Finally

It has finally happened-- a moment I had begun to dispare would ever come to pass. Harvest. Is. Over.

!!!%*M$YY**#!!!!

Roughly translated that means I'm happy.

The beans are in the bin, the corn is completely picked, and the combines are even in their sheds. Over, over, over!

No more meals in the field! Brian comes home at night! I actually get to see him in the morning! He tucks the little guy in with me! He can even babysit at home! Stress, pressure, worry, gone!

At least for a few months.

Planting starts in March.

Birthday for a Farmer

Happy Birthday honey!

Today my hubby turns... well, the important thing is that he's older than me ; ).

And, like everything else, his birthday revolved around the needs of the farm. This morning he got up early and hauled corn to town. He did this partly because the corn is contracted for December, partly because its what we do on the farm this time of year, and partly because we need more space in the bin because we're NOT DONE HARVESTING!!! Then he went to the bank to work out some details about end of the year finances, taxes, and other non-fun, non-birthday type stuff. Then he hauled more corn.

For his birthday dinner though we did something really great. We went to a meeting.

I will state that this was not a typical meeting, but a Farm Bureau Christmas party/December board meeting. And we ate a very nice fried chicken and mashed potatoe meal. Then he got to lead the meeting, as he is president, and dicuss the fasinating subject of next year's budget.

Then, poor guy, instead of coming home and putting a little guy into his (really adorable) train pajamas and getting good night hugs he had to move equipment so they can harvest early in the moring. (Side note: in the winter you get up early and harvest before the sun turns the frozen field into a muddy mess. This is different from normal, sane, harvesting proceedure during the normal, sane months of Sept., Oct., and Nov..) And now that it is 9:30 I hear him walking in the door.

Happy Birthday honey.

Opportunity Knocks

While life must always hold challenges, some days lend themselves to personal growth more than others. My husband ought to be three feet taller by the time he gets home today.

Harvest, ideally finished by Thanksgiving but happily accepted by the beginning of December, is now dragging on into what feels like infinity. Or at least the Supper Bowl. (Positive notes to ponder: beans are finished and the corn yield has been good, thus some of our harvest problems.) There is less than 300 acres yet to be stored in bins, but somehow life just keeps happening.

Saturday, for example, our grain truck caught fire. Yes, that's right. Caught fire. Brian says mice probably ate away at the lines in then engine, causing it to become combustible while being driven by our hired hand. But, more positive notes to ponder, Cory was able to stop the truck (apparently fires inhibit brake lines-- not sure how that works...) and put the fire out without harm to himself or further harm to the truck. So clouds do have silver linings.

Then, Sunday, the temperatures dropped. I have no recollection of living in other states (though Wisconsin was once my home) but I do believe it takes a Missouri day to drop more than 50 degrees in twelve hours.

So that brings us up to Monday when single digits caused every piece of equipment on the farm to gel-up, shut down, or otherwise become cantankerous. I am informed that only one Dodge pick-up and the haying tractor would run. Brian left the house at seven in the morning and called me just before five that evening to say the combine and (non-burnt) grain trucks were finally up and going. So they harvested till the wee hours of the morning and then...

Today. Its snowing. And for people who live their lives by NOAA weather radio I had no idea we were expecting so much as a flake. But you cannot harvest in the snow. Too wet.

So as I say, today, as well as most of December, is a great opportunity to learn patience, anger management, and financial self-control.

And if we don't learn it all today I'm sure we'll be given another chance. Because sometimes opportunity knocks. And sometimes it comes busting down your door.

Visitors

Its been a busy time on the farm lately. (But when is it not...) Recently the farm played host to a father/son group Brian's best friend from college is a part of. Though I was away, I greatly enjoyed hearing the stories of a dad plus two squashed into the single buddy seat on the combine and an unbelieving kindergartner rolling off the edge of the semi's sleeper mattress. (He'll listen next time!) Having visitors is a family favorite around here. And showing them a corn harvest is the best! I'm just sad we didn't get any pictures to post. Better luck next time...

More of the Same... Weather

.04 inches of rain. That is what the digital gauge is reading, but it is apparently enough to bring harvest to a grinding halt. And within just a few hours of finishing the beans. Aargh. NOAA has big predictions for rain tonight (90%), so I doubt it'll be back to the fields for a while.

On the bright side it is not snow! Some forecaster was predicting just such weather. After I hunt him down and let him know exactly what I think about bringing THAT word into our vocabulary, I plan on being glad of it.

And as I read back it seems a lot of my posts are about the weather. Funny enough it seems as if my life might revolve around rainfall, temperature, and wind. For my next blog I'll just link ya'll directly to the day's forecast...

Undecided

Do you ever find yourself in a position where you don't know what to think? Not, unable to think, which does seem to vex me more often than it should considering I'm still in my 20s. But pulled in two directions, feeling that to root for either side would be okay-- but should you?

No, this is not about the election.

Its about the weather.

Ironically, no matter what I think, I have very little (okay, no) control over the weather. So why the worry? Well, I guess its just the life of a farm family. Brian has been in the combine for almost two weeks straight.

Which is good. We are getting near the finish line for harvesting soybeans. Just a few more days and we could have them all in the bin. Then we'll start back on corn. And there is a lot of that to harvest. And it needs to be in the bins before a storm can knock it over or the deer eat it or snow stops our progress in the field. And all of these are very good reasons for wanting the weather be fair and sunny.

On the other hand-- I miss my husband. Its amazing how many things I need to tell him, but I feel as if I've hardly seen him. A quick phone call here or there to discuss the most important stuff. A few rides around the field to talk about how harvest is going. A speedy kiss before he runs out the door in the morning. I miss my husband.

So... what to wish for? Rain, sun, sleet, hail-- oops, not hail. Just get the harvest over with as quickly as possible and then he can come home, or a small break in the chaos to spend an evening with us? Ugh. I just don't know.

God knew what he was doing when He did not bequeath me power over the weather. Wth my whirling thoughts we'd probably have a tornado.

Are You Missing Humor?

If you don't work with your family each day in a business arrangement you really have no idea what you're missing. Namely-- humor. For example:

The other night my brother and sister-in-law went to a football game and left their three year old with my mother-in-law. After the toddler woke up from his nap my husband and father-in-law decided he and Grandma should both come to the field and help with harvest. Meanwhile I've fixed dinner and taken it out to the field. My little guy and I are riding with Brian in the combine.

So MIL calls hubby and says we need the semi, so she's going to drive his combine while he goes and gets it. We stop to switch with she and my nephew, but since all of the family is in the combine we end up staying in our vehicles and driving back to the car. Then the three of us get in the Grand Prix (which is parked in the middle of a field after a two mile trek through newly cut bean stocks) and the two of them begin harvesting. We drive two miles down the rode and drop Brian off so he came pick up the semi. He drives it back to the edge of the field and then I drive him all the way back where he gets into his combine. Then MIL gets into the truck with the three year old and drives across the field to the other combine driven by my father-in-law. She switches with him so he can drive the loaded semi back to "home base" where the bins are.

At least they are amusing.

Pizza Hut Pizza

I'm always searching for good "travel" menus. During harvest one of my, shall we say, challenges, is getting food to the field. Besides being a bit of a pain it is also highly unfufilling to take a gourmet dish in a Styrofoam container to men who will wait 45 minutes before eating it so it is completely cold and no longer tastes like anything worth eating and then come home to eat my portion which is now stuck the bottom of the pan. And while I realize this is a terrible run-on sentence, perhaps you can sense my frustration in it. So like I said, I'm always on the look out for "travel" food.

Unfortunately one of the easiest foods to transport is pizza. In a nice box. Straight from the take-out counter. Its also one of the unhealthiest and most costly.

But I have an innovative husband and access to the Internet. So he took it upon himself to find Pizza Hut's recipe for pan pizza. And it really works. I use less oil than called for in the recipe and also use half whole wheat flour (all whole wheat seems to be a bit much).

Dough:
1 1/3 cups warm water (105)
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1 pkg dry yeast
2 T oil
4 cups flour
9 oz oil (3oz per pan)

Put yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk in 2 qt. bowl, add water, mix well. Allow to sit 2 min. Add oil and stir. Add flour and stir until dough forms. Turn onto flat surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into 3 balls. In three 9" cake pans evenly spread 3 oz of oil. Roll out each dough ball to 9" circle and place in cake pans. Spray outer edge of dough with Pam. Cover with a plate and place in warm area. Allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Sauce:
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Combine and let sit 1 hour.

For each pizza: Preheat oven to 475. Spoon 1/3 cup sauce on dough and spread to within 1" of the edge. Distribute 1 1/2 oz shredded mozzarella cheese. Place topping in this order: Pepperoni or ham, veggies, meats and top with 3 oz mozzarella. Cook until cheese is bubbling and outer crust is brown (about 10 min.). Cut into six slices.

So bring on the Styrofoam. I'm ready.

Shiny!

This was the shiny, new combine fresh from the factory.

This is the combine as of this weekend. I guess you could say the new car smell is gone.

But the very good news is that we are harvesting! Not exactly with a vengeance or anything... but still. Work is getting done. And some of the fields are looking good!

Its still too wet to run on the 24 hour shift mode (for which I'm greatful). The last field they opened was about 21% moistuer. (It should be between 15-16%) All that wet corn has to go through the dryer. Which is what it sounds like. Then it can go into the various big bins on the farm. But it takes a while for it to dry out, so they can't harvest too much at a time. But, like I said, its getting done. And that counts for something!

Wonders of the World

There are some questions to which we may never have answers. Like:

How did the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids?

Is there a Lock Ness Monster?

What is going on the Bramunda Triangle?

And most importantly: How does so much corn end up in the washing machine during harvest?

We may never know.

Ready or Not

I'm almost ready. Almost. There are some things about harvest that I love. I love riding in the buddy seat of the combine, especially when we harvest corn. There are few things like the view from the seat of a huge combine enclosed all the way to your feet with glass. (Or you know, whatever windows are made of...) I love the smell of autumn and the feel of the chill in the air. I can't wait to cut corn shucks for my front porch and take my son to pick out a pumpkin.

But harvest is really busy. And that means Brian is gone. A lot. It means no daddy to take over bedtime duty. It means making all our meals "to-go" in Styrofoam containers and driving them all over the countryside to the crew. It means when Brian does come home he's tired.

Of course, its not the end of the world or anything. There are always rainy days (provided there aren't TOO many) to enjoy. And nothing bonds a family like riding together for hours on end. Last year our little guy would even take his naps on the combine floor. But regardless, harvest is something I have to mentally gear-up for.

Each day this week I've been asking my husband what he'll be doing. That way I can keep track of our harvest "readiness." And its coming.

But I'm almost ready. Almost.