Feeding America, Last views of Wheat Harvest 2011

With the exception of wheat chaff and dust, I hope the photos and videos of our wheat harvest made you feel like you were really there.  Here are some of the last pictures of our wheat harvest which were taken by our hired man, Cody with his camera phone- and they are amazing! (Thanks Cody!) My bugging of the guys has really paid off.  

Combine filling the grain cart at dusk

(P.S. If you are unable to view this video in your "Windows Internet Explorer", please use "Mozilla Firefox" - I'm not sure why the Mozilla Firefox works better - but it does.  G )

No street lights are in the fields, so combines are equipped with headlights
to see where they are going in the dark 

The tractor and grain cart heading off to the semi trucks

Cody is our all around guy who can do everything from driving
the combines to driving the semi trucks

Storing some of our wheat in our grain bins at the Tammany Farm

The auger sucks up the grain into the elevator

A view from the top of the elevator.

Farmer Joe is finishing the last patches of the spring wheat, then he will start next on our garbanzo bean harvest.

I hope you enjoyed the day to day blog of our wheat harvest.  Stay tuned for more on the garbanzo bean harvest and I'm working on the blog for the 3rd Dinner on the Farm event from last Saturday.  All my best, Gayle.  You can contact me at idahofarmwife@gmail or leave a comment. Thanks! 

Feeding America, Days 22-25 of Harvest 2011



Farmer Joe servicing his combine

 So you think your fuel bill is high? This will make you feel better… =) Our day starts out with servicing the combines and tractors. Have you ever wondered how we diesel up the machines? We don’t drive them into town to gas up at the pump, but rather a big “slip tank” is put into the back of the service farm pick-up and it then becomes a mobile diesel station that will go to where the combines and tractors are parked. Then either Cody, our hired man, or the farmer will fill up the tank, which costs about $500 a day to run just the combine. Ouch, but it is a cost of doing business.


I wanted to share that little fuel tidbit with you along with another good link that talks about the high cost of farming. Here is a quote from the article, “Further, the amount of capital needed to get a farm or ranch operation off the ground is staggering. We borrow more money each year to cash flow our operations than most Americans borrow in a lifetime. Here in Texas, some cotton farmers spend $600,000 for a single piece of equipment. That’s just one machine—it doesn’t’ even take into account land costs, fuel costs, seed costs and labor costs needed to grow a crop.” To read more on this, here is the link to The Hand that Feeds Us, http://news.thehandthatfeedsus.org/index000537092.cfm?x=bjRkbvN,bgBrLqFy . So my friends when you hear in the news about “farm subsidies” to help the farmer, it is because of these high costs that many of us in the Ag industry face. Call us crazy, but we love what we do.

A quick update on our harvest, Farmer Joe has been whittling down the Spring wheat fields with the help of Cody and Hale. Farmer Jay is still down at the Tammany farm harvesting garbanzo beans.

We still have some patches of spring wheat by our house that we will harvest on Saturday and we will be able to give our Dinner on the Farm guests an actual ride in the combine.

Take care and feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave a comment. I’m getting ready for our 3rd Dinner on the Farm event, of which the first dinner is tomorrow. All my best, Gayle

Feeding America, Day 20 & 21 of Harvest 2011

Family written in drift wood

The life of a farmer is centered around our crops and their cycles.  When it is time to plant, tend the crops and harvest, that time frame takes precedent over everything as the crops and Mother Nature wait for no one.   It is just the way of life for farmers, and yes, sometimes it’s hard especially when there is a fun family event or a family emergency arises.  There have been a couple of times in my farming life that I’ve sat in the hospital waiting room by myself when our daughter or another family member were hospitalized because my sweet farmer had to leave (Joe was at  my side and did not leave until the crisis had passed, they were in the recovery room & were okay) as he had to get the crop in the ground.   So this past Labor Day week-end found us waiting on the ripening of the spring wheat and Farmer Joe was able to head out of town with the rest of my family for a lake get away at a house we rented.  While he was only able to stay just a little over a day before having to head back to take his seat on the combine, he did get to help celebrate middle grand-angel, Natalie’s 3^rd birthday.  Am I complaining?  No, for us and the rest of America’s farmers, it is a fact of life, but one we cherish.    If you have never seen the YouTube video titled, “So God made a farmer” and narrated by Paul Harvey, it is worth a view to see what I mean. http://www.youtube.com/embed/QuzhwkaNC40?rel=0

Natalie all smiles

As for how harvest is going?  Well a quick update, Farmer Joe had a minor breakdown yesterday (Monday) and had to head to another combine dealer about an hour away to get a part so he would be ready to go on Tuesday.  This harvest has plagued us with breakdowns and flat tires on the semi trucks as well as Farmer Jay had two flat tires on his combine from running over antlers.  The deer and elk like to graze (grrrrr) in farm fields.   Farmer Jay finished the spring wheat at the Tammany farm and is now harvesting garbanzo beans.  Farmer Joe is still working on finishing the spring wheat before he starts on garbanzo beans at the Genesee farm. 

Semi trucks in line at the warehouse waiting to be unloaded

Tracks of past activity.  A newly harvested wheat field

As for this farm wife, I’m gearing up and getting ready for our 3^rd Dinner on the Farm that will start this Saturday.  I will be blogging about that too and hope you will stay tuned to read about it as well.

The menu for the farm dinner

As always, thanks for stopping by and email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have questions. All my best, Gayle.

Feeding America, Day 19 of Harvest 2011

A view of the Lewiston Grain terminal

It’s sort of eerie and quiet around the Genesee area where we farm as all the harvest activity has come to a sudden standstill. With the exception of one or two farmers, most of us have finished harvesting our winter wheat and are waiting for the spring wheat to finish ripening. Farmer Joe finished the last 15 or 20 acres around our house yesterday after the repairs on his combine were completed. He is optimistic that he can harvest the hard red spring wheat beginning on Sunday.


Last night the farmer and I went on a date and headed down to Lewiston, and we passed the huge mountain of wheat piled outside the terminal. This is a fairly common sight to have the excess piled outside when the terminals get full. The grain will start getting shipped by barge to Portland, Oregon and from there it gets shipped to the Pacific Rim countries, like Japan and the Philippines.

Thanks for stopping by and email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave me a post. I'll be posting more once harvest starts up again, come on back!  All my best, Gayle

Feeding America, Days 15-18 of Harvest 2011

Well my friends, the nut behind the computer key board (me) was having difficulty getting some videos loaded to tell you that we have been rained out, greened out and been having mechanical issues with Farmer Joe’s combine.  So I have lots to share with you, so come along and I’ll tell you all about it….  (many of these videos were taken over several days)

Some of the wheat around our house was too green to harvest, so we moved to another field about 5 miles down the road. Farmer Joe was not getting to harvest until late afternoon  on a couple of those days due to mechanical breakdowns on his header (yes again), but we did manage to get that field harvested and moved back to our home place.  Here is a video of the semi trucks moving back into the field by our farm house.

While harvesting, one of the chains was slipping so Farmer Joe moved the combine to level ground to do some minor adjustments as pictured below

Farmer Joe working on his combine

Wheat that was bunched up in the header due to the chain slipping

A view of what the inner workings of a combine look like. 
The side panel was up, so I snapped this picture.

Here is a video of my grand angels after their ride in the combine with Papa.  So far they have been logging in many rides as they can.  

A storm came through and brought lots of lightening, thunder and some rain.  Here you can see the dark clouds starting to roll in the picture below.

Son in law, Soren holding Natalie watching the combine.

Kaitlyn, our daughter, along with Andrew (her boyfriend)were visiting for the week-end and helped shuffle equipment from one field to another. Even though Andrew grew up on a cattle feeding operation, she wanted to show him that she thought she could drive a tractor better than he could.... =)

Andrew and Kaitlyn pausing in between moving equipment



Daughter Jen and son in law Soren, along with Maggie and Natalie
while waiting for rides in the combine



A view of the combine harvesting down a hill

Another view of the combine harvesting on our rolling
hills here in North Idaho

Earlier in the week, Ty, the brother of Cody (our hired man) came out to show his city born girlfriend what a farm looked like and to ride in a combine.  While she liked seeing what we do, she was not ready to give up life in Seattle.

Welina and Farmer Joe

With harvest in full swing, here is what is happening all around us.

A view of the service truck working on Farmer Joe's combine.  The service trucks come out to the field to service the combines.

Farmer Joe was down helping Farmer Jay with the Spring wheat at the Tammany Farm and after he got home, we headed into Moscow and came upon more combines moving from field to field on highway 95.

Not unusal to see combines traveling down the highway
to get to their fields

Baby Maggie our newest "farmerette" was baptized last Sunday.  Normally this kind of thing goes under the At Home on the Farm page.... but I've been neglecting my other blog pages.



Daddy Soren, Mommy Jen and baby Maggie with our Pastor

Lastly even in the middle of harvest,  I've been getting ready for our 3rd annual Dinner on the Farm series..... which is only a week away now.  

Whew!  There you have it, it has been very hectic.  Farmer Jay only has a couple more days to go before he finishes the Spring wheat down at the Tammany farm, then he will start harvesting garbanzos.  Farmer Joe will finish the winter wheat on our home place, then hopefully start on Spring wheat.  So thanks for stopping by.  Email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have comments/questions or post a one on the blog.  All my best, Gayle

Feeding America, Day 14 of Harvest 2011

Farmers are good at improvising to make things work.  Whether it is doing a quick fix with duct tape on some gadget or training  someone to do a task, they make it work. Today Farmer Joe was short handed on help as Cody our hired man was working with Farmer Jay harvesting Spring wheat down at the Tammany farm.  So the farmer taught Ryan, our seasonal help, to drive the semi trucks to the grain warehouse to unload the grain.  As this field is just a mile at best from the warehouse and the ground is level, it was a good training as well as a safe route for our young lad to learn this skill.

The semi truck waiting in the field until it is full and ready to be driven to the grain elevator

The other semi in the field and behind it is the grain terminal

Well that's all for today's report, thanks for stopping by and feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or post a comment.  All my best, Gayle

Feeding America, Day 13 of Harvest 2011

If you read yesterdays blog about farmers having “one of those days”, well sometimes they come in pairs. Yesterday as Farmer Joe was trying to start harvesting, a major breakdown on the other end of the header sent him into the combine dealership in Moscow in the hope they had the parts in stock ….. of which they did not. A breakdown on a combine in the middle of harvest is really bad news especially if the needed parts are not available and have to be ordered. So Farmer Joe headed to another combine dealership about 1 ½ hour away from our Genesee farm as that dealer had a brand new header and they “cannibalized” that header for the replacement parts for ours. Whew! Factor in a 3+ hour round trip to get parts, then get the header fixed meant the farmer didn’t get to start harvest till around 4pm. The weather forecast also had us concerned as it had warnings about a chance of thunderstorms too. Last night was the first night the lights on the combine were used and we harvested in the dark in order to get the 2 semi trucks loaded (the warehouse closes at 8pm, so a common practice is to get the trucks filled the night before so they can be unloaded first thing the next day).


I’m hoping for pictures or videos from Thursday’s harvest that I can share. Farmer Joe is hoping to finish the field around our home, then move the combine to another field 4 or 5 miles away.

As for Farmer Jay down harvesting Spring wheat down at the Tammany farm, all is going well despite a plugged up grain cart.

Stay tuned for more harvest tales. Feel free to email me at  idahofarmwife@gmail.com . All my best, Gayle

Feeding America, Day 12 of Harvest 2011

Farmers are not immune from having "one of those days"  as  Farmer Joe discovered an oil leak on his combine and missing fan belts on the semi truck during the routine maintenance checks and cleaning. The combine dealership didn't have the parts needed to repair the oil leak, so they had to be ordered (not something a farmer wants to hear during harvest), but luckily it was not a major issue at this point and Farmer Joe decided he could run the combine as it was.  Farmer Jay stayed behind and got the semi equipped with new fan belts.... so we were able to get in the field late morning.

Above is the video of Farmer Joe with the air hose

blowing out all the dust and wheat chaff that collects

during the day.  A daily cleaning is needed to ensure the

chaff doesn't catch on fire.

The panel sides of the combine lift up and/or out for
access to the insides of the combine. Lots of nooks & crannies
to blow the wheat chaff out

Fan belts needed to be replaced on the semi

As Farmer Joe was harvesting right around our house, I rode in the cab with him a good part of the morning.  My voice doesn't carry as well as his so many of my comments may be  hard to hear.  To show you what is is like being in a combine on a steep hillside, I did a short film clip and was holding the camera level.  The combine is a self leveling one for the rolling hills in our area.  

A view of the combine reel/header in the wheat field

In this video (above) I was explaining the the "fingers" on the reel of the header scoop the wheat in, then feed it into the rolling "auger" and as the wheat goes through the combine, the chaff gets spit out the back and the wheat kernels go into the bulk tank and a window is in the back of the cab (so you can see it falling in).

A  view from inside the cab watching as the tractor & grain cart
are heading our way so we can unload the combine on the go

Unloading on the go, means that the combine doesn't have to stop and unload it's grain and the tractor driver (Ryan) matches speed with the combine so the farmer can fill the grain cart while continuing to harvest.

The picture below (altho blurry) is of a big hawk.  We will see hawks, owls and coyote follow our machines out in the field because they know once the machine passes through the wheat, that it exposes mice and it makes for "easy pickins".

The black spot is a hawk in the field

As always, thanks for stopping by.  Email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have questions or comments. (Or post a comment as well)  All my best, Gayle

Feedng America Day 11 of Harvest 2011

Good Morning!  Another beautiful harvest day on the "Palouse" here in North Idaho.  Harvest is in full swing all around us with a flurry of activity not only on our farm but our neighbors as well.  This has been one of the latest harvests that many can remember.  The weather forecast looks great, the crops are ripe and those of us who feed America are intent on getting those crops in.

Sunrise on the 1st day of the Genesee harvest

The combine that was moved from Tammany sits quietly at the field entrance until called into action.  This winter wheat field is next to our home.  

Shortly after 1:30pm, Farmer Joe cut a sample of wheat, headed into town to get the moisture test, came back with a big smile as he said it was testing at 11% (a good number to be at) and that harvest was on!

A little later on in the day Kevin and his wife Susan arrived to film our wheat harvest for a music video he was working on.  They had traveled from Meridian, Idaho to film this for their company, Good News Records as  Kevin had written a song and thought this would be a fitting scene for his lyrics.   I forewarned them as they were filming to not stand "downwind" of the combine unless they wanted to get coated in wheat chaff and be itchy the rest of the day.  Kevin got to ride in combine and was amazed at all the technology in the cab and that it was not anything like he imagined.  The cab is air conditioned, has monitors that tell the operator what the wheat is yielding, where he as been in the field, moisture count, and it monitors when the bulk tank is getting full.  The combine has a little beacon outside that flashes to alert the grain cart driver to start heading over to the combine so it can be unloaded.   Plus there are two-way radios in the tractor and combine, so everyone is in communication with each other.

The grand-angels were out and also got to get their first ride of the year with "papa" too.

A few hours later, a photographer for Idaho Grain came to photograph our harvest as well, and gosh, we were feeling somewhat famous!  =)

Kevin from Good News Records posing with his
guitar on the combine

The combine at sunset after a good day of harvesting. The tractor and grain
cart are in the far background.

 I will be on had to record harvest in action today so keep stopping by and as always, email at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have questions or comments.  Posts are always fun too.  All my best, Gayle

Feeding America, Day 10 of Harvest 2011

The agenda for this Sunday morning  was to be a day of just moving equipment and getting ready to harvest winter wheat at the Genesee farm.   And so the early Sunday morning found Farmer Joe and I having breakfast with Farmer Jay, Lisa, their son, Zack, and Lisa's brother, Jeff and his girlfriend, Mindy.   After breakfast our guys headed down to Tammany to bring Joe's combine up and I rode home with Lisa.  This has become sort of an informal ritual during harvest when we finish winter wheat down at one farm and move up to the main farm. 

The combine and header are transported separately and the interesting thing about this header is that it can be towed without a special trailer.  The wheels move into transport mode, a detactable long hitch hooks up the header to the pick-up.  Once the destination is reached, then the hitch is removed and the tires are put back into position under the header and it is ready to go.


Arriving at our Genesee field next to our house to
hook the header back up to the combine



Farmers Jay (in the forefront) and Joe in back adjusting
the wheels under the header

All set up and ready to go!  Just hope the wheat is ready to be harvested

Thanks for stopping by ! Have to get some cookies baked for the crew as well as be on hand to run a moisture sample of the wheat into the grain elevators to see if we can harvest today (Monday), plus the song writer will be out later on this afternoon to film wheat harvest (hopefully) for his music video.  Stay tuned I'll have more.  All my best, Gayle.