Fall Partners

Farming is a family affair around our place. Last evening Jan picked up 7  pizzas and brought them to the field where we were custom combining corn. If you would like to try some good pizza, try Mike's Pizza and Steakhouse sometime on the north end of Ottumwa. Thanks for the picture Jan.

                             

On Monday after school 9 year old Malaki ran grain cart while Grandpa combined beans around home. The crew and two bigger combines were up north cutting custom beans. On Friday 10th grader, Elliot, followed the combines with the batwing mower, mowing field edges, terraces, and waterways. Yesterday Elliot and his older brother Ezra both ran graincarts for custom combining corn. 

We continue to harvest both corn and soybeans. However the bean harvest is down to some later planted bottoms. ADM Des Moines, one of the places we sell soybeans, is closing this coming week for 6 to 8 weeks of maintenance and repair.

There is wisdom in handling and solving troubles with multiple heads. BJ and his son John, And Dean and his son Matt, are helping Karl fix an electrical issue on his roll tarp. K & K AG is Karl and Kristin. There are four sons that own their own trucks.

We finished the week harvesting corn. No one talks about it much, however I think harvesting 13% corn is less yield than harvesting 22-25% corn. And I'm not just talking about drydown and field loss.

Thursday and Friday  we hauled around 75 semi loads to the processor. Having a close market for corn that grinds 275000 bu/day is a blessing. and in a week or two I'm going to write a story about the history of that blessing starting 40 years ago.

Yesterday we switched from our own acres to custom acres. And brought about 40 loads to the local elevator and storage bins. A huge thank you to our extended family, our full time and part time helpers, who all contributed to another huge week. And a special thanks to Papa Jon who offered to take the after supper shift for me to watch the bin auger, so I could pay my grandkids and pick out pictures for this morning's story. 

On Thursday a group of friends and neighbors got together and took out crops for a friend who passed away after just 5 weeks of cancer. Mark and Stacy's Ethan helped haul corn to DFS elevator. Our community had another loss Friday evening when a car hit a tractor, killing two parents and seriously injuring a child.

I've been reading some historical fiction where the author writes stories about her Norwegian descendants immigrating to the Red River Valley in North Dakota in the late 1800s. The 20 book series are stories about triumphs and tragedies, of grit and gratitude, of faith and family, as they start farming in a new country.

As of the latest USDA data, about 1.3% of our U.S. workforce is directly employed in farming. Yet, whether you farm or not, I'm sure most all of you can look to a time in your family's history where farming had an impact on your purpose, responsibility, and work ethic. It's also nearly impossible to farm without a faith in a Creator.

I feel blessed to be part of a family that's in that 1% of farmers feeding the world. And I'm convinced that part of the downfall of our country is the devil trying to break up the family structure, including the extended family. Below Karl and Kristin's, Tatum, is snuggling up to Uncle BJ after our supper in the field. Blessings.