A Spring Planting Prayer

As spring planting gets underway I wanted to share this simple prayer for all of the farmers, crops, planting season and growing season.

March Madness Farm Edition

It is the start of March Madness and while I'm getting excited to watch some basketball tonight and hope to see a few ISU Cyclone victories, we're also gearing up for spring planting which will start in just a month.

Getting the Planter Ready

We've been working on the planter in the shop

Even though there is snow on the ground, we've been working hard in the shop giving our planter its spring-time inspection, maintenance and adjustment done.

Just like your car or truck, farm equipment has many parts that wear down and this is the time of year that we take time to lubricate and get replacements for those parts.  This hopefully will help us to not have any breakdowns after we get into the fields this spring.

Planter Clinics

Getting our planter meters checked ensures
accuracy placing the seed in the ground

Yesterday, My Farmer went to our local tractor dealership for a Planter Clinic, where they learned how to calibrate and set up our planter.  This is essential for making sure our GPS and precision planting equipment are working properly.

Next week we will be getting our planter meters checked, as seen in the photo above.  Seed meters are part of our precision planting system that controls the seeding rate and population of individual rows on our planter.  Each row has its own meter.  This system allows us to start and stop seeding on individual rows, all on the go.  Our seed meters are checked for their efficiency by checking how many skips or double plants the meter gave through a test on the meter machine.  Making sure our meters are working properly is one way for us to make sure that our planter is putting seed into the ground accurately.

Corn and Soybean Seed is Here and Arriving

Our corn and soybean seed is stored in seed tender boxes

Most of our corn seed has arrived and is being stored in the shop (in fact if you look at the top photo of the planter in the shop, you can see the seed tender boxes along the back wall), and most of our soybean seed will be arriving by the end of the month.

We use tender boxes to store our seed because it allows us to easily switch between different varieties while filling the planter out in the field, plus the tender boxes hold a lot more seed.  Tender boxes hold an average of 2,500 pounds of grain, where traditional bags hold 50 pounds.

So, as you can see, we are having our own version of March Madness here on the farm.  If you are interested in getting a sneak peak at spring planting, check out some of these posts:

• Planting a Seed
• Signs That Spring Has Arrived
• Rules of a Farm Wife (Spring Edition)

What do you look forward to with Spring's arrival?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Farm Friday - Harvest Happenings

Harvest is a busy time of the year on our farm.  The days start early and the nights end late.  We work as hard as mother nature allows us to bring in both our corn and soybean crop.  When I find myself at home I play "catch up" with all of the house work and try to cross off a couple things (or at least one) from my to-do list.  And since today is Friday, I thought it'd be a fun excuse to ignore my messy living room and breakfast dishes in the sink and write a Harvest Happenings blog post.

My tractor riding buddy Miss L and I

Harvest this year has been going a little slow and to tell you the truth, has been full of the unexpected.  We normally like to start harvesting our soybeans and then switch to corn.  But this year, due to flooding in September, I think we've switched back and forth between soybeans and corn four times because we're simply just going to fields that are dry enough to be worked in.  And you might not think switching back and forth isn't that big of a deal, but it takes time and slows down harvest.  We have to completely clean out the combine, catch cart, wagons, auger, etc. and switch the combine's head between corn and soybeans.  We store and sell our corn and soybeans separately so you don't want corn mixed in with your soybeans and vice versa.

Here is a picture of me dumping corn from my catch cart
to a set of wagons.  Every piece of equipment used for harvest
has to be cleaned out when we switch between corn and soybeans.

And talking about that September flooding, that is causing concern for a couple different reasons.  First, is that the ground is still not completely dry and very soft.  While taking out the crop, we have to be careful while driving in the field so we don't get stuck.  We also are waiting to do any fall tillage work because things are so wet that we'd end up just compacting the soil more, rather than breaking it up which is the benefit in the first place.  The second reason for concern is the crop health and stand.  Many, if not actually all, of our corn and soybeans were in standing water at some point.  This has caused our stalks to deteriorate and the chance of fungus growing on our plants to increase.

Can you see that line along the bottom of the corn stalks?
That is a water line from the flooding we had in September.

But this fall hasn't been all gloomy.  Part of the unexpected of this year is that our crops are yielding average to above average.  That makes the increase stress of harvesting in these non-ideal conditions a little better to handle.  Also, my favorite part of harvest is always the time spent making memories with our family.  Sometimes it gets a little crazy having our kids out in the field and so involved during harvest, but it is so much fun too.  How lucky are our kids that they get to be with their parents and grandparents everyday?!

Miss R taking the customary
"First Fall" steering wheel photo in the tractor

So this is a little bit of everything I've been thinking about, stressing about, and enjoying lately.  I also did my first "Farm Friday Facebook Live" from the tractor last week and I hope to find time to do it again today.  What questions do you have about corn and soybean harvest?  I'll try to answer those questions in my next Facebook Live and on here through my next Harvest Happenings.  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

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!

Iowa Roadway Identification - Corn and Soybeans

Summer is that time of year where we find ourselves in the car a lot.  And if you are traveling down a black top road or the Interstate highway in Iowa, there is a good chance you are going to see a lot of two things - corn and soybeans.  So what are corn and soybeans besides Iowa's two main field crops?

A field corn cob near harvest in August

Corn is a tall, stalky, annual field crop.  What you are primarily seeing along Iowa's roadways is Field Corn.  Field Corn makes up 98% of the corn grown in the United States.  This variety of corn is primarily used for livestock feed and ethanol fuel.  On our farm we personally sell our corn to both local cooperatives, who grind the corn for livestock feed, and to ethanol plants, who extract both fuel for our vehicles and dried distiller's grains (DDGs) to feed to livestock, from the corn kernels.  Field corn is also used to make cereal products (corn flour, corn meal, tortillas, etc.), corn starch, corn oil, corn syrup, and even beer and whiskey.

Here is a picture of some corn starting to emerge last week

Corn planting has almost reached 100% completion in Iowa and there is a lot that has started to emerge.  From your car window right now, corn probably looks like perfect rows of grass.  Over the summer, it will grow a strong stalk with long, green leaves and one ear of corn.  A typical ear of corn has around 800 kernels on it.  By the end of the summer, field corn in Iowa usually is 8 feet tall or higher.  (Check out our past family photos on the 4th of July to get an idea of how tall it grows by the half-way point of the growing season - 2014, 2013, 2012)

A soybean pod near maturity

Soybeans are a bushy, annual field crop.  Soybeans are processed into two products - soybean meal and soybean oil.  We sell our soybeans to local cooperatives and directly to soybean processors (in fact, we are hauling soybeans today to Cargill).  When soybeans are brought into a processing facility the first thing extracted is the soybean oil.  Soybean oil is a common vegetable oil and it is made into products like margarine and salad dressings.  The oil can also go through at refining process and turned into biodiesel fuel.  After the oil has been taken out of the seed, soybean meal is left.  Soybean meal is used for livestock feed, primarily for poultry, pigs and a growing aquaculture (fish) market too.  Soy is a great and high protein source!  In fact, soy is a complete protein; it has eight essential amino acids in it needed for dietary needs of humans and animals.

Some newly emerged soybeans from today

Soybean planting isn't as far along in Iowa, compared to corn, but should be close to finished by the beginning of June this year, if I had to guess.  We hope to finish this weekend!  Earlier planted soybeans are just now starting to emerge.  If you look out your car window and can tell a tractor has been in a field because you see dirt worked up, but don't see anything emerged yet - there's a good chance there are soybeans in it getting ready to pop up out of the ground.  Over the summer, the plant will grow many stems that will have green leaflets on them with pods of soybeans.  The number of pods on a plant varies from variety to variety and growing season to growing season.  In Iowa there are anywhere from 30 to 40 pods on each plant typically.  Each pod has an average of three beans.

Combining soybeans in September

In the fall both corn and soybeans dry up, and that is when you'll start seeing combines out in the field harvesting the crop.  We then sell and deliver our crop to our coops and ethanol plants throughout the year.

So the next time you're taking a road-trip through Iowa, or just a Sunday stroll, I hope you now know a little bit more about what's growing in the fields along the road.  I hope you can identify corn and soybeans, and that you might know some fun facts to impress the others in the car!  What questions do you have about the corn and soybean growing cycles in Iowa?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids January Update

It is crazy to thing it is the last day of January!  This month seemed to fly by for our family and for our farm.  Here has been what we've been up to this month raising Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids:

Corn & Soybeans

When it comes to our crops this month the main thing we've been working on is gathering information and making decisions for the Agricultural Act of 2014 (aka the Farm Bill).  This new Farm Bill has enrollment deadlines quickly approaching that will impact some of our risk management tools we use on our farm for the next five years, so it is important we fully understand what our options are.  To help us learn about these choices we have been attending informational meetings in our area hosted by Iowa State University Extension and USDA/FSA (Farm Service Agency).  This is also a time of opportunity to update our farm's production history, so we've been busy gathering all of our data to do that too.

Weather affects our crop ground all year long.  This month we've seen a thick snow cover from a few snow storms at the beginning of the month, disappear here in the last week.  The ground thawed a lot, at least in the top couple of inches.  I actually got mud on my boots when I walked out into our field to take the photo below yesterday!  But as with life in Iowa, that is all about to change as we have 6+ inches of snow coming tonight and cold temperatures to follow.  They always say that if you don't like the weather in Iowa, just wait a couple of days and it'll be completely different!

Pigs

Our pigs are currently six months old and weigh around 220 pounds.  We have been caring for them for the last 14 weeks.  The big thing during the winter is to keep them warm.  You can see in the photo that we have added extra insulation and protection on the walls of the barn to keep a consistent and comfortable temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit for them.

Kids

This has obviously been a big month for our family, as we added JP to our family.  JP has been an easy going baby so far who is starting to become more alert longer each day.  It is crazy to think that she is already three weeks old, but at the same time, we have forgotten what life was like without her.

As for LP, he is enjoying being a big brother to two sisters.  One of his favorite activities currently is to build with an erector set he got for Christmas.  He loves taking things apart and putting them back together, or rebuilding something completely new.  Future engineer possibly?

And MP can't stop kissing and hugging JP.  If you would let her I think she would show her affection every other minute all day long.  MP's favorite activity is reading.  We probably read 20 books a day.  Her current favorite is "Tickle Time!" by Sandra Boynton.

What were you up to in the month of January?  What was the best thing that happened to you or favorite thing you did?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Tractor Seat Update

After a wet start to the week, we've been busy combining corn, and today, have switched back to harvesting soybeans.  Last night My Farmer and I crunched some numbers and decided we are 20% finished with corn and 40% done with soybeans as of today.  And I have to admit, that feels pretty darn good!  With a "rain day" or two weekly it seems, I think we were both surprised at our progress.

If you've been following my Tractor Seat Updates each Friday this month, you'll notice that we've been bouncing back and forth between corn and soybeans.  While this usually happens some each year, we usually don't like to do this each week of harvest like we have been this year.  When we switch, we have to change the combine head.  Corn and soybeans have separate combining head attachments.  We then have to clean out the combine grain holding tank and our catch cart so we don't mix soybeans and corn.  It isn't a lot, but it just takes time.  It is a lot nicer if you can just pick up where you left off the day before and not have to worry about cleaning everything out.

We've been having to switch back and forth due to the maturity of our corn and soybeans, as well as the moisture levels.  Soybeans have a somewhat narrow window to get harvested during due to the moisture levels you want.  So if we don't have soybeans in that window, we've been switching to corn, which is more flexible.

What questions do you have about corn and soybean harvest?  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 or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Tractor Seat Update

This past week we have concentrated on harvesting soybeans.  With unexpected rain Wednesday night and a frost last night, we've had shorten harvest days, due to the ground and soybeans being too wet.  Each day we've had to wait for the morning dew to dry up (or this morning, morning frost to disappear) so we can bring our equipment into the field to harvest.  This has made this week very stop and go, and I'll admit a little annoying.  It is so much nicer when we are able to just get up in the morning and run all day, rather than playing this waiting game each day.

And we aren't the only ones that have been playing the waiting game this week.  The Iowa crop progress report, released on Monday afternoon, put Iowa's harvest progress at the slowest rate in over 30 years.  30 years!  Now that it a little scary to think about, but one thing that makes me feel better is that we have more efficient equipment now than we did 30 years ago, so hopefully we'll still be able to finish before baby #3 - JP, arrives...

What questions do you have about soybean harvest?  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 or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Wordless Wednesday - Views from my Tractor Seat

Combining Soybeans at Sunset

Making a new pass in a corn field

LP having fun with Mom in the tractor and catch cart 

MP taking an afternoon nap while working with Mom

(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 or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Why we choose to raise GMOs

I will admit that I have stayed away from this topic since I started my blog because I feel like there are a lot of people that cannot have a civil discussion on this, but after having a friendly and open conversation about this over the weekend with the #FranklinCoHarvest blogger tour participants I've decided to open up a bit myself and share why we choose to raise GMO crops on our farm.  After this weekend I saw that there is some unfamiliarity with GMOs and that is what I hope to cover in today's post.

First off, let's describe what is a GMO.  A GMO (genetically modified organism) is an organism where the genetic material, aka DNA, has been changed from what occurs naturally.  Farmers and gardeners have been modifying plants for years by creating hybrids by selecting specific traits that they are looking for in a plant - such as manually pollinating two tomato plants together to create one tomato plant that produced both large and meaty tomatoes, or with apples - combining a sweet apple with a good baking apple, or by merging two corn plants so the corn has a strong stalk so it'll be more durable in weather and that creates a large ear of corn.  Biotechnology, that is used to do this in GMOs, is a more technologically advanced method of selecting traits.  As a farmer GMOs benefit my corn and soybean productivity and efficiency.

How do GMOs benefit corn and soybean productivity and efficiency?  First, GMO corn and soybean plants commonly have traits that help combat disease or insects, which helps us to use a minimal amount of pesticides (used to kill insects, similar to how you might use a mosquito repellent or a fly spray in the summer time) on our crops.  Besides using less pesticides, GMOs are a more efficient plant that use less land and water, due to traits in the plant that help with drought or root growth.  One of the largest benefits of GMOs is that herbicide-tolerant (aka weed killer resistant) crops allow us to control weeds better, which ultimately allows our crops to grow better and thrive.  And in the end, GMOs have higher yields because the traits it has been bred for have helped eliminate all of these yield-hampering issues.

Here I am eating GMO sweet corn at this year's
Farm Progress Show

Are GMOs safe to eat?  GMOs aren't only safe for you to eat, but a lot of times they are the more affordable food choice.  Many regulatory agencies and organizations such as the US Food & Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and the USDA have all studied GMOs and have found that they are safe to eat and have no negative health effects.  In fact the average amount of time that the FDA and the EPA study each new GMO is 14 years to make sure it has no health risks before it gets to go to the marketplace.  If you are interested in seeing what some of these, and many more agencies and organization from around the world, have to say about GMOs check out this graph.

Did you know, that GMOs make up approximately 70-80% of the foods we eat?  Many common food and beverage ingredients, such as corn, soybeans and sugar beets, are commonly GMOs.  So if you look at the food label on the next food you eat, you most commonly will find at least one of these three ingredients listed.

Do you have any questions on GMOs?  I'd love to answer your questions.  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.)

Tractor Seat Update

October is a busy month for harvesting corn and soybeans on our farm.  Usually in North Central Iowa harvest starts around mid-September and our goal is always to be done by mid-November (or at least by Thanksgiving!).  This year we didn't get started with harvest until this week, so we are starting a couple weeks late.

Why did we start a couple weeks late?  Well, it all goes back to when we planted the corn and soybeans in May and June.  This spring was very wet so we ended up planting our crops late.  We don't harvest our crops until they are mature and then we like to have them dry in the field.

My Farmer unloading corn to go into our dryer

Why do the crops need to dry in the field?  We like to have our crops dry in the field as much as possible, because the corn and soybean processors we sell our crops to have moisture standards they are looking for.  They need to crops to be dry so they can then turn them into feed for animals or ethanol for your vehicle.  The longer the crops dry in the field, the less amount or time and money we need to dry them through our grain dryer system on our farm.

This week has been moving a little slowly but we're just happy to be making progress.  We've combined around 10% of our soybean acres and 5% of our corn acres as of today.

What questions do you have about corn and soybean harvest?  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.)

31 Days from a Tractor Seat

I'll be the first to admit that I have neglected my blog lately (I guess that's what happens when you're pregnant with baby #3 and all you want to do is take naps whenever possible...), but that is all going to stop because I have signed up for the #31Days blogging challenge, that encourages bloggers to write a post every day in the month of October.

The first thing to do after I accepted this challenge was to come up with a topic to blog about for 31 days.  Many things came to mind such as family, food, and agriculture.  So as I pondered more about my topic from the comfort of my tractor during our fall corn and soybean harvest, I got to thinking, why not blog about:  

I always tell everyone that fall harvest gives me a lot of "thinking time" while I'm in the tractor and I always come up with lots of ideas.  So this fall I'm challenging myself to actually act upon those ideas and share my thoughts with you all through this series about things like agriculture facts, harvest fundamentals, "tractor approved" recipes, and of course some fun photos from the field.

And we might as well start by sharing a couple photos from harvest this week!

Soybean Harvest

Combining Soybeans

A look at soybean seed with dried soybean plants in the background

My first harvest felfie (farmer selfie) of the season :)

So what do you want to hear about during my "31 Days from a Tractor Seat"?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

Check out these other 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series posts:
We are a FAMILY farm
Tractor Seat Update (October 3, 2014)
First-Time Combine Rides for #FranklinCoHarvest Bloggers
How to Celebrate National 4-H Week as an Alumni
Why we choose to raise GMOs
Six Week Muffins - Tractor Approved Breakfast
Wordless Wednesday - Views from my Tractor Seat
Take a Tech Timeout in 3 Easy Steps
Tractor Seat Update (October 10, 2014)
Guide to Help your Local Food Bank this Harvest
#SelfieSunday
Can We Feed 9 Billion People by 2050
Wordless Wednesday - Sometimes You've got to Stay Up for a Homecoming
World Food Day Addresses World Hunger
Tractor Seat Update (October 17, 2014)
The Best Tuna Salad - Tractor Approved Sandwich
31 Days from a Tractor Seat Questions Answered
Learn about where your food comes from by watching Farmland for Free on Hulu
Sweet & Salty Corn Chips - Tractor Approved Snack
Wordless Wednesday - My Favorite Buddy Seat Riders Through The Years
A Little Dirt Never Hurt
All Purpose Pork Rub - Tractor Approved Recipe
Wordless Wednesday - Harvest Sky
Farming - Lifestyle vs Business
Tractor Seat Update (October 31, 2014)

Farm Friday

As you might have been able to tell, I haven't been blogging as much as I typically like too here lately.  We finished planting our corn and soybean crops the last week in May.  Since then we've been busy with field work such as spraying and side-dressing our corn.  I thought on this beautiful, and hopefully not scary, Friday the 13th, I would give an update on everything we raise on our farm:

Corn:
Like I mentioned, we have been busy spraying our corn and also side-dressing it.  Side-dressing is a special machine that spoon-feeds nutrients to the corn crop during this key vegetative growth stage of its life.  As you can see our corn is growing quite nicely.

Spraying our corn
(I'm afraid all of my side-dressing photos didn't turn out too well)

'Beans:

Almost all of our soybeans were planted the last week of May and have also grown very nicely so far.  On our farm we rotate our corn and soybeans so we have about 2/3 of our acres in corn and 1/3 of our acres in soybeans.  Rotating our crops helps with disease and insect control, as well as spreading out our work load in the spring and fall.  Plus rotating crops can help with higher yields.

Pigs:

On our farm we usually have a couple different age groups of pigs at all times that way we can spread out the work load throughout the year.  We recently just got in a group feeder pigs, who all weigh about 40 pounds, and we will finish them to about 270 pounds, hence our pig farm is called a feeder to finish hog farm.  We received around 1,200 feeder hogs a week ago today.

and Kids;

Just like our corn, soybeans and pigs, our kids are busy growing too and keeping us busy!  LP is Mr. Independent and loves being outside.  If I would let him, he'd stay outside all day long.  MP is busy working on walking.  She hasn't let go yet or tried walking alone, but I imagine she'll be taking her first steps soon.  Here are a couple photos of the kids from this past week's Iowa Ice Cream Trip to Hansen's Dairy Farm outside of Hudson.  I'll be posting about our trip soon so stay tuned!

LP petting a baby calf at Hansen's Dairy Farm

MP getting kissed by a kangaroo at Hansen's Dairy Farm

I hope you enjoyed today's Farm Friday update!  Do you have any questions about our farm where we raise Corn, 'Beans, Pigs and Kids?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!