Sunday, October 22, 2017

Déjà vu


Well, she did it again….. she packed up her bags and drove off leaving me and the dogs needing to fend for ourselves. Sounds like the perfect beginning for a country song…. no, she would have taken the dogs and the truck. Wait, she did take the truck....... Those of you that really know us know that I cannot function without her. So here I am walking around the farm dazed and confused, one shoe on, my shirt on inside out and backwards looking for any scrap of food the Finken’s may have thrown in their garbage.
Truth be told, she must have been worried herself as she premade meals, labeled them put them in the freezer. The Finken’s must be worried as well as I have had more than one invite to meals in the past week. Funny thing is that our Facebook memory this week was a blog post titled “Bach’ing it in North Dakota”. I had a sense of déjà vu, it seems we have come full circle.

It is going to be a long two weeks that is for sure. Where did she go you ask? She traveled to Minnesota for a few days then flew to Pennsylvania to visit our daughter Jessica and her family. So here I am alone in North Dakota watching the landscape transition from autumn into what will all too soon become winter. Other than the few trees and the crops changing colors there is not a lot of fall color in the area. But the contrasts of what color there is against the browns of most the fields and greens others are absolutely beautiful. 
A shot of the farm with the drone. Chris and Holly are building a new house!

Harvest wrapped up this past week with the last of the beans off the field and for the first time ever they let me run the combine! Granted they put me on the flattest field so I could not screw anything up but they let me do it nonetheless.





I can now see why they don't let just anyone do this. Even when everything is all set up for you, not only do you have to keep an eye on several screens to make sure everything is going properly you also have to watch the wheel, sections and terrain in front of you for gopher mounds, rocks or anything else and can obstruct the conveyers.

One of several screens you have to monitor

And then there are the buttons and switches.....
The attention now turns to preparing the farm and fields for winter and next spring’s plantings. Work on the farm is never done. This week has been busy with mowing ditches, picking rocks, hauling grain to the elevator, cleaning grain bins and harrowing some fields.

Last post saw me hauling soy beans from the field to the grain bin at the farm, this week I hauled the same beans from the bin to the elevator. It seemed like a lot of work to just turn around and take the beans to the elevator a week later. Why not take them right away and avoid the additional labor and expense of putting them in the bins?

Putting it in......


Taking it out....
Price is the reason, in the last week the price of soy beans went up .36/bushel in one day so they contracted 8,000 bushel and a haul’in I went. This resulted in several thousand dollars in additional revenue. I say revenue instead of profits as there are so many expenses related to farming. Since then the price has come down somewhat so timing is crucial!
There becomes a point when the internal auger cannot pull any more beans off the bottom of the bin so you have to put in the drag auger.


Drag auger working its way around the bin
Once the bin was empty I had to clean it, a dirty but necessary job. Unless they are putting the same item in there, all remanents of the previos grain have to be cleaned out. To say it is a dusty and dirty job is an understatement. A facemask is definitely required. How do I know this? I only lasted 10 minutes without one. Eye protection would be helpful as well, my eyes were burning by the time I was done.
It's a dirty job but someone has to do it!
My funnest task of the week was rock picking. Each fall after harvest Farmer Bob will go out and flag all the larger rocks in the field. I then take the Bobcat and rockpicker out and dig them up. Only a small portion of the rock is epxpoaed so you never know how big the rock is going to be until you start digging.
How big will this one be?
It is kinda like a treasure hunt. Most of the rocks are no bigger than a medicine ball and weigh a couple hundred pounds. But once in a while you run into a monster weighing several thousand pounds. It can take 30-45 minutes to get one of these bigger ones out of the ground.

This big!
Once you get the bigger ones out you have to go get some dirt to fill in the hole it left.
By the end of some days you are too tired to really do anything else. Which is why I have not posted in over a week, it takes some thought and mental energy to write a post and being in a state of depression since Barb left I just have not had it in me. After the day is done, you just want to eat and go to bed, but it is a good tired, we love it up here!

I have only been out deer hunting twice, the first time I saw a decent 8 pointer and the second time….well, we shall see as I am writing this post from the deer blind. (Update: No deer, but I did finally get the post written!)
We are getting South Dakota updates from the Jordan’s several times a week. They closed on their property this past Tuesday so now they are officially our neighbors and have changed their residency to South Dakota! They say the excavtors are done at our building site and everything is ready for our return.

They have started doing some work on their property by fixing the fence on the front of their property.
A load of posts ready to go in
First post in!

Jim and Brenda rented a post auger and got to work on their fence
They moved to their property, ours in is the background

Deer and turkey sightings are still common and the prairie dogs are running rampant! 

16 comments:

  1. I can imagine how lost you must feel without your other half. Good you have lots to keep you busy. I really enjoy learning all about the farming process. Definitely not a life the lazy individual. I must say that I'm glad the blind turned into a writing hide away:)

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    1. As I wrote this post I hope others find it as interesting as I do, there is a lot more to each component of raising a crop than most people know and I will ever learn!

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  2. I don't know how many times I've thought " I wonder how Jim and Barb are doing, they haven't posted in awhile" and bam, within a day or two you do. Weired hey! You certainly are a man with many talents Jim when it comes to farming. That should come in handy on your new homestead. Safe travels Barb. You look after Jim like Dianne looks after me with the meals. We did good Jim! :-)

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    1. You will have no argument from me, I definitely married above my paygrade!

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  3. I am glad you are trying to stay busy in Barb's absence. Although I do like talking to you but the nightly calls bawling in my ear is getting to be a bit much. Man up. You didn't mention how she replaced your wardrobe with "Garanimals". www.garanimals.com

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    1. It makes it much easier to get dressed in the morning, you just match animals...Brilliant!

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  4. Sure hope you can make it till Barb gets back. Always enjoy learning more about what goes into getting our food to the table, learned a lot about corn and soy beans this summer living in IL.

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    1. It looks like you guys could teach us a little something about sea fishing from sea to table!

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  5. You know, there's probably a more powerful computer in that combine than there was in an Apollo command module, Jim. I never knew there was so much involved in operating one. It's also cool how 'fluid' a field is, as frost has a way of bring new rocks to the surface each year. That's one huge rock for that Bobcat!

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    1. You are probably right about that computer! You have to wonder how the farmers did it 100 years ago.....

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  6. Lee and I just spent our first two weeks apart since becoming full timers and I sympathize with your feeling a little lost. I did manage to dress myself though despite his absence so can't help you there. I love your farming posts btw...it's really fascinating so thanks for sharing that.

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    1. A little break is nice once in a while, makes the heart grow fonder!

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  7. Looks like exhausting work....glad you have the pups to keep you company!!! And nice of Barb left you with lots of food... sure hoping Greg doesn't read this and get any ideas!! :-)

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    1. Have him give me a call, I will fill him in. Actually I bet you are taking good care of him while he recovers....

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  8. What fun that work looks like! I'll bet it's more difficult than it looks. You're not fooling me either! I know you hunt and fish and can forage up some chow if you need to. Barb sure spoils you!

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  9. Spoils me?!?!? I don't know what you are talking about!

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