Farm Friday - Harvest Recap + New Additions

As the first fall snow fell today, I was thankful that we finished our corn and soybean harvest last Monday and 95% of our field work at the beginning of the week before we got rain for three days and snow today.  What we didn't get done, will and can wait til Spring and I think we are all okay with that.

Combining our soybeans

This fall's harvest went pretty well.  We had average to above average yields for both corn and soybeans, and we were able to work almost daily to get the job done since it was so dry this fall.

A fun thing that the kids and I did this fall was host Flat Aggie during harvest.  Flat Aggie is similar to the Flat Stanley project (which I personally loved doing Flat Stanley as a first grader 25 years ago...) based on the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  Students send a flat cutout to friends and family to then go on adventures and return after a certain period of time with a story of their travels.  Flat Aggie travels to farms and ranches and this year is being shared with classrooms in Illinois, Kansas, California and Arkansas.

A new addition to this year's harvest for us was that we started bagging corn.  The current market price for corn and soybeans is low, so we wanted to store as much of our grain as possible in order to get a better price for it at a later date.  All of our soybeans and most of our corn is being stored in grain bins that we both own and rent.  But as we ran out of bin space we started bagging the corn.  Think of it as "on farm storage."  These 250' long bags are made of a thick plastic.  From the catch cart, we filled the grain bagger, which inches along as the bag gets filled.  We will have to unload these bags before spring, so we can plant in those areas.  But at least for this winter, the bags have given us some much needed storage space.

Our "on farm storage" - grain bags

And speaking of new additions, we are excited to announce that our family will be growing in May!  We are expecting Baby #4 on May 20th and are very happy and full of love.  The kids are excited and have given the baby the nickname of "Tinker".  Our son LP came up with the name and we asked him where he got the name from and he responded nonchalantly, "My brain."  Oh, of course.  But anyways, the name has stuck, and we are all very excited to welcome Baby Tinker this spring.

Do you have any questions about Fall Harvest or our new "Spring Arrival"?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

First-Time Combine Rides for #FranklinCoHarvest Bloggers

It isn't everyday that we have visitors on the farm, so it was a lot of fun to have several bloggers from the #FranklinCoHarvest Bloggers tour visit us in the field this afternoon.  My Farmer and I were able to share our experiences and knowledge about farming and answer questions they had about our farming and technology practices.  Plus, the highlight for all of them was that My Farmer took them all on their first combine rides.

The Walking Tourists, It's Just Life, Jeni Eats and DonnaHup.com
after their combine rides with myself, MP, My Farmer and Musings of a Pig Farmer
and LP is up in the combine waiting for his turn :)
(Thank you Donna Hup for the photo!)

After everyone got a chance in the combine, I took them to visit our hog barn site.  They were able to take a look at our auto-sort set-up in our buildings and understand how we keep the pigs in the perfect environment all year long.  For some, it was the first time they'd ever seen a pig.  I loved how enthusiastic all the bloggers were for both their combine rides and pig encounters.  I'm excited to see what all the participants of this year's #FranklinCoHarvest Bloggers Tour share about on their blogs in the coming weeks - not only their experience in the field with us, but about all the other activities they've participated in all weekend long.

Have you ever been on a combine ride?  I loved how today LP couldn't believe it when Donna from DonnaHup.com said she'd never been in a combine.  But I think LP (and the rest of our family) would be surprised how true that is for so many people, even right here in Iowa.  Giving combine rides today was a great experience for everyone involved!  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post and by liking the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page.)

Wordless Wednesday

I'm happy to report that we finished combining on Saturday!  We now are working on finishing the rest of fall field work including fall tillage and eventually applying fall anhydrous.  So what does this all mean?  Well, it means that we're still busy in the field, but we know have time to eat supper as a family at home at the kitchen table (and not in our individual tractor or combine cabs)!  Here are a few photos from the past couple weeks of harvest.

LP practicing his tractor driving skills

My ride!  Tractor with catch cart

LP reading a tractor book, while in the tractor

Combine at night

LP being silly while getting ready to move to a new field

Farm Friday

This week we've been busy harvesting corn.  Since we started harvest a little over four weeks ago we really haven't had a break, meaning we haven't had any measurable rain that has really slowed us down.  There has been maybe 1 1/2 days total that we've been out of the field due to rain.  I know I'd love a day of rain to not only settle all the dust and soil in the field, but also to give everyone a day of rest!

I love helping out in the fall!  Now sometimes that means I have to run for parts to fix our equipment and sometimes that means I get to work in the field, usually driving the tractor with the catch cart.

LP and I riding in the tractor with the catch cart.
LP likes helping out with harvest too!

Having someone in the field running catch cart allows the combine to "dump on the go" so it never has to stop.  I follow along the combine when it is full of grain and then it empties out the grain into the grain wagon that I'm pulling in the tractor while still harvesting.

Combine "dumping on the go" on the tractor with catch cart

The corn harvest this past week has been going pretty well.  Yields are slightly better than we expected this summer before fall work started.  We can't complain about that - especially with this summer's drought!

Lastly I wanted to share a photo of our farm team.  Rarely are we all in one field but earlier this week, one evening before calling it a day, everyone was in one field discussing the plan for the next day.

L to R:  Rusty, Merlin, LP, My Father-in-law and My Farmer