Soils, Syncopations, Solitude

Monday, January 23, 2012

No More Trees, No More Thneeds...

I started November by cutting all the milo worth cutting.


Which amounted to a grand total of about 20 acres.  I normally cut about 550 acres of dryland fall crops between my neighbor Rod and I. So, yeah, that's pretty bad.


I did manage to get a full combine load out of it...

But just the one.


And that's how the 2011 fieldwork ended.

AND that finishes 10 full years of farming for yours truly. (Cue balloons.)


AND (FINALLY!) some rest for what little is left of my poor L5 S1 vertebral disc.


We were fixing to have our first big freeze, so I went ahead and drained the water Over East the next day.

It rained a little.

And then a good bit more.  So all the wheat should  make it out of the ground at least.

I headed over to the Gray Havens to check the progress.


If you looked real closely you could see some wheat that had sprouted before this last rain.


Looks like this fella got in a little deep...

And this little guy was just gettin' started.

The irrigated still looked good, of course.
 

I finally got around to taking the smidge' of milo over to the feedlot. The one where they make the milo into ethanol.

  And then I headed up to haul some screenings for Chris.


It is very hard to overload these short trailers, and impossible to do with wheat screenings.

A funny thing happened on the way to Pierceville...

One day the crop adjuster came out to look at all the milo I didn't cut.

It didn't take long to zero everything out.

This is actually the first time I have not harvested a field that I planted. (Well, excepting those soybeans...(ooh, you should click on this link too. (especially you, Jeanette, since God apparently wasn't done answering your stupid question. (The more I look through the posts from 2008, the more I realize just how crappy this blog has gotten. Seriously, just read the archives, they are full of a lot better stuff. Plus it used to rain. (Also, apparently people used to comment. Boo readers! Boo! (Typical Reader's response: 'Maybe if you wouldn't fall so far behind, your posts would be fresher, shorter, and of such a quality that they would earn the respect necessary for me to take two minutes out of my busy day to comment. How about some quality posting, you ever heard of that one, Stan?)))))) 

10 years, with only one (near) complete crop failure. A ten year period drier than any ten year period in or around the dirty thirties, I might add.  Thanks, no-till!

 It was super nice of Steve to circle my farm on his map.

And that was the farm in November.

You know, I really should move all that junk, if I'm going to keep taking pictures of the rain gauge.






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8 Comments:

Blogger Melanie said...

I usually can't think of anything intelligent or relevant to say or I would comment more often. It's always entertaining to hear your take on things and see someone else's combine misadventures. :)

9:21 AM, January 23, 2012

 
Blogger jmlo said...

No more questions.

2:51 PM, January 23, 2012

 
Blogger jmlo said...

What a lovely sunset picture.

2:51 PM, January 23, 2012

 
Blogger jmlo said...

What a wonderful blog.

2:52 PM, January 23, 2012

 
Blogger jmlo said...

"...at the turn of the tide..."

2:55 PM, January 23, 2012

 
Blogger jmlo said...

"...But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come..."

3:09 PM, January 23, 2012

 
Blogger BFPAlbers said...

Assuming that after 10 years of Western Kansas you have ample first hand evidence of how to proceed! A prayer is a good start. I would love to be allowed to help you as your Dad does. Keep up the good work and the posts...

10:20 AM, January 24, 2012

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I loved the jmlo question. It was quite funny.

11:27 AM, January 31, 2012

 

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