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!