Harvest has begun!

What was just a possibility this morning is now a reality. The combines are out on the fields and the first grain is being brought in.

Peter combining wheat on the field across the road from the farm. The straw is kinda tough and it is slow going but the swaths are being eaten up. The wheat is not quite dry but that is what aeration bins are for.

The first load of wheat going into the bin.

Look waaaaay across the field and you can see Kerry combining oats on a field just down the road from home a ways. It is also pretty slow going, good thing it is only a 25 foot swath, but the early yield estimate looks promising. The semi is getting it's first load of grain.

A doctored up photo of Kerry doing oats. Not bad for a zoomed in shot that has been color adjusted and cropped!

Anyway, harvest is officially underway!

Relaxin'

Need I say more?

'tis the season

It's here again! Harvest time is upon us once again! Things are well underway as of this posting. Kerry figured that as of last night, they had about 1000 acres cut . They have been putting in long days already and have cut canola, and some oats and wheat.

Erik heading out to the swather to continue cutting canola at the north farm.

Erik and Kerry cutting wheat close to home. Notice that not everyone gets to drive in and air-conditioned cab. With both of them on the field it didn't take long to get it cut down.

it is also the season for lunch on the field. Amber and I and the girls brought out lunch today and there was time to sit in the shade and enjoy and relax a little. We also have Peter helping us cut and so there were 3 swathers working on that field of wheat, it will probably get done today. Kerry is also planning to try some combining yet today, so stay tuned for pictures of that.

Family Pictures

Just some assorted family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago, they are not perfect but they are us! Enjoy!

All 11 of us!

The five great-grandchildren on the Eidse side. We have the girls and Larry and Sylvia have the boys. From l-r: Hailey holding Norah, Jayda. Elliot and Jonas.

Grammy Jo and Papa Kerry with their beautiful grand-daughters.

4-generations, but to be really authentic, it should have been Kerry in the picture with his mom and Kristy instead of me.

Re-shingling the shed: North side

Along with the new shingles there was some other repair work that needed to happen as well. In places there was need of fresh plywood, and in other places holes needed to be repaired as well as new wood at the bottom where the shed joins the cement. Kerry was the man in charge of doing repairs.

Work continued on the north side with help again from Peterand his loader, and this time Shaun was recruited as well. We had to make a couple more trips south to get more shingles to complete the job, but it was a good excuse to go out for supper , and we learned that we couldn't count as well as we thought.

It was threatening rain on this final day of shingling , so Kerry and Erik got to it early on in the morning, but the rain didn't come till the next day. It did get very windy though so they were happy to be done with the job and it was a good job too because not one of the shingles moved in the strong winds.

Putting on the final shingle! Job done!

Projects: Re-shingling the Shed

Another of the projects on the list for the summer was to re-shingle the shed roof. It has needed it for a few years already but now it was time. On one of their material buying trips to the states, Kerry and Erik found a good deal on shingles and so brought a bunch home and the project got underway. Erik is our resident shingling expert and so he was the main man for the job and he was very persistent until the roof was done. Just getting started, with some help from Kerry!

Those roofing nailers and compressors are a must have to make the job easier and faster.

It was also great to have the use of Peter's front end loader to use as scaffolding and to get those heavy bundles of shingle up onto the shed roof.

Not only did Peter lend us his loader, but he came and provided some extra man-power as well. Looks like this day the clouds gave some relief from the sun.

New Toys!

Oops! I mean new equipment! This summer we have had to add a couple of new pieces of equipment to the farm.

This is our brand new swather. Due to some unfortunate circumstances last fall, we felt the need to replace one of our swathers with something new and workable. This is the result. The picture was taken shortly after it came onto the yard and it is being checked out by all potential operators.

Here is our other purchase. A first for this farm and something that Dad and Kerry thought would probably never happen. A semi and grain trailer. It is a little unbelievable to see this on our yard and realize it is really ours. Our two smaller grain trucks were purchased in the '70s and have seen better days. They are tired and need some rest from those many long trips to the elevator to haul those loads of grain, and they get intimidated by those big rigs that surround them at the elevator. They will, with some pampering and repairs, still be able to haul from the field to the farm during harvest, and help with the seeding in spring, but are happy to have this new truck to take up the slack and do the long hauls.

Future semi driver?