Life on the Farm

[bjrogg]

Navy’s are getting closer. These were our first ones planted and they didn’t get much rain. They aborted most of the later pods. They quit blossoming weeks ago. There’s a few green pods now but they are coming along.

I’m thinking maybe a week and half.

Bjrogg

[Stoker]

Coming along nicely. Son-in-law have there lentils done and going to be durum next. Average yield, but with the lack of rain it coulda been worse
Thanks Leroy

[M2A]

Down to the last few acres of sweet corn for the season, Ill not having it as a option for dinner every night but Ill be glad to move on from keeping the worms at bay. A good year, we were able to sell our own every day since the 4th of July. You never know how pick dates will turn out when you plant the stuff. Had to walk away from the zuks because the deer have been eating them off the plants before the flower starts to wilt and no one has time to stand gaurd any more Too many tomatos, but have given the local food bank maybe 200 bu up to this point. so its good to see them being used to help out the local folks in need.

Did a starch test on some new varieties(daybreak fuji/crimson crisp) the other day. I recall doing it as a kid in grade school with potatoes. I wanted to see how much starch had been converted to sugars. The brix(sugar content) was reading very high but figured I'd do it anyway to double check if I should have the fellas start picking.
IMG_5051 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
Halves on left have the iodine on and halves on right do not. Looks like there is very little starch left, time to come off to sell now, they will not hold in storage very long. But the best test is taking a bite, I dont eat apples any other time of the year but I make up for it this time of the year. Got a 1000 bu in the cooler as of now but the main season varities will be coming in within the next 2 weeks it looks like. Coffee done best head out.
Mike               

[bjrogg]

Thanks for sharing and Mike.

It’s been crazy busy around here getting stuff ready for bean and sugar beet harvest.

I did manage last weekend to finish up my point for the trade in flint knapping section

And my arrow for arrow trade. Got them both sent out Wednesday. Hopefully they survive the trip.

Bjrogg


Here’s a couple pictures

[bjrogg]

It’s still been very, very dry here yet.

Our well ran out of water a couple weeks ago and I have been hauling water for my well and garden every chance I get.

My melons are really liking the water

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

I think I’m finished with the sprayer for the year. That’s always a good feeling.

I did look at some of our field corn. Its really variable. This is a good spot. Nice cobs filled right out to the end. Lots of places where there aren’t any cobs. Wish it all looked like this.

My son is going to run out of high moisture corn for his cattle pretty soon. Hopefully we can find something to harvest to get him by.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

We got together with the kids and grandkids for a camping trip to our county park. It only a few miles from my house so it works out pretty good even when I’m really busy.

Had a two ring fire and it looked like someone put a little copper in it to my eye. A beautiful night and a beautiful fire.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

We did harvest some black beans for a good friend and neighbor last Friday. Bean looked really good quality. Way to dry though. We don’t like handling them when they are so dry as they split really bad and we get deducted for splits. We did get a few spotty showers over weekend and some cloudy days. Hopefully that puts a little more moisture in the beans and helps with harvest. Usually we don’t want rain for bean harvest

Bjrogg

Sorry no pictures of bean harvest yet , but we should be really busy in them by mid week

[bjrogg]

I cut down 4 rows of sweet corn stalks yesterday afternoon and spread them out in my field.

Then I did a little practice shooting from my new ladder stand.

Not to bad , but I need some more practice yet.

Bjrogg

[WhistlingBadger]

Not a bad group for starters!

[Pat B]

Nice shooting, Brian. When does your season open?
 By the way, I got my trade arrow in the mail today. Beautiful and well made. Is the shaft hill cane?

[chamookman]

That was a Fine looking Arrow/Point ! Good luck with the crops and Hunting, season is just around the corner  . Bob

[bjrogg]

Thanks WB. I need to keep working at it so I can do it by instinct.

Thanks PatB glad you got your arrow in one piece. Yes I believe it is hill cane that you sent me a few years ago. Our bow hunting season starts October 1. Sure hoping I can sneak out and get some hunting in. Going to be really short handed though.

Thanks Bob. Yes your right. Hunting season is right around the corner. Hopefully things work out and I get to spend some time in my trees

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

For the past few days my nephew has been working at harvesting Navy Beans and I have been harvesting Black Beans.

Yesterday I had all the black beans that were ready harvested and I cleaned out my combine and went to help my nephew with the navy’s. We have to clean out combine and trucks when we switch between the different colored beans. The processors don’t like black beans in the white navies or navies in the blacks. Soybeans are even a bigger problem.

It was a good thing I helped as my nephew had a break down and I had to finish the navies by myself. We did get them.

Today switch back to blacks. Fix on both combines and see if any blacks are ready now.

Bjrogg

[Buckskinner]

I've been out a while and you've stayed busy as usual and fall is right around the corner.   That must be a bugger cleaning out the combine when switching to different beans!

The big rain must not have hit you guys, we got 5 inches while I was bear hunting and just south of us got 11, thankfully that missed us!

Good luck on your harvest.