Another rainy day

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Yes, we got more rain today.  Not a lot, but it doesn’t take a lot to keep the already-saturated ground soggy.  This will put off more planting until probably next week.  I need 3 good days’ worth of work to finish off the soybean planting, and Brandon can probably finish off the corn in 1 1/2 or 2 days.  But it may take 3 weeks to get those days in!   It’s gonna take several hot and dry days just to let us re-start the planters.   Oh, well… it’s still okay.  There will be an opportunity to do what we gotta do.  It’ll work out all right.

Evidence that it has been a rainy couple weeks. Standing spots of water, but thankfully no large drowned-out areas…yet.

In the meanwhile, we can enjoy the blooms of our peonies that are at their peak.  Pat has cut some of them and brought them in the house to decorate… and they smell really good, too!

These lovely blooms are from peony bushes that once graced my Grandma Rose Carnahan’s yard. I can remember how she cared for rows and rows of them back in the 1950s and 60s.

Brandon has used these wet days to haul away some of remaining 2023-crop corn from our bins.  John has been busy with the install of a pivoting unloader spout on our older JD S780 combine.

First, he removed the existing fixed-position spout

The new, adjustable spout hangs on the end of the unloader auger.

Once the new spout is installed, there is a myriad of electrical brain boxes, and wiring harnesses to route in all the correct spaces.  It turned into a bigger job than I first imagined.  And after John completes his install, it will require a service call from the dealer to install new software in the brain boxes to operate the new device.  When complete, it should help when unloading the combine directly into a truck.

The last step is for Devon the tech to load in the correct software…

Looks like it’s gonna work

 

More rain is predicted for tomorrow.  We will see what comes.  Hopefully, next week will allow us to return to #plant24 !

All the corn and soybean acres that have been planted are now emerging from the soil and beginning to turn the fields green.  It is so very satisfying to see those baby corn and soybean plants get going!

Soybeans are up and growing!

Baby corn getting started.

Pat and I went to Wheatland this morning to vote.  It was not super-busy and we saw several of our friends coming and going.  It was nice to just visit for a while. And the best part of today’s Indiana Primary Election?  No political TV ads tomorrow!

 

 

Welcome, May

Friday, May 3, 2024

As the week closes out, we received another .22″ (6mm) of rain before daybreak today.  Although that doesn’t sound like a lot of rain, it came on top of already too-wet fields… so there is no field activity today.  The good news is that the crops in the earliest-planted fields are now emerging.  They are looking healthy and have a deep green color.  It is always a relief to see those seedlings come up out of the soil!

You can see the corn plants ‘down the row’ now on this first-planted field.

…and the soybean cotyledons are popping through… not perfectly uniform, but pretty evenly for drilled soybeans.

As we move into the month of May, it gets more urgent to get the planting accomplished.  However, we can only do what the field conditions allow.  The fields that remain are still much too soggy for us to run the planters, or even too soft to run the sprayer.  So, we wait as patiently as possible, and we must admit some days that is easier said than done.  But we move ahead in faith.   We have learned over the decades that there will be an opportunity to do our work.   We just have to be ready when that opportunity arrives.  We believe we are ready.

It helps to remember that we have made good progress so far for #plant24.  We are 2/3 or more through the planting process.  Count your blessings.

Have a good weekend.

 

Still too soggy

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

May has arrived, and the neighborhood is very quiet.   Like the Night Before Christmas, “not a creature is stirring”.   The fields are still too wet and soft for us to plant or even run the sprayer.  But it is a warm and beautiful day out there!   86ºF (30C)  This warmth will help the emerging seedlings of corn and soybeans.  Our first-planted corn field is mostly emerged and thriving today.  The first-planted soybean field is about 40-50% emerged, and should look great by Monday.  We will take a Gator ride here this afternoon to check one more time to see if John can run the sprayer, but I’m not optimistic about finding any one of the remaining fields that will support the sprayer.  Not today.  But we must look.

A warm and beautiful day at Carnahan & Sons.

Pat’s first few strawberries from her patch at home is beginning to bear fruit.  I think there is nothing quite so tasty as that first strawberry pie of the season.   Soon, it looks like she will have an abundance of new berries!

The first ones picked are always sweet.

We have the machines serviced and fueled and DEF’d…ready for the next available day to get back to work.

 

Week two of planting yet to start

Monday, April 29, 2024

The planters are not rolling today; rain has threatened all morning, and is certain for the early afternoon.  There have been some limits on the sprayer’s work because of windy days.  Now, the fields that remain to be sprayed have some other limitations…the recent river flooding and heavy rains of a couple weeks ago have created some expansive areas that have water standing or are at least very wet.  It will take some more dry (and warmer) days to dry out those areas and allow the sprayer to do its job properly.   The soybean planter is now ‘caught up to’ the sprayed acres.  There are still 2 corn fields that are sprayed and unplanted… and Brandon can get to them as soon as practical.

It’s pretty certain that there’s a rain coming in those clouds.

We had a pretty good and productive week of planting from last Monday (the 22nd) to Saturday night (the 27th).  Another week like that could see the end of planting, but with the wet spots, it will cause us to hunt around more to find fields that are ready.  If we get that week’s worth of work in over the next 15 days, that will be good.  We are grateful for every acre that has been planted already, and that the seeds went into the ground in very good soil conditions.  A little rain today will be an okay thing, too.  The predictions have changed frequently over the past 24-hours.  Depending on when you checked “Weather Underground”, it showed that we’d receive .3 to 1.7 inches of rain (8 to 44mm).  We will have to wait and see what really comes.

Saturday evening, I needed some more soybean seed for the air cart, so John brought the Volvo and trailer.  The air cart was able to hold all the remaining seed from the trailer.  He brought with him a couple really sweet helpers, and it was a treat to see them!  It’s time to refill the Volvo and trailer with soybean seed.  I’ll probably go over to Nutrien tomorrow to get it loaded with our Asgrow AG35XF1 seeds.  We’ve already planted the 3.0s and 3.3s.

Loading the air cart with soybean seed.

Granddaughters make the best team to help load grandpa’s soybean planter!

John arranged for our forklift to get some mechanical attention.  During this short pause in planting, he got the mechanics from Wiese in Terre Haute to come and re-build all the hydraulic cylinders with new seals.  Now, there should not be any greasy spots on the floor under the machine!

Two mechanics came to our shop and made quick work of the repair.

We ran out of fuel here late last week, and the transport trailers from Keystone Co-op are due here today.  Our fuel is stored in a secure, covered and diked building to protect from the weather and from a spill or leaky tank.  I’ll be able to refuel my tractor this evening and be ready for the next day in the field!

As the semi-load of highway diesel fuel pumps into our storage, the trailer load of farm diesel fuel waits its turn.  It is a very unusual thing to have both fuel tanks run dry a the same time.  This is an expensive day…

Brandon scouted the earliest corn fields this morning, and discovered that we have one field of corn emerged!  It always feels good to see those little green spikes poking out of the ground.  I usually don’t return to check the soybean fields until at least two weeks post-planting, and we’re just one week out today.  Corn does better if the seeds emerge quickly; the soybeans can be a bit more forgiving of cooler or slightly wetter conditions and still emerge and thrive.

The little corn spikes are a-comin’ through!

We are praying for the families in Iowa and Nebraska that were hit by the tornadoes this week.  The pictures show such great destruction.  The stories of the storms were sobering, but the stories of how the communities band together and how many folks come to their aid are heart-warming, too.

Have a great week.

 

First rain-out

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Yes, a rain came yesterday afternoon about 5pm.  This stopped the planters for today.  But today is sunny and warm (63F).   We used the day to refill the air cart with soybeans, and Brandon hauled some corn to Newburgh.  John is out in the sprayer this afternoon in the one field that is workable for him.  He is applying burndown herbicide in a soybean field.  Soon, we will need to get the final application of fungicide on the wheat.  There is never a dull moment in the spring…

The third building crew came today to begin work on the overhead door of the new building.  This is the last step in its construction.  They worked all day, and got the door installed.  They will return tomorrow to install the electric operator.  Maybe by tomorrow evening, the new building will be fully complete.

They started.

At the end of their work day, installers had the door ready to open and close. Tomorrow, the power opener will be installed.  It surprised me that it took the 3 workers all day to build this door in place.

We received about .4″ (10mm) of rain last evening, and with the sunny day today, perhaps we can return to planting tomorrow.   I hope so.

Enjoy this nice day.

#plant24 started

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Well, we got the planters rolling yesterday.  Brandon had a good day with the corn planter…not one problem, and I had a good day with the soybean planter.  Had 3 secondary  air hoses pop off, but those were quick fixes.  Soil conditions were not perfect, but very, very good.   All in all, a very good first day for me, and second day for Brandon.  John was busy with the sprayer, applying burndown herbicide to soybean fields.  He worked the weekend, and got almost all the corn acres sprayed.

Got the JD 550 drill and air cart hooked up yesterday morning, and then filled cart with soybean seed.

The view from the tractor as I plant soybeans at the Lett farm yesterday.  The new tractor is terrific!

We will be out again today, but rain is predicted for the afternoon.  We will see what the day brings, but it really feels good to get started.

 

 

Nice Friday…

Today has been a lovely day… blue skies, a gentle breeze, and about 60ºF  (16C).  It does feel cooler than the past several days.  We were getting quite used to those days of 80+ temps.  Back in long pants, no shorts today!

My plan was to plant some soybeans today.  But last night, about 10pm, a pretty harsh storm hit, bringing us .3 to .6″ of rain.  The winds were pretty stiff, and there was lots of lightning and thunder.  It only lasted about an hour, but it was enough rain to stop the planters today!   So, I don’t even think I’ll go look until Monday morning to see if there is a place dry enough where I can plant.  Now that we are moving into the last 10 days of April, it feels like we should be planting.

Here is the radar as the Thursday night storm approached.

In the storm’s aftermath, I had lots of limbs to pick up in the yard this morning.

Brandon was able to start the corn planter yesterday.  He searched and found one field that was dry enough (barely, but OK) to plant corn.  This allowed him to call in Nathan from Hutson’s to get him up-to-speed on the operation of this new planter.  Brandon has a few  years’ experience planting corn, but that was with the previous CaseIH rig.  This new JD has some additional features of from-the-cab adjustments to the row cleaners and the closing wheels that he had to learn.  Nathan was quite a helpful expert to have in the cab with him.  They discovered a few bugs in the system, in the way the tracking worked, and in the way the vacuum system operated.  Also, a hydraulic line popped loose from the tractor, decorating the back of the cab (splattering it) with a coating of oil.   Nathan answered every question, and offered good expertise to make this machine perform its best.  He was a valuable asset yesterday.  Brandon is very pleased with the new JD planting set-up… both the 1775NT planter and the 8R 340 tractor that pulls it.

If you look closely, you can see Nathan standing in the field ahead.  Nathan was making sure the seeds were being placed accurately into the soil.  He was a great help to Brandon yesterday.  

And we now have some corn planted, even if it is only 30 acres…I guess we can celebrate that we have one field of corn planted!  Got a few to go…

John plans to work the weekend, tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, to spray more burndown herbicide on fields going into corn.   He is the farm’s expert on sprayer applications.  Weather and wind permitting, he can make great headway on that task this weekend.  He is feeling the pressure of staying ahead of both the corn and soybean planters.  It is not quick and easy to switch the sprayer back-and-forth between the different chemistries that are specifically used for corn and then for soybeans or wheat.  John cleans the sprayer system thoroughly each time a change is needed, and he puts in 3 to 5 hours in the cleaning and rinsing to make sure no residue of the previous chemistry gets applied to the next field.

John is feeling added pressure that an application of fungicide must be made to the wheat on Thursday or Friday of next week.  The window of success for that is pretty small, and it must be applied exactly at the ‘flag leaf’ stage.   Maybe a 24-to-36 hour window!  That will be the final pass of crop protection on the 2024 wheat crop.  It’s looking pretty good right now, and we are hopeful for a good yield come June.

I hope you all have a great weekend… the weather is supposed to be very nice, just a bit cooler than we’ve enjoyed this week.

Another beautiful April day

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

The sun is out and it is already 71ºF (22C) at 9am.  The wind is rather stiff, but still a pleasant morning.  But last night, we received another “April shower”.  This adds to the situation where the fields are too soft to drive across.  It’s quite a contrast to the month of March; that was exceptionally dry.  Now, in April, we are catching up some needed rainfall.  We’d be pleased if it would dry off for a couple weeks and allow us to begin planting corn and soybeans.  But, we are not in charge of that, and we must react to whatever comes.  It doesn’t feel “late” yet, but it would be a happy thing to get the planters rolling.

Brandon is cleaning a couple trucks and trailers today.  His goal is to make them #Andyclean!  He has more corn to haul this afternoon, and his Peterbilt “Tony Truck” will look great when he goes.  He also washed the Volvo, which now is loaded with soybean seed.   If the weather stays dry by Friday, I’ll load seed into the air drill, and then take the Volvo to Nutrien to top it back off with seed.

Brandon first washed the Volvo.

Next came the Tony Truck, named for the previous owner.

Monday afternoon, I took the Volvo over to Nutrien and filled it with Asgrow soybean seed, a different variety in each hopper.

But, as long as the fields are not ready for the planters, I’ll keep the soybean planter tractor in the shed, out of the sun and rain.

White River is cresting today near US 50, and will slowly move down over the next 7-8 days.  This affects about 15% of our acres.

This is today’s NOAA Hydrological graph report for Edwardsport, Indiana. Our fields are about 1-day’s river flow after Edwardsport.

Maybe next week we can start the planters?

Patiently waiting

Monday, April 15, 2024

After two consecutive days last week brought us a total of 5″ (51mm) of rain, we are waiting for the fields to dry.  And our fields in the White River bottomlands are submerged from flooding.  The river is supposed to crest Tuesday, helping those fields to be headed in the right direction.  We will go out in the Gator this morning to check some nearby fields to see if it might be possible to run the sprayer and get some burndown herbicide applied.  If so, those fields would be ready for the planter as soon as the soil conditions are dry enough.  Now that it’s the middle of April, it’s time to get rolling; we need a week or two of ‘green light’ days!

Today is my brother Ross’ birthday.  He would have been 81 today.  He died in July of 22, and we are still adjusting to farming and life without him.  But we move ahead, trying our best to honor his memory, and become the best farmers we can be.  His influence and that of our parents–Lowell and Ruth Carnahan– will always affect our actions here.

I’ll probably get the Volvo truck and trailer cleaned out and loaded with soybean seed.  We will load the Vanna truck and trailer with water and chemicals to support the sprayer.  Maybe that can run today or tomorrow.

Will this sprayer come out of the shed today? Hope so!

It’s “go” time!  We will see if the field conditions permit…

 

Purdue in the Final Four!

Thursday, April 11, 2024

For years, I had told myself that if Purdue ever made it to the Final Four, I would certainly go.  After last Sunday’s Purdue win of the Midwest Regional in the NCAA March Madness tournament, we firmed up our plans to go the Final Four.   Ben took the lead in this planning effort, and by Sunday night, he had all the arrangements made:  game tickets, flights, an Air BnB, and rental car!

On Friday afternoon, April 5, John and I met Ben and Kierstin at the Cincinnati CVG airport and we flew together to Phoenix, arriving there quite late.  On Saturday, we went to the semi-final game vs North Carolina State.  Just entering this gargantuan arena, was a jaw-dropping experience.  And then seeing it swarmed with happy Boilermaker fans added to the excitement.  Yes, our seats were ‘way up high in the upper deck, but we were there!  Our tickets were the highest priced I’ve ever paid for a basketball game, but nothing like the $12,000 seats I saw at StubHub!  There was a energetic ‘vibe’ about the place; your heart beat a bit faster just to be ‘in the room’.  We helped cheer our Boilermakers on to a victory.  We had made the national championship game!

Entering State Farm Stadium, site of the 2024 Men’s NCAA Basketball Final Four
That’s me, John, Kierstin (Ben’s wife), and Ben– All proud Purdue Alumni

On Sunday, I had the privilege to meet up with a friend who had moved to Phoenix a few years ago.  Stan and Vicky Robertson picked me up late Sunday morning and we went to church together at Scottsdale Bible Church.  After that, we met Stan and Vicky’s son Michael and DIL Joyce for a lovely lunch at a Scottsdale restaurant called “Houston’s”.  We had a first-rate visit.  It was a great blessing to see Stan and talk a while.

Sunday evening, John and Ben and I went to downtown Phoenix to see where the Boilermaker team was staying at the Hyatt Regency hotel–which was decorated in Purdue Old Gold and Black to the nines.  We saw the team bus and Zach Edey’s dad, but we did not see any of the Purdue players… just a lot of happy Boilermaker fans.

The street outside the Hyatt got a new name for the Final Four!

After that, we went over to the convention center where there was a fabulous fan experience sponsored by Capital One.  Yes, we saw the Chuck Stop and the Magic Mart there, as well as fun interactive exhibits by Coca Cola, Great Clips, Home Depot, Pizza Hut, and many others.  We had supper at nearby Huss Brewpub, a local favorite owned by Purdue alumni.

This was a fun fan experience in the Phoenix Convention Center. The main sponsor was Capital One.

Monday, we rested most of the day, preparing for the championship game that night in Glendale.   It was exciting to see our Boilermakers take the floor one last time for the season.  The overwhelming majority of the fans there were in Purdue black and gold, but the game was not as successful as we hoped.  The opponent, the UCONN Huskies, prevailed as NCAA Champions.  Even so, it was a spectacular event, and I was so grateful to be in the crowd (74,700+ fans) to cheer on our Boilermakers.  The festive atmosphere surrounding the whole event was astounding.

What a great privilege to see our Boilermakers in the Championship Game of the Final Four!

At the Stadium on  Saturday or Monday, we met by chance 14 other Purdue fans we knew from here!  It was a fun thing to run into familiar folks and share the fun moment with them.   We also caught glimpses of former Purdue stars Robbie Hummel, E’Twaun Moore, and Brian Cardinal, as well as Purdue football coach Ryan Walters.

Our flight home departed early Tuesday morning, and we had to go through Seattle to get back to CVG.   After landing there, we still had a 3.5 hour drive across southern Indiana to get home.  Yes, we were tired, a bit sad about the loss to end the season, but so happy and grateful to have shared that ‘bucket list’ experience among other Purdue faithful.  This Purdue team gave us many, many reasons to be proud of them.  It was special for me to share this with my sons and one of my DILs.

Of course I wanted my wife Pat to go to the FF too, but she remained home.  We had 7 family members from Florida who came for the eclipse on Monday the 8th… Knox County, Indiana was directly on the centerline of the so-called ‘path of totality’.  It was a happy time for Pat to host them, and she found the eclipse more fascinating than she expected.  I think her guests’ enthusiasm made it even better for her.   I also missed seeing these dear people while I was away in Arizona.

Pat’s step-mom Renee donned her farmer hat while she was here!

Pat’s guests for the Eclipse weekend.

Here is how the eclipse looked at its peak at Wheatland, Indiana. This was at our church parking lot. It got dark enough to turn on the parking lot lights!

…

Since that time back here on the farm, we have been having very rainy days.  In fact, over the past 2 days, we have received 5″ (51mm) of rain!  So, our dreams of planting before the middle of April are now on hold.  It will likely be a week or more of sunny and dry days before we can get into any field to begin #plant24.   To be honest, planting time doesn’t quite feel urgent  yet, but we are eager to get the planters going.   The machines are completely prepared and ready to go.  When the field conditions permit, we will turn on the ‘green light’.