Garbanzo Harvest 2010

Above is a short video of the combine cutting the garbs.  For some reason my computer and camera do not like each other and I am only able to post really short clips.

We moved up to the Genesee farm to begin cutting garbanzos and it has been hit and miss getting into the field with cool rainy weather.  We only have 2 days left on the garb harvest once we can get back into the field - so hold off washing windows, cars or anything else that triggers rain, please! =)



Harvesting garbs in front of our house. The garb plant is
closer to the ground so not much crop residue is left on
the ground once the combine goes over it.

With this 40' Draper Flex Header, it allows us to only have to use one header for both wheat and legume crops.  Normally farmers must have two different headers for the wheat or a grain crop (barley, oats) and a different one for the legumes (peas, lentils or garbanzos).  Each header would have different finger like tines that pick up the crop.  So this header is a bonus to only have to have one for both kinds of crops.

Lots of dust and plant matter expelled
from the back of the combine

 

2nd Annual Dinner on the Farm, 09-10-10

Menu for 2010 Dinner on the Farm

Our 2nd annual Dinner on the Farm event was again, a worthwhile affair. The weather was perfect, sunny, calm and in the 60's. One of the guests asked me how we got started doing this and I explained back in April, 2009 I attended a Women’s Leadership program sponsored by Syngenta and the National Wheat Growers Association. The conference was designed to provide women with a skill set in which to speak to the public, politicians, and the media, but above all, to inspire women to reach out and educate the public about what farmers do. Our dinner event also coincided with me receiving a letter from American Agri-Women, an organization of which I belong to, with the letter starting out saying “agriculture is under siege” and urging women to be proactive and spread the word about the importance of agriculture. With so much negative publicity in the news and the journalism reporting seems to show only one side of agriculture, which is not in a positive light, we need to counter the bad publicity and all producers need to take the time and step up and tell our story! I tell our story through my blog, social media and hosting these dinners.

Guests gathering in the kitchen before heading out to the field for a tour

Our guest list was comprised of people who applied to attend the event and some that I specifically targeted for their importance in the community. The ones we purposely sought out were the City of Moscow’s Executive Director for the Chamber of Commerce, Steve Hacker and his wife, Traci. The other couple was Gresham Dale Bouma and his wife Wendy, of which Gresham is running for office as our Legislative District 6 State Senator. We felt it is imperative to have a good rapport with these leaders and urge them to use us as a resource if they ever had questions about agriculture. Next week’s dinner will be attended by the other candidate for the state senate seat. The other farm host couple was Jay and Lisa Anderson, our farming partners, and again they were a true asset with their naturally fun and witty personalities, plus being able to easily converse with the guests.

Sister in law, Lisa enjoying herself

Guests starting out for the farm tour

Matthew and Gresham (not facing the camera)

Guests - Anastasia (far right), Traci, Steven, Patrick and husband, Joe
in the garbanzo field next to our house

Guests, Wendy and Gresham with brother in law, Jay

Anastasia and Traci sharing a laugh

Guests enjoying the crop tour on a beautiful Fall evening 

The remainder of the guest list was comprised of one couple who waited a year to attend farm dinner event (thank you Anastasia & Matthew). Anastasia is an Associate Professor of International and Environmental Law at the University of Idaho and her husband, Matthew, a mechanical engineer. The other guest was Patrick, the District Conservationist for Latah County. Unfortunately, Patrick’s wife, Tracy, whose keen interest in Ag, was unable to attend due to an unexpected event which took her out of town. Tracy, in her application, said she grew up in NYC and was more familiar with asphalt than wheat and wanted to see what we do. We invited Patrick to bring his wife out to the farm anytime. All in all, it was a wonderful group and the conversation and questions were excellent. Again topics ranged from erosion to GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and it was all discussed over a hardy dinner.

We had hoped to have the combines up here in time for this farm dinner, but the weatherman was not very cooperative and with the rain earlier in the week, it stopped the garb harvest for a few days.  So with about 1 more day left to harvest down at the Tammany farm we should get done by Monday and then move the equipment up to the Genesee farm and will have the combines on hand for next week's dinner. =)

Traci and Steven enjoying a beverage before dinner

Great guests + good food = fun evening

This is what the guests were sent home with

Due to the generosity of Pacific NW Farmers Cooperative, we had Pea & Lentil Cookbooks and a 2lb bag of lentils to give the guests.  Kaufman Farms also donated Barley Soup packets and the Pea & Lentil Commission donated a packet of dried garbanzos, recipes and a lapel pin.  We also received a few Idaho Wheat cookbooks that I thought would be great hostess gifts to our farm hosts.

A gift for Jay & Lisa
Cookbook was donated by Idaho Wheat Commission
along with Idaho Wheat lapel pins

All in all we felt the evening was a success and the guests were all very appreciative of our efforts.  It is fun getting to meet these wonderful new people and a good rapport has been established.

Stay tuned for next week's report on the Dinner on the Farm.  Our farm hosts for the 09/18/10 dinner is "Potlatch Joe Anderson" and his wife Pam.

September is a busy time on the Anderson Farm

September is shaping up to be a really busy time on the Anderson Farm.  Besides harvesting lentils and garbanzo beans (watch for more pictures on that harvest) .......

This same combine and header will be used
to harvest garbanzo beans and lentils

We are also hosting our 2nd annual Dinner on the Farm on September 11th and 18th.  This year's guest list is, once again, quite amazing with a great cross section of guests.

2nd Annual Dinner on the Farm is coming this weekend!

Next Joe and I, along with a few other farm hosts will be in Washington, DC at the Urban Wheat Field.  There we will be on hand to answer questions and whatever duties are assigned to us.  For more background on that, visit http://www.wheatfoods.org/UrbanWheatfield-25/Index.htm. 

As farm hosts, we are being kept in the loop about the wheat's progress as pictured below. The wheat is being grown at the University of Maryland and will be transported to Washington, DC.  We were just updated that hurricane Earl is expected to miss their location and the wheat should not be affected. Yikes, with 3 weeks and counting, I am sure this was a knuckle biter for the event planners!  I think I can almost hear the sigh of relief from the Wheat Council knowing the wheat crop  is safe and will not be in the hurricane.     

Wheat being grown outside in pallets

Mature wheat moved inside to protect it from sun & heat

 

Please stay tuned for more pictures and updates on the garb harvest, the Dinner on the Farm and the Urban Wheat Field.

P.S.  In my earlier blog, I wrote about  our inspection of our farm by the Food Alliance inspector (http://foodalliance.org/) and just today we received our "certification" results and passed... whew!  Now all we need to do is sign the agreement and pay the fee, then we will officially we a certified farm .

Whew! 2010 Wheat Harvest Done

Joe's combine cutting wheat

We finished our wheat harvest on the Genesee farm around 6:00pm Thursday, August 26th amidst a crazy summer wind storm.  The overall yield was  slightly above average  for the Genesee farm, but it was not the "bumper crop" many  had expected (including us).  The early indicators of having an abundant harvest were due to having the  near perfect weather conditions such as lots of rain and cool temps in May and June which typically produce record wheat crops.  But we are still happy to have a little above average yields and even happier that they are now safely in the grain bins.  We now have a small field of lentils to harvest and many acres of garbanzo beans to harvest as soon as they are ripe, which should be in the next week. 


As many farmers, including us have many different field locations, it takes a little bit of organization to get all the equipment moved from one field to another.  To give you an idea of what moving looks like, I took this picture of a neighbor moving his equipment along the road we live on.  The header on the combine needs to be removed as it is too wide for roads or highways, so it will be pulled by a pick-up on its special trailer.

Pick-up pulling the combine header on a special trailer

Farm equipment moving along our county road

Like many farm families, we enjoy hitching a ride or two on the combines and tractors and the day before we finished, our oldest daughter, Jen brought the grand-angels out for another ride.

Brinley and I getting ready to take a ride with Poppa

Brinley is our 4 yoa grand-angel, although she likes getting rides in the equipment, she is more into picking wheat for a bouquet for Mom.  She is our girly girl, just like her momma and Aunt Kaitlyn.  On my side of the family we are used to all girls and they are all "girly girls" who like dressing up, shoes and all the glamor that goes along with that. 

Brinley in the wheat posing for Grandma

Natalie awaiting a ride with her Poppa in the combine

This is Natalie, our almost 2 yoa grand-angel. This is one who grabbed her Mom's phone when she saw Poppa in the field and shouted... "Poppa..... "bine" (combine) .... ride.... NOW!"  I think it was her first 4 word sentence.  From all early indications, I think this is the child who will be wanting to hang out with Poppa in the field as soon as she can.  She loves her John Deere boots, trucks and combines.  Today at our house she ended up taking home one of Poppa's farm magazines  because she liked the pink truck that was in the magazine. 

A Day in the Life of a Farmer During Harvest

08.24.2010 This blog has been updated with 2 short video clips

I tagged along with Joe to show you what a day during harvest looks like.  Ours started out with a few sprinkles of rain, so we didn't get into the field until 1:00pm.  The day is usually started around 6:30am-7:00am, so we enjoyed the morning by reading the paper, having coffee and then getting a call from our 4 yoa grand-angel inviting us into breakfast at their house. =) Yummm.

As you can see the clouds were still hanging around and it is cool and windy, about 63 degrees.  Joe is on top of his combine blowing off the wheat chaff and dust.  This practice helps eliminate a possible fire, which the danger of that is always present as their is plenty of dust and wheat chaff that forms on the combine.

Joe on top of his combine blowing off wheat chaff

More wheat chaff and dust being blown off ( you always
want to be upwind when this is occurring)

Cutting wheat with a 40' header

Climbing up into the combine I take my seat next to Joe and watch as the wheat goes through the header which then goes into the bulk tank.  For the passenger, watching the wheat get thrashed in the header is very mesmerizing, sort of like watching a fire in the fireplace. 

The monitor in the cab

 This combine has a monitor that provides all sorts of info, like the one above that gives a picture of the field where Joe's combine had harvested the day before.

A view of what is seen while cutting from the cab

A view from the cab, the wheat chaff makes it dusty

Cutting wheat is dusty and there is chaff flying all over, so above is what it looks like as the header is cutting the wheat. 

Looking into the bulk tank from the cab back window

Loading on the go from the combine into
the bank-out wagon

Above is a picture I snapped as the bank-out wagon pulls up along side the combine and we are dumping the grain into the cart. 

Short video clip of unloading the grain from the combine into the bank-out wagon.  The combine usually needs to unload the bulk tank about every 12 minutes, so  by " unloading on the go" it saves approximately 2 minutes harvest time every 12-15 minutes.

Loading the grain from the bank-out wagon cart
into the semi

The bank-out driver, Erin, then unloads the cart into one of the semi-trucks.

The truck arrives on the scale fully loaded with wheat

 Next I hop into the semi that Cody, our hired man, is driving and go into town with him to dump the grain at the co-op. Above is Cody pulling onto the scales to get weighed fully loaded.

Cody opening the valves so the grain can go into
the pit at Pacific Northwest Co-op

Once the truck is in the correct spot at the warehouse pit, Cody opens the bottom of the grain trailer where the grain drains into the pit. 

The warehouse man collecting a grain sample

Here is a short video clip of unloading at the warehouse.

 

 

The warehouse man takes a sample of the grain for testing. The wheat gets tested for moisture, test weight and grade, checking for sprouted wheat heads, dockage and  a falling numbers test.    

Waiting line to dump the grain at the PNW Farm co-op

The empty semi getting re-weighed

 The empty truck then goes back to the scale to get re-weighed and at that time is when Cody gives the wheat sample to the  person inside the scale house.  Then it's back out to the field again where another semi is loaded and ready to go!  This is what we do to feed America.  As I've said before, farmers are ordinary people who have an extraordinary job to do.

Harvest Dinner in the Field

Whew! We finished our wheat harvest on Wednesday, August 18th down at the Tammany farm and that is always a good feeling.  After  having  moved all of the equipment up to the Genesee farm we have started harvesting the winter wheat.   From the looks of things harvest is now  in full swing on the Palouse as I see other combines, tractors and support vehicles on the roads as they move from one field  location to another once all the crops have been cut.

Around 2:00pm today while I was still at work,  I got  a call from my hubby asking if it would be possible to bring a dinner out to the field for the crew.  Of course he was hoping the answer was yes, and knowing that I do like to cook and usually don't mind last minute requests, I was happy to oblige.  I used to take dinners out to the field, but it became too hard to do when we had 2 different crews in different locations so we discontinued them.  So by 6:30pm I was out in the field with my trusty Subaru bringing everyone a hearty dinner that consisted of  lasagna, garlic bread, green salad and a berry tart and chocolate zucchini bread that I happened to have on hand.  So this is what a true harvest in the field dinner looks like.

Dinner served from the back of my trusty Subaru

A clean milk jug with soapy water allows the crew
to wash up before dinner is served.

One thing with men, they  pretty much eat anything and are really appreciative for the food. =)
This is my husband, Joe dishing up his plate.

Left to right is our hired man, Cody, brother in law, Jay and friend,Hale who

dropped by for a ride in the combine

 (A little history on Cody- he started hanging out on the farm when he was about 11 yoa riding in our trucks and tractors when our girls were helping on the farm. He'd also ride for hours in the combines and would ask a million questions - he  was one of those kids who is extremely mechanically inclined and wanted to know exactly how everything worked!  So once he was old enough to work on the farm he has been our dependable and loyal hired seasonal help during the summers, until June when he graduated from high school and we hired him full time)   =)  I also want to note our other wonderful seasonal help was Erin, who had the day off today.  She is off to college in the fall, so we have found another young lad (Ryan) and Erin is training him to replace her spot in the tractor/bank-out wagon.

In the red shirt is Cody's dad, Roger and  Ty, Roger's other
son (by the car)

Roger and Ty both had the day off, so we were happy to have them drive our trucks.  One thing about Roger, Cody and Ty, they are hard working and can seem to do anything you ask.   It is definitely good to be us  to be able to have friends like these when you need extra help and at a moment's notice.

Ty received lots of kidding from the guys as he just announced he had
asked his girlfriend to marry him last night.  He looks
like a pretty happy young man to me! =)

All the semi's lined up waiting to go to town to get unloaded.

I love this picture, it's like the combine is patiently waiting to get into the field and it reminds me of watching a Friday night football game wherein some young lad is patiently waiting his turn to get into the game. =)

Last night we finished the winter wheat down at the Tammany farm, with the exception of the 10 acres hit by hail and are waiting for the hail insurance adjuster to assess it.  So today the crew is looking for ripe spring wheat to harvest.  The winter wheat which is seeded  (in this area) usually in late September or early October has a longer growing season, so it is harvested first.  Winter wheat is genetically designed to need the cold weather in order to produce a wheat head the following summer.  Spring wheat on the Palouse is typically planted late March or in April and as it has a lessor growing season and does not usually produce as many bushels of wheat per acre as winter wheat does.  On our farm, we use spring wheat in the rotation of our crop cycle to help with the disease cycles and weeds.  Our typical crop rotation on a field is winter wheat, then the next season spring wheat, then the following year it will be planted with some type of legume and it is usually garbanzo beans, but we have planted lentils as well.  The rotation of crops help the farmer to control weeds as different treatments affect different weeds and herabicide products can help control a broad leaf weed but won't hurt the wheat plant, and then we can control other weeds with products that will kill a grass like weed when we have a legume planted.  Plus rotation of crops are needed to help destroy soil diseases, all  this is done to keep the health of  the soil in optimum condition.