crew that I will be talking about are, Farmers Joe & Jay along with Cody
(our hired-man), Ryan (our seasonal help who drives the tractor & load-out wagon) and Kirk, who drives his own semi-truck, along with our fleet to take the grain into the terminals.   Around noon I called to check to see how things were going and found out, the job of feeding America got off to a slow start.  After cutting our first semi-truck load of winter wheat, the moisture testing came in at 13% which is the highest amount that the grain elevator will take.  This is not a good thing to be at the highest level right at the beginning.  Moisture samples indicated the rest of the field was measuring at 14% so we had to shut the operations down for the day. =(  We were experiencing a few mechanical issues, so the combine repairman was called out to our field to fix an issue with Farmer’s Jay combine.  Farmer Joe was fixing some other minor mechanical issues on his machine as well so we will hope to get into the field later on today (Tuesday, August 9^th).  The forecast is for sunny and hot temps, which can mean that the moisture percentage will decrease and be in the acceptable range for the warehouse to take the wheat.  Farmer Joe took his camera and plans on getting pictures and videos that I can upload for you, so stay tuned.   As always, thanks for stopping by and if you have question or comments, please feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or post a comment as well.  All my best, Gayle