Fun at the pumkin patch!

Farm wife played grandma today and took HC along with some of his classmates from the preschool, on a field trip to the local pumkin patch, this morning. It was a cool, windy, cloudy day, but that didn't cool the enthusiasm of the kids! The had activities at the pumpkin patch, including playing in a tank of corn, hunting for pumpkins and the favorite: decorating and eating pumkin cookies!


The weather turned worse during the day. After taking a lunch to Farmer Ken in the field, it was drizzling on the way back on the bottom road. A half hour later it turned to heavier drizzle and within an hour Farmer Ken had to retreat to the farm from harvesting. Since the outlook is for more rain, Farmer Ken buckled in and switched to the corn head. He really wanted to finish the soybeans, but we need to get something done! Will see what the next couple weeks brings. More rain, every couple days is predicted; so the outlook isn't much better.
Will keep you posted.

Rain Stops Harvest

The photo below is a western Colorado sunrise Monday on the way back to the farm.


Some steam rising in the ealry morning sun, at the Gypsum Colorado Gypsum plants makes for an interesting sight.


Farm wife has returned, but rain has stopped harvest. Some "old" farmers might be right; this might be the year that it is really hard to get harvest done and crops out of the field! Despite the hard freeze last week, Farmer Ken was still having trouble late last week with soybeans that looked dry, but were green in the pod.

So today, we wait for the rain to end and the sun to return. Farmer Ken is taking a part off of the grain platform to get some work done on it, since it wasn't working exactly right.
It's too wet to clean up the garden and flower beds, so will work on projects in the house.
When the sun shines, we will be going long, hard hours.

Autumn color in Colorado

A quick trip to Colorado for meetings for Farm Wife, this week. Most of the aspen in the mountains have lost their leaves, except for small patches, but cottonwoods in the river valleys at the lower elevations are still brilliant. It rained and the skies were ominous, but only had to drive in light rain. The contrast of the clouds and golden trees was gorgeous.






Will return to the farm Monday and help with the harvest.

Autumn Harvest Days

With a small 7 acre field completed last night and the edges off another, we have officially begun harvest! Today we will complete the field south on highway 50 and start another. Farmer Ken had told me to come to the field around 3 to 3:30 when he would be ready to take the truck of soybeans to the elevator. I arrived shortly after 3 and he was ready to leave (after ~50 years of farming he knows it better than any GPS system on a computer could even come close!).
It is always intimidating to run the combine the first time of the season. A monstorous machine that is worth more than most people's houses can be somewhat intimidating, so I say "go with me the first round". As always, I remember what to do to operate it. Farmer Ken leaves with words of warning: "don't go over 3.5 miles per hour today". Stern warning well heeded. The soybeans are a little tough yet (chewy as I call them) with a few green ones mixed in. Go too fast and you get a constipated combine, and let me tell you there is nothing worse than a plugged up combine that can take 2-3 hours to clean out!

I soon fall into the rhythm and enjoy the beautiful fall day and the large soybean plants being cut off and devoured by the big machine (kind of like mowing a lawn).

It is a beautiful time of year and the culmination of a years work and expense. I can understanfd why Famer Ken has always said: "I always hate it when harvest is over!".

As the combine gets full, Farmer Ken returns with the truck and takes over the operation again. Tomorrow we will go to bigger fields and get the auger wagon out to add to capacity to load out the soybeans from the combine.
Don't ya think he looks proud!



The fall jewel tone colors of the sumac and golden leaves on the locust trees are wonderful this year.

All of our fields are edged by woods on at least one side. Later in the afternoon, wild turkeys and deer may come out of the woods to enjoy the last of the day's sun and eat a bit on the newly harvested field.

We are keepers of the land and share it with all. We don't really own it, we only use it while we are here. Farmer Ken will leave the farms better than when he got them and there will always be woods and fresh water for the wild animals, as well as his corn and soybeans that they help themselves to!