This year's harvest was a little crazy.
Once we cut second crop hay all that rain that we had been praying and fasting for back in March came pouring down. And it just poured and poured and poured.
I have never seen it rain that much in the middle of August. Usually we will have some thunderstorms but this was just really out of the ordinary. Those clouds came in and just settled on us and it got cool and it just rained for a couple days straight.
After the clouds cleared up, it was time to assess the damage.
The once green hay was now black.
I was driving down the road to take Kolton lunch one day and saw a guy out on a tractor in the middle of the field. The tractor was smoking and I was ready to call Kolton to tell him that somebody had a tractor on fire. On further examination, however, I realized that the tractor was still running and the rake behind it was what was making all the black smoke. I tried to figure out what on a rake could possibly be on fire to be smoking like that. Upon even FURTHER examination, I discovered that neither piece of equipment was smoking. The hay that was being battered by the rake was sending up that thick black dust.
It was that bad.
And it didn't stop there.
We would rake and get a field or two baled and then the rain would come in again to do more damage. It was just the worst! We couldn't get ahead of it and all that hay was sure ugly. When Hansen's were finally getting the last of it baled I volunteered to make everyone dinner and have them stop by the house on their way home. When Kortni and Teagan came by to get their dinner I could not stop laughing. I wanted to take a picture so badly. Their faces were just black. Every square inch of skin was covered in that nasty black dust. Oh, I just died over it, but I don't think they thought it was too funny.
The grain harvest was a whole other story.
Kolton had told me that if it rains enough, the grain kernels will actually start to sprout while they are still on the plant. I told him that there was no way that could happen.
It turns out that it definitely CAN happen and that it definitely DID happen.
After the first bout of rain left us, Kolton got on the combining and was going like crazy. He nominated me as the person to take the grain samples to Osgood so they could see how they were doing on moisture, sprout, and other things that I don't understand.
I took in the samples each day for two or three days and every day the results went from bad to worse. Kolton had watered his grain a week longer than about anybody else so it was already sopping wet before the rain came in. We had contracted all our grain and it was all going to be useless. Busch will only take about 1% sprout and Kolton's lowest was 10% and the highest was about 20%. It was not looking good. But regardless they just kept combining. Not knowing what they were going to do with all that grain sitting in the bin.
Things were looking pretty dim.
Then another rainstorm came through.
Kolton had finished all his grain but with this next bout of rainstorms Kolton's 20% sprout on his grain was starting to sound pretty good.
All anybody could talk about was what they were going to do with all this malt barley that has a limited market. . We had been hoping that with all the ups and downs of harvest we would at least be able to break even, but it didn't look like that was even going to happen. We were feeling a little picked on.
It was not a good month.
But then September rolled around and the hay and grain somehow got finished and Kolton started hauling in his barley. He was nervous with the first couple loads because they were testing every single truck that came in and he didn't know if he was going to make it. They had raised the amount of allowable sprout so we were hopeful that we could haul in at least a little bit of the grain.
Over the last couple of weeks, Kolton has been able to haul in about 85% of his barley.
I was sitting in church last Sunday and pondering all that has happened over the last month of harvest and I felt an overwhelming gratitude for all that we have been blessed with.
I can't put into words how stressful this harvest has been. With the rain and the sprout and all the problems that we have faced I really was wondering how we were going to make it. I think we have all been humbled. Each of these circumstances was something that was so far beyond our control. There wasn't much we could have done differently to avoid the problems that we had. It made me realize how much we have to depend on Heavenly Father to help us get our crops up. It also made me so grateful for all the years that everything has gone smoothly with no major problems.
It is only by Heavenly Father's goodness and blessings that these seeds we plant in the ground grow and produce. I really came to realize and know how much we depend on him to have everything work the right way. And I also came to realize how much he loves us and blesses us. In a way, I am grateful for the stress and problems that we have had because I feel like it has helped me to come to know my Heavenly Father better and to learn to be grateful for all that He has given me.
Kolton had told me that if it rains enough, the grain kernels will actually start to sprout while they are still on the plant. I told him that there was no way that could happen.
It turns out that it definitely CAN happen and that it definitely DID happen.
After the first bout of rain left us, Kolton got on the combining and was going like crazy. He nominated me as the person to take the grain samples to Osgood so they could see how they were doing on moisture, sprout, and other things that I don't understand.
I took in the samples each day for two or three days and every day the results went from bad to worse. Kolton had watered his grain a week longer than about anybody else so it was already sopping wet before the rain came in. We had contracted all our grain and it was all going to be useless. Busch will only take about 1% sprout and Kolton's lowest was 10% and the highest was about 20%. It was not looking good. But regardless they just kept combining. Not knowing what they were going to do with all that grain sitting in the bin.
Things were looking pretty dim.
Then another rainstorm came through.
Kolton had finished all his grain but with this next bout of rainstorms Kolton's 20% sprout on his grain was starting to sound pretty good.
All anybody could talk about was what they were going to do with all this malt barley that has a limited market. . We had been hoping that with all the ups and downs of harvest we would at least be able to break even, but it didn't look like that was even going to happen. We were feeling a little picked on.
It was not a good month.
But then September rolled around and the hay and grain somehow got finished and Kolton started hauling in his barley. He was nervous with the first couple loads because they were testing every single truck that came in and he didn't know if he was going to make it. They had raised the amount of allowable sprout so we were hopeful that we could haul in at least a little bit of the grain.
Over the last couple of weeks, Kolton has been able to haul in about 85% of his barley.
I was sitting in church last Sunday and pondering all that has happened over the last month of harvest and I felt an overwhelming gratitude for all that we have been blessed with.
I can't put into words how stressful this harvest has been. With the rain and the sprout and all the problems that we have faced I really was wondering how we were going to make it. I think we have all been humbled. Each of these circumstances was something that was so far beyond our control. There wasn't much we could have done differently to avoid the problems that we had. It made me realize how much we have to depend on Heavenly Father to help us get our crops up. It also made me so grateful for all the years that everything has gone smoothly with no major problems.
It is only by Heavenly Father's goodness and blessings that these seeds we plant in the ground grow and produce. I really came to realize and know how much we depend on him to have everything work the right way. And I also came to realize how much he loves us and blesses us. In a way, I am grateful for the stress and problems that we have had because I feel like it has helped me to come to know my Heavenly Father better and to learn to be grateful for all that He has given me.
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