This Is The Time

Taking advantage of opportunities is essential in the farming business. Although the weather wasn't always perfect it did give us opportunities this past week to harvest. With the month of November arriving and with rain and snow in the forecast for this coming week, this past week was the time to work hard on combining corn and beans. Below is a Heartland Coop facility just east of Fairfield.

Last weekend was wet with most areas in our community getting from a half to an inch of rain. So the focus switched to corn harvest early. Since Cargill/Eddyville was closed for it's annual weeklong shutdown our corn bushels went to the bin with grain moisture slowly coming down. Field conditions were borderline.

However by late Tuesday we switched a combine to soybeans and Wednesday decided it was time to totally focus on soybean harvest. We moved south and combined BJ and Karl's crop east of Blakesburg delivering the soybeans to Fairfield.

Southern Iowa has it's own look and is especially pretty this time of year with their rolling hills, cattle still in the pastures, and with the trees in their full fall color.

We moved north to Kasey's farm west of Eddyville. The gals took turns this week bringing supper to the field and it was Emily's turn. However there was a special surprise event planned so more gals showed up.

Kurt and Alex had to make a quick trip to northwest Iowa and Kasey had asked Alex to stop in Des Moines and pick up a special order. An engagement ring. After asking Sydnie to help him combine, and asking Karl and Kristin to combine so they would be available for a picture, Kasey proposed to Sydnie in front of the combine on their farm. Thanks for the picture Kristin

The focus is on harvest however there are other jobs starting to be needing done. Alex spent some time this week spreading dry fertilizer.

Coming by Pella Christian High School one afternoon I snapped a picture of the back row of the parking lot. It had a line of pickups all backed in beside each other. I recognized a number of them. Must be the farm kids row. :)

Mike continues to stay busy and has moved across the road from the shop working on building eight terraces for his Dad. Now he just needs a rainy day so he can get his brother BJ to finish the tiling part of the project.

PCHS has kids in small disciple groups and Ethan asked Grandpa if he could borrow an extra Ranger because his small group was coming out to ride Rangers on Saturday. Thanks for the picture Ethan.

Howard and Bev moved from our community to Lynden, Washington in 1984. Howard has a collection of vintage IHC tractors. For the past two weeks they have been back here helping Howard's brother Allen harvest and staying at our house. What a great couple and what a fun time we had catching up after not seeing them for 35 years. Thanks for the friendship guys and thanks for letting me borrow the picture Bev.

Like I mentioned earlier Cargill was closed all week for annual shutdown. However late in the week they called and asked if we could bring in a couple of loads of corn to see if everything was working properly and the scales were calibrated correctly. Well Pablo and Alex brought in a couple of loads yesterday. It was a long wait while the electricians and engineers tried to get things figured out. Thanks for the picture Alex

Speaking of Pablo, he and Paula's daughter Jestina celebrated her 13th birthday this week. We stopped in between soybean loads last evening at her outdoor party. Thanks for all your support and your great friendship Pablo, Paula, and Jestina.

Although I don't know this family well I'm adding it because my heart goes out to them and so we can all pray for them. They have an operation in the Sully area much like ours with family working together. My only connection is waving at them when I see their trucks at Cargill. We are following the story on Jan's relation, Holley and Brandon's FB page. Two of their sons were injured in a serious farm accident. Please join me in praying for recovery, rehabilitation, and maybe even a miracle if need be.  Thanks for letting me borrow this gripping picture Mike.

I wanted to wrap up with giving you all a little homework. Find an app on your phone with a Bible version that you understand. I use the New Living Translation, and read the story about Esther. She was an adopted child into a Jewish family that was in captivity. She was taken to be a queen and her Jewish community was in danger of being destroyed by Haman, a bad guy. Her cousin Mordecai challenges Esther to use her position to save her people. Mordecai says, "This is the time (for such a time as this). God has given you an opportunity. If you don't try, he will have to use someone else". The story has a happy ending. The good guys win.

We visited earlier about taking advantages of opportunities. Are you listening when God nudges you and says "This is the time. I need you for this opportunity". Do you have a cousin, sibling, or friend that is reminding you that God has put you in a position to help. By the way, thanks to all of you that answer that nudge to help.

Jan and I are looking forward to leaving soon with a small group associated with The Family Leader where I serve on the board. We are going to Israel. Stay tuned. I hoping this visit brings the Bible storys to life. I'm also planning on being attentive to whatever opportunities God puts in our path. It's tempting to say, "Wow, what an awful year to take off". We have an awesome crew here at home that will be just fine. I'm saying, "This is the time". Thanks for visit. Let's do it again next week.