Harvest Time

We're past the halfway point of harvest now, with the soy beans done and the corn going full speed. This was a photo I snapped before church last Sunday with the combines/tractor/semi all lined up and parked for the day on an almost finished soy bean field across from our house.


The field adjacent to our yard has some corn off of it now. Isn't it beautiful?

This year seems to be a stark contrast to the last. This warm weather has made everything go so fast, and from my calculations from passing comments Knut has made, fields are getting done 3-4 times as fast as they were last year. The glorious weather in combination with dry fields and a good dry, mature crop has made Knut tell me several times that it has been the most enjoyable harvest that he has experienced thus far. Just yesterday, they harvested their "best" field traditionally, and the corn averaged above 200 bushels an acre for the whole field, which Knut said he's never seen before.

The corn is amazingly dry, which makes sense because they just bought a big fancy dryer. Traditionally, when you upgrade on something like that, you'll get a year with very little need to use it. Call it crop insurance. So far, though, I hear no one complaining about that.

Knut's job is usually running here and there and hauling grain from place to place. The kids got a kick out of watching him work the other day over here:



He was working at the grain bins next to our house, and gave us a call to come out and watch.
If you look closely, you can see too. Look at him. Not even a sweatshirt. It was 83 degrees this day. It just doesn't feel like normal harvest weather!



He was unclogging something. Kinda like a plumber, but with a harness. And corn, not poop.


Is it too early to hope that the kids will get to trick-or-treat with their Daddy this year? It's a rare instance, but I almost wonder if this year will be one of those rare times.

Dryer

Many of you may remember last fall, and the difficulties the farmers had with a wet, wet harvest.  The rain wouldn't stop and the corn wasn't really mature enough.  Harvest was completed, just before Christmas, with maybe some hours to spare.  Normally, they hope to be done by Thanksgiving.  I remember Knut would set his alarm to wake up every 2 hours to walk out to the grain dryer in the freezing cold to chip the ice off of the fan so it would keep running all night. Harvesting in the winter, it seemed, was no small task.

We're hoping this year, that won't happen.  The corn seems to be maturing nicer this year, and as long as we don't get that cold wet weather for weeks on end again, it shouldn't happen this year.  As a bit of insurance, though, and just out of good common sense, the farm got a newer, high efficiency dryer for their corn this year.  It has twice the capacity as our old dryer, and it's supposed to be amazingly efficient, although the guys scratch their head in disbelief as to the efficiency it claims to run on, thinking it's impossible.  I guess this fall they'll see exactly how much it does in reality instead of on paper.

However, 4 semi-trucks (I think) pulling up a new dryer is sure to gather a crowd, and of course the kids wanted to see the crane in action that came to our house!














The top piece came first, which we thought was all very backwards.

However, soon the others showed up.

Lena was so happy to have so many people here!

We walked back, and found a good spot to observe.

Knut climbed the grain leg to get a good view.

Those of you who drive past our farm may notice some change in your normal view.


Since we were all outside, it turned out a good day to husk, cut, bake, and freeze our sweet corn for the winter.  The kids love this day every year.





















and I...am exhausted!

It's a shame...

that I don't have any pictures ready for this post, because there has been an overwhelming amount of cuteness around me this week! I've been hanging out with my sister in law and brother in law who are visiting from New Jersey with their twin boys. My sister in law and brother in law who live in town have come to hang out with their 2 boys and newborn girl as well!

It's been quite a fun week, and will soon come to an end. I will admit, it's been bittersweet for me too, because I feel so bad for having fun with Knut's family, and he can't be there. He stops in for meals, but that's about it. The weather has been gorgeous this week, which required Knut and his dad to finish planting the soy beans instead of hanging out with all of us. O the life of a farmer!

Yesterday we went to a small zoo, and it was so so much fun. The kids did really well, but melted down pretty quickly after we got back for lunch. Today Silje's at school, Elias is once again taking a morning nap, and David is kicking his basketball around the basement.

My brother in law, Lars, is graduating from high school tonight, the event that has brought together so much family from across the country. Knut's dad will go, of course, but Knut may have to stay on the farm to enable that, and for that, it's bittersweet as well. Still, who knows what will be decided last minute. I think it's been kinda hard on him this week.

Not only that, but they've been working around the clock to get the beans in before the forcasted rain this weekend. Last night Knut got home at 11pm, and headed back out to work at 3am...the usual 4 hour sleep allotment during the busy times. It's been like that most of the week, and he's running on fumes and hanging on for Sunday. I love that they take Sunday's off no matter what. It gives a consistent rest to look forward to. They're one of the few farms around here that still do that. Honestly, I don't know how he or our family for that matter, would survive without them during the busy seasons!

I've been slacking on the housework big time as I've been gone, and when I've been home I've been working frantically on finishing up the twin's diapers before they leave. The pocket diapers are basically done. The inserts are not, and may need to be mailed with them. They're pretty bulky though, because I'm making the inserts in multiple sizes, so maybe they'll want them mailed anyway. This project I was attempting to get done a few weeks ago, but I've not been feeling well, so my sewing has kind of taken the back burner. At the very most, I've only been able to handle a fraction of sewing time a day that I normally have done.

On the up side, I'm at 10 weeks, which means that this nausea and fatigue will soon be lifted. I hope! I've gotten my garden finally planted, and am adding some flowers to the front flower bed here very soon. The tomatoes and peppers still need to be moved from the pots to garden, but there's still plenty of time for that.

So with the first trimester soon behind me, and planting season coming to a close possibly this week, things are looking up on the horizon! My mom is coming next week for a super short visit, and I need to catch up on all the things that should have been done this week but haven't. I think when Knut actually spends time at home again, he may like it a bit cleaner than it is now!

There are so many things I want to blog about too, that I don't have time to quite yet. From some of our homeschooling ideas, to plans for the birth of our next child. There is so much going on and Knut and I have been having so much fun planning and researching, and we have been blessed with being on the same page for so many of these decisions. It gives such a peace to be like-minded on a decision! Well actually, no decisions have been made, but plans are being made. Subtle difference. The planning process for anything is so much fun with dreaming and thinking and talking!

So as Knut finishes this marathon of a week, I'd like to ask for prayers for endurance for him and the other guys on the farm. We're praying that all of it gets done before the rain too, so that there will not be lingering worries, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Pray I can somehow manage to prioritize what needs to get done as each day seems to have 5 days worth of work in them lately. Well, that's maybe an exaggeration. Each day has more like 3 days worth of work in them. Still, I can quickly become overwhelmed and just sit down out of confusion in what I should do first! We can all relax in knowing, though, that Sunday is not that far away!

Take a Walk with Me

Today has been lovely. We cleaned a bit this morning, in preparation for some old friends who came by for lunch. Knut fired up the grill, and we had brats and all the springtime fixings. We had strawberry pie, and real whipped cream for dessert. It was lovely.

After our visitors left, I worked putting snaps on some diapers while Knut and the kids all took a nap. After an hour or so, the outside was calling to me too much, so I put down my work, and went out for a walk alone on this lovely day.

I wasn't completely alone. Lena came along, because I needed someone to chase away the little sparrows in our path.

I walked back by the grain bins, as I think that it's fun to see them, and then follow the path behind them that leads back to the road.



This is where the semi-trucks that pass by the front of our house go to load and unload grain, depending on the season.

When Knut came home last night, I asked what he did at work that day. He said he found a huge muskrat back here chewing on some hose, and needed to be killed. He went into detail (for him) how he did it, but it grossed me out so much, that I'd rather not write it down here. Never a dull moment, and I'm certain, very different from his last job at the bank.




Here's our land, almost ready for some seed. This field had corn last year, so this year it will grow soy beans.


The grass in the ditch is wind blown and matted down from winter. Soon it will be all green again. I bet little animals of all sorts are hiding in there.


This is one of my favorite fields by our house. The tree down in the valley looks so stunning in every single season.


The road leads back to our driveway, where the road seems to need a bit of work where it meets the gravel driveway.


Then Lena and I followed the driveway back to the house. I have to admit, I still pause every single time I see this prospect of the house, because it amazes me. How on earth, did I end up living here? It is so beautiful. It is so big. I've visited poor countries. I've seen poverty first hand. Real honest to goodness un-American poverty. Why did God place me here? How did I get so lucky? Why God has blessed me so, I don't know if I'll ever figure out. I don't know if I've ever lived in a place so beautiful, and I don't think it could ever be topped.


The tulips are coming up, along with the daffodils that I planted last fall. Daffodils were my favorite when I used to live in Colorado, and I'm so excited to have them back again.


The rock in the front flower bed was the old place to tie horses when the house was first built...back in 1900.


I love the trees. There used to be so many more in the yard when Knut grew up here, and we hope to plant some more one of these days to replace the ones that died. This is one of my favorites in the yard: black walnut.

Wasn't that a lovely walk? Thanks for sharing it with me.

I'm Not Feelin' It

I apologize ahead of time, if this post feels like a downer. If it does, it isn't meant to be. It's supposed to be just a reflection on a season.

I'm not feelin' this whole Christmas thing this year.

It's not that I don't want to! I love Christmas. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I listen to Christmas music 95% of the time when I'm in my sewing room. OK...99.9%. I am all about Christmas music, and still as an adult, I love to lay underneath a brightly lit Christmas tree and just soak it all in.

I love making handmade Christmas presents. I'm always afraid that I'm going to be like "that aunt" in "A Christmas Story" who sends her nephews embarrassing pink bunny costumes for Christmas. I work really hard to make "cool" presents. For my kids, it's pretty easy, because for some reason, the really appreciate someone taking the time to make them something. (At least, at this age they do.) I lucked out that way.

I love unpacking all of my snowman things that can stay out way past Christmas. I love arranging the nativity just right, and I love the bursts of red color that seem to appear in every corner of the house.

But this year, I'm not feelin' it. I haven't made Christmas cookies yet, and even if I did, Knut wouldn't eat as many because he's watching what he eats as his ski race is coming up this winter. (You'd think more cookies for me would be incentive.)

Perhaps it's because all my Christmas boxes are still way up high in my garage, and I've been too busy to get them. Knut's been to busy to, as they're having to babysit the grain dryer at night now too. The wind blows the moisture coming off the dryer into the dryer's fan, and the subzero air freezes that moisture on the fan, stopping the dryer. His awake time at home seems to be less than an hour a day. He'd say his asleep time at home isn't much more!

That's right, it's still harvest.

Still... Harvest.

Can you really put up Christmas decorations during harvest? I have about as much desire to set out the Easter eggs.

Not only that, but with Sassy Pfaffy still waiting for her part at the "spa" I can't work on finishing my Christmas presents. If I can't sew, what's the point of listening to Christmas music?

I read through Sergio's entire manual today, and have all my sewing projects cut and ready to go on my cutting table. I think I might bug the sew and vac again tomorrow. They are sew patient with me. (I'm sorry...I really couldn't help it.)

We've already celebrated Christmas with Knut's maternal side of the family. We had lefse and krumkakke and everything. Still not feelin' it. You'd think the weather and snow would bring it out of me.

It's not. I just makes Knut work one more long day, and makes me feel one more day behind.

Still, I should just do it. I should just pull out the white lights, the oatmeal wreath I made when I was in kindergarten, the lefse grill, the advent calender (which we're already REALLY behind on), and heat some apple cider on the stove. Good! I'm getting myself pumped up. I can do this! I'll love it. It will be great! I can do it even though I still have no idea where to put any decorations in this house and my husband isn't here.

Wait...I lost it. I'll start pumping myself up on Monday. Tomorrow's too busy.

Long Nights and Twin Yolks

So far, this harvest hasn't gotten much easier. The grain dryer has been being difficult, and requiring almost around the clock attention. Last night Knut didn't get in until almost 2am, and then was out again at 5am, and back again at 6am. The kids normally don't get up until 6:30, but they all heard him come in at 6am and missing their daddy, attached themselves to him, and ended up in tears when they found out it was not time to get up, and Daddy was in fact very, very tired, and had to sleep until 8am before going out again.

So I got up at 6am with the kids, and shamelessly put them in front of the t.v. pretty much right away after breakfast as I have no resemblance to a morning person. Knut normally gets up with the kids and feeds them breakfast, to everyone's benefit. I know, what a great Daddy.

And the weird highlight of the morning was that when Knut got up at 8, I made him eggs, and you know what? One egg gave me 2 yolks. I've never seen that before! What are the chances? Knut thought I should take a picture of it for you all, but the pan was really hot, and I was afraid that if I went for my camera, you would all see burnt twin yolks. For those of you who think we have chickens because we live on a farm, you are mistaken. These eggs were from the grocery store.

I'd love to show you what I've been crocheting up, but I can't. I'll say it's something for a twin, but if I show it to you, you'll know it is for one of the boy twins (Knut's brother's) or one of the girl twins (my sister's). I'd like to keep that a surprise! But I'll be sure to take pictures before this present is given away, so that I can post the finished product after the receiver receives. All I can say, is it's awesome.

I've been doing a ton of cleaning, crocheting and knitting, and of course baking while Sassy Pfaffy is at the spa. Lady Katherine hasn't been so obliging yet. I think she's holding out for her own spa day. I called the Sew and Vac yesterday, and asked how Sassy was doing. The mechanic said again, he has never seen this problem in all his years working on sewing machines, but figured out what was wrong, and ordered the replacement part. I asked how long it would take, because I have Christmas presents to sew! He said he'd hope it would be done by Christmas. Don't we all!

But, just when I am frustrated that Sassy in on vacation, and Lady Katherine is jealous of Sassy's spa time, my serger, I believe, is coming to my rescue. According to UPS tracking, it should be arriving tomorrow, ready for me to experiment with. The main Christmas presents I need to finish are the kids' flannel p.j.s. I think that would be a great starter project for the serger, don't you think? The fabric is pre-washed, and cut. Ready to go. I already decided that I'm using snaps from my diaper snap press for the p.j.s instead of buttons, because I have never made a nice looking button hole. I hate doing button holes...a lot. I've never done snaps on my kids' clothes before, but I think it's time I start!

Not Your Ordinary 4 Year Old

Snow is here, and in our house snow= skiing. Cross country skiing, that is. Let me tell you, my men have had skiing on the brain. This last weekend we celebrated Christmas with Knut's mom's family in the big city. We couldn't leave home, however, without stopping by a ski shop to get Knut's new classical race skis get measured for their wax zone, and he picked up racing gear for the upcoming Birkebeiner. It's been a long time dream of his to do this race, and since he recently lost 50 lbs, he feels more ready than ever to do it this year. More on that in February!


And this little guy has had skiing on the brain since this last March. Remember? When he's been playing outside, he's been sneaking in the garage and getting his skis off the wall. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have his matching boots! Knut surprised him when he was home for lunch today, and presented him with his ski boots, from out of the closet.

Our David didn't waste a single moment, and got dressed to go outside and ski. This guy doesn't need tracks. Tracks are for 3 year olds. They're so last year. He's 4 now. (Um, don't tell him I used tracks until last year. Can you tell I'm not from here?) His normal route is just the circle around the summer kitchen (the small shed-like building next to our house). He just goes around and around. When we hit the ski gaard this year, he's going to be ready!

And how long do you think it will be, before he's racing the Birke with his Daddy? Knut said that he'll probably sign him up for the jr. races as soon as he's old enough. I have no doubt.

And for those wondering if Knut is still harvesting in this snow...he is! He told me today they still have about 800 acres to go. Last week threw them some frustrating curve balls as the grain leg broke a big belt and the dryer would randomly shut off. For awhile I was wondering if they joined the machine union my sewing machines started. ;) If the weather holds for the next week and a half, they can probably finish. This time of year, however, the weather rarely holds.

Giveaway Preview

This morning we got a dusting of snow. Knut was a little discouraged that it will make harvesting difficult this morning. We're both a little bummed that he won't have Thanksgiving off tomorrow. They are planning on stopping for turkey, but that's about it. They were hoping to have a good day today, so that the grain dryer would be overloaded tomorrow, buying them some time to stop and share Thanksgiving dinner with the family. With the dusting of snow, it will make "backing up" the dryer a bit more difficult. Thus, they will feel more guilty stopping tomorrow.

For those of you wondering, Knut said they are almost at the halfway point of corn harvest.


Although, the snow is beautiful! It means Christmas is around the corner. Everything feels out of whack with Christmas approaching and harvest continuing on. I don't know if I have confessed this before, but I have an addiction to Christmas music. I listen to it year round. Since my family doesn't share this passion, I restrict my Chistmas music to my sewing room, and about 90% of the time I'm in there sewing, there's Christmas music playing...year round. Last night I brought out my extended c.d. collection of Christmas music, and not just the normal stuff that I listen to year round. I'm so excited!

I don't know if any of you know a special event coming up next week. I've had it on my calender, because it's my "blogiversary." It will be 2 years since I've started the blog. I thought I'd celebrate this year by doing a giveaway. Then I found out yesterday, that my blogiversary falls on the same week as sewmamasew's giveaway day! Since I loved their giveaway day last year, I decided to sign my giveaway up as one of the hosts of their event. Basically, they'll post several blogs and sites who will be giving away things by drawing, and you can go to all of the sights and sign up for the drawings. Many of the sites are like mine...just simple blogs. Most of the giveaways are handmade, or craft supplies. Mine will be a handmade giveaway. I thought I'd give you a peek into what I will be making:

Can you guess?

Whew!

Color #2 of my nieces' diapers is complete. It is apricot with hot pink snaps. I loved working with this color because it reminded me of my old peaches 'n cream Barbie doll whose dress was this exact color. (disclaimer: it was actually my sister's peaches 'n cream doll that was somewhere along the line passed down to me. I think she was both of our favorites!)

Sorry I've been a bit too busy to blog lately! If I have a moment, I'll finish editing one of the 3-4 "reflection" posts that are almost ready to post. I'm just having too much fun enjoying birthday parties and sewing, and knitting, and after all--we are in the throws of harvest now! With Knut being gone all day and most of the evening, I'm having to take over some of the things he normally gets done, or at the very least, have less help with my chores!

But harvest will be over eventually, and we praise God that we ARE harvesting! Finally! If I was a bit more disciplined, I bet I could keep up with it better, but as I'm not, posting might be touch and go for the next few weeks. Hang in there, because I am!

Soy Beans Are Done!

I am thrilled to let you know that 11:30 last night, Knut came home. He had been working, stopping home only to eat about 2 times a day for 38 hours straight. (He did eat more than 2 times a day of course, but he only came home that often!) I think he was still buzzed a bit from his coffee, because if I came home after a 38 hour shift, I'd be sleeping on the first soft piece of furniture that my path crossed. Knut, however, took a shower, talked with me as I was cleaning up the kitchen, brought wood pellets in for the furnace downstairs, and then headed to bed.

Now that the soy beans are done, focus can be turned to the corn--covering the other half of our land. From what I've gathered, corn harvest is when they really push hard because they can. Morning dew, light rains, and even a bit of snow does not stop them. Wet corn does not cause the same problems that wet soy beans do. So why didn't they just do the corn first this year during all the rain? Because we had such a cool summer that the corn simply wasn't mature enough to harvest. With the extra late harvest, it's now ready.

Normally they come home at night during soy bean harvest because there's nothing else to be done. (Them working through the night on the soybeans this week was the first of my short memory that I remember that happening. However there was a decent wind going on at the time, enabling them to continue on.)

During corn harvest, though, the night does not stop them. However, they can't work round the clock for days on end, so what they have done in the past is take 4 hour "sleep shifts" every day--Monday through Saturday. That way the harvesting doesn't stop at night...but I'm sure it does slow down a bit as everyone isn't on the field at the same time.I'm so grateful that they are one of the few farms left who don't work on Sundays. It truly becomes a day of rest this time of year.

And speaking of Sundays, this Sunday will be a special day in our house, because my little baby is turning 1. It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed by! It still feels like we just left the NICU. The next coming weeks I'm bringing Elias back up to the city he was helicoptered to after he was born, so that the same specialists that saw him there can do a "check up"of sorts. He still has his 1 year check up with our doctor here, too, as the specialists will be looking for more specific things. And of course, when we're up there I'm going to try to get Elias' one year portraits done. Life hasn't slowed down yet!

Harvest Update

I had a different post written for today, but when I saw them combining the field that is adjacent to our front yard, I thought I'd post some pics for all those who have been praying for us during harvest. I can't tell you how relieved I am that I won't have to stare at those soy beans all winter long. Knut told me this morning that they have about 500 acres of soy beans left. That's about 1/4 of the soy bean crop. A big improvement! There is rain forecasted for Thrusday, Friday, and Saturday, and 500 acres is about a week of good harvest days left, so they're pushing their limits to get as much in before the rain comes again. With corn, they can harvest 24 hours a day, and often do. But with soy beans, it gets difficult to harvest as the night dew falls down, so they do need to stop at night. However, Knut hasn't been getting home till 11pm or so.

The whole yard is noisy and almost in constant motion. The grain leg is a noisy hub of activity now as grain is being poured into the bins after it is harvested and dried. In other bins, grain is being moved out as the seed company that we work with is coming to pick some up. From what I gather, the germination tests proved the dried soybeans to be "tolerable." (That's the word Knut used.) As we have just a few days left of sunshine, the guys are using every moment possible to harvest, and there simply isn't any time to deliver the seed. So the seed company is picking it up. There are semi's going past our house every few minutes. Both our semis that are bringing the grain in from the fields, and the seed company's semi's that have been waiting patiently for their product.

With all the hub, Knut told David he couldn't ride his bike in the driveway today, which crushed David. So Knut took him with, and David is now riding on the combines until naptime.

What a sight for sore eyes! I love seeing a combine on the horizon! They are trying to dig up the soy bean fields as fast as they can behind the harvest, with priority over harvesting the corn right now. The reason for that being the soy bean fields now are going to be corn fields next year. The corn has such a long maturity time, and every day matters in the spring and summer. A dug up field will warm faster in the spring, allowing them to plant the corn this spring on time--which is vital.

Still, the corn in the fields now is waiting. It is exciting to almost be at the halfway point of harvest...even though normally, harvest would be completely done at this point!

Skippin' Over Fall

Well, the fence around the roses is put up. Winter must be around the corner.




The roses have been cut down, and soon they will be covered with dried leaves to protect them from the harsh cold.


Although, it feels like we skipped over fall. The leaves never changed at our house, which feels like a complete shame. We got that one really cold spell, and the leaves just died without beauty. Then the wind came, and blew all the dull brown leaves to the ground. No oranges, reds, or yellows this year. Just blah beige.


At other times, it feels like fall hasn't even started. They are doing bouts of combining, like today. Germination tests on the soy beans are currently being done at some seed lab to see if the soy beans dried in our drier are any good. We're crossing our fingers, and bringing it in and drying it at very low temperatures very slowly...just in case.


And the corn is just sitting across the road, not appearing to be in any hurry at all.


Meanwhile, inside, I have all the pink diapers cut out and snapped. Now I just have to sew them up. I plan on working on them tonight and tomorrow night, and finish up the pinks. Then I'll just have 4 more colors to go.


Maybe I'll blog more later today...but there's chores to do, and I have time to do them!

The Product of Delayed Harvest

They say good weather is around the corner...

And I hope so...

Because otherwise...

I think we might not have any woods behind our house left.

Yes, Knut. I think our new wood fireplace might be set for awhile.

Harvest News

I'd like to take a moment to thank those who have called and emailed with concern over how the snowfall has effected our harvest. Knut and I just love snow. If we didn't we wouldn't live here. However, snow mid-October has the eerie effect of making the Christmas decorations in the store almost appropriate.

I haven't lived on the farm for many years, but I'll fill you in on what is going on based off of my observations of the last few years. I'll fill in the other city-folk like me on how the snow and wetness is making harvest a challenge.

I am, however, not a spokesperson for the farm, and generally have no idea what I'm talking about. So take that into consideration.

We have 2 crops: soy beans and corn. A 3 crop rotation is ideal, and we used to grow wheat as well. It has become increasingly difficult to get a good wheat crop without pouring a massive cocktail of chemicals, so they decided to leave wheat alone for a few years and let the ground replenish itself. I'm sure down the road they will try wheat again. (Farmers and environmentalists actually have a lot in common, but don't tell the farmers I said that!)

Soybeans mature first, and are harvested first. For the most part, all of our soybeans is sold as seed for the next year, and all of our corn goes to the local ethanol plant. In general, they wait until the plant has dried to the point of loosing all of its color. Dry is good when it comes to harvest time. The crop has to be dry so that we can store it over the winter and deliver it when the time comes.

"Wet" I've learned, means different things for each crop. With soy beans, they need to be dry to be harvested. It's not that the fields are too muddy for the combines, it's that the wetness is wicked into the dry plant, and makes the crop "messy." I think, this means that the soybeans themselves get smushed and unusable during this process, or the plant itself jams up the machine, or both. The only term I got from the guys was "messy."

"Wet" for corn gives us a different problem. The corn can be harvested when it is wet, and not damage anything. However, it has to spend a significant amount, then, in the grain dryer, costing the farm I'm guessing, thousands more a day in fuel required to run the drier. Not only that, since the dryer is running more, and the corn is spending more time in the dryer, the corn does not get through the drier as fast, and they have to stop combines, and wait for the drier to catch up to their pace. Follow me?

So, as of today, harvest is about one month late. One Month. In farm time, that's a huge amount of time. The soy beans are ready, but wet. The corn still has tinges of green, and is wet. They have two combines that they usually tackle one crop at a time. Since the soybeans are used as seeds, they cannot be contaminated by corn, and if they switch a combine back and forth between crops, it needs to be thoroughly cleaned before it heads to a different crop. Because of this, they avoid going between crops as much as possible.

So that's where the guys are. They're starting to wonder if they should harvest some of the corn, even though there are tinges of green (meaning it's not ready because of our cold summer) and it's wet, and just dry the heck out of it in the drier, cutting into their profits, and then spend hours cleaning out the combine to go back to the soybeans when they dry out. Or should they just wait some more? That's the debate.

The weather we're looking and praying for is sunny, windy and dry. Warm would be a plus, but not that common this time of year. Sunny, windy and can happen any season. Please continue to pray for the guys and for the farm. Pray for our neighboring farmers too, as this weather is not just effecting us. Pray that God will use this situation to show His glory to any farmer around us who does not yet know Him.

Our situation is not hopeless. Frustrating, yes, but not hopeless. Seeing these guys work through this frustration has made me admire them even more.

Plus, now they have time to finally clean out my summer kitchen (a fancy name for a shed in our yard). I'm pretty sure that Knut and his dad are glad that I seem unable to upload pictures of them right now. O well. You'll have to close your eyes and imagine it.

Huh.

a
Yeah. Do not adjust your screen. That is snow on our lawn, and the beautiful soy bean crop...that hasn't been harvested yet. The guys have had maybe one day of harvest awhile back. I'd say 99% of the harvest is still on the fields. What does that mean? I'm not sure. Knut said this is the latest harvest on his memory. The goal is usually to be done by Thanksgiving. That won't happen for sure this year. 2 years ago, I remember they were done by Halloween. That's just laughable at this point.

I know they're hoping to get back in the fields on Monday. I'd ask for prayer that things will go well, and they'll be able to get a good speed going. There are things to be for which we can thank God. If we can get in the fields, I've been hearing from the guys the yield should be really good this year.

I know they're antsy, but these guys are antsy in different ways then my kind of antsy. Maybe there's a lot I can't see. There are no discussions going on about what happens if they can't get into the field in time. There's insurance on the crop, so it's not like the disaster that would hit a farm 100 years ago. But there is no discussion of "what ifs." There's just the waiting, and that they're used to. I'm not surprised that God uses farmers in the parables in the Bible often. People might say that was because he was talking to farmers. I think farmers just make an excellent illustration. You do what is asked of you, and God does the rest. There is no point in feeling frustrated, because the weather is simply too big for our hands.


The kids, however, were very excited to see the snow, and looked out the window with greater joy than they have ever stared at a t.v. screen. (By the way, they were both saying "cheese!" very loudly when I took this picture. They just heard the camera turn on and automatically said it.)


Just for fun, we roasted hot dogs over our new fireplace. I ask you, is there any better use of a formal living room, than that of "hot dog roasting room?" I don't think so.


Usually in the winter, we put up a wire fence around the rose bushes, and fill the whole area with leaves. Well, the leaves haven't even fallen yet. Most of them haven't even changed. That's how premature this is.

Huh. Snow. I'm normally ready and excited for winter. I really think winter is showing up pretty uninvited this time, though. But, as the kids are begging to go outside and play in it now. I suppose we could take a lesson from them. When life hands you snow, make snow angels.