The harvest is going well and the harvest is good. Without a doubt the finest year in farming I have seen in my farming years. The yields in corn and beans are among the top I have produced...Bean yields are equal to the best ever about 15 years or so back. That is a nice change, and corn maybe is not the best but it is close. I had a National Corn Growers Contest entry, that checked in at 191 bushels per acre. Naturally you put that on your best ground but I think my overall average was around 170 bpa, not bad at all. The moisture on the corn is the lowest I have ever seen, especially for early harvest in September. It has run between 14 and 15% for the most part. If corn is over 15% the processor or grain terminal charges the farmer a fee for drying the corn to 15% moisture. So with this phenomenal drying of the corn in the field there was not drying charges. The other extreme was last year when corn just did not dry down good in the field and my harvest moisture was 20 to 24%...lots of drying charges last year.
Of course the reason farmers love the harvest is it is "pay day" for them...the rest of the year we spend money on seed, fertilizer, equipment, chemicals and the like, but harvest hopefully and prayerfully, there is enough to cover all these expenses and some left over for profit, to provide for ones living....this year that looks good as grain prices are above average also, I guess caused by concern for lower yields in many parts of the corn and soybean belt of the nation...
GOD kind of blessed North central Indiana where I live with a very early planting season, timely rains all year long...But as close as 60 miles to the south the farmers experience the driest August on record...not good, we were a little dry but we did squeak out a couple one inch rains that month and helped a lot...maybe two more inches would have been even better but lets not go there, a lot of farmers experienced a less favorable year...I feel for them as I have been there many times..
I am broke down right now in the middle of soybean harvest, parts are ordered and all will be good again someday soon but for now, I have time to make this post, about the harvest in general...One thing, you will see at the right here is the first pie of my season..Chestnuts are ripe and falling from my tree, down the road Mrs. Schrock has apples falling from her tree...Pillsbury pie crust were in my freezer and I love Apple/Chestnut pie...It is about gone already, it is as good as it looks...Just take a Apple pie recipe and take out 1/3rd of the apple and replace with fresh sliced chestnuts...Chestnuts/free...Apples/free, pie crust maybe 3 bucks, taste of the pie/PRICELESS
Oh, click on the title above to see all you need to know about chestnuts maybe.
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