Whoa! I haven’t posted anything since the end of January! I was away from the farm for almost half of February for a few farm related events like Bayer Ag Issues Forum and Commodity Classic. We’ve still been selling and delivering grain since I last posted. Corn and soybean prices rebounded in February but are down again right now. Our taxes our done, filed, and paid. It’s been below freezing most days, and we’ve seen a fair amount of snow in that time. Today the high is in the low 40s. Next week we are going to see 50s! As the weather changes my pictures will change too, and you are going to get a hint of the changing seasons in this set of photos.
Taking Inventory
Dad and I spent an hour or so up in the loft to sort through a lot of stuff that was lying around with no home. Some of it got put away while some got thrown away. It’s nice to purge old junk and parts you don’t need anymore.
Trucker Time
Grandpa and I hauled two loads of waxy corn early in the week. Here I’m unloading my load and Grandpa is walking back to his truck.
Girls in the probe shack asked who is driving the next truck. I said, "Grandpa." They said, "Aw, he's cute." What about me?
— Brian Scott (@thefarmerslife) March 5, 2015
Bin 3 was cleaned out this week. After I took this picture we climbed in to set up the electric sweep auger. When the grain gets low enough in a bin gravity flow to the center sump stops, and that is where man power and auger power come into play. Boucher Farms has a nice YouTube time-lapse of this process. I’ll have to do one of my own someday!
The Heat is Off
The boiler which heats our floors in the shop and office stopped heating late this week. We kept the chill out of the office for a day with an electric heater. The installer provided the fix in a short amount of time and we were back to normal. We built this shop 5 years ago, and this is the first problem we’ve had with the system. All it really needed was some routine maintenance we had failed to do ourselves. Now we know!
Light Work
The reverse lights on one of our trailers quit working so we started chasing wires. Grandpa found some corrosion here, and when I cleaned up the terminals I found one about to fall off. I trimmed that wire back and put on a new terminal. We haven’t found our backup light problem yet so we’ll have to keep searching.
Prepping for Planting
The final task of the week was hitching the planter up to the 8360R. This was the first time these two pieces of equipment have been in contact. Our 8420 was traded at the end of 2014 so this tractor will now take on the additional task of planter tractor. We have plans for this planter in the very near future so you better check back for a post on that!
Glad you’re back, Brian. I’ve missed the posts.
Thanks for the posts…You had many activities This Week. Good job Brian!
This entire site is awesome. I am a school teacher and think this site would be wonderful to use in classes all over the USA….people and children need to see this kind of work and then go on to be so thankful to all of you who do this work and feed our nation. THANK YOU for it…where are you located in Norhtern Indiana as I used to live in Garrett. Merri
We are near Monticello. I’ve actually had a fair amount of teachers get in touch to use some of my material in class!
OH nice…….good. We came up from farm country near Chicago in the sixtues…bought a family resort and ran it 55 plus years. My parents and I loved it.we have a lot of Iowa farmers still as dear friends ….some now from Alleman Iowa. The resort is gone now, as it grew into something beyond what dad’s vision was of a small mom and pop place.
I am sending your blog out to them. What I find so wonderful in you and your story is famly working together and peace. You have such a peace about you in your work. I really want to pass that on in my work now..to all I meet…to meet a young man so really loving what you do…well that is so rare in the work I do. People seem eo strive for so much, and you have it, but you love it too. Hats off to you and to your videos…they are hearwarming to see. PLUS I am learning a lot now and can talk about farming now , to VElma Felming, a lady who worked full time in a grain elevator there in ALleman..she is 96 now and knows so much about farming..and has taught me much too. I am sending her this so she knows I am studying my farming. More later and hope the fields are planted. She said in ALleman , 25 miles SW of DesMoines, the corn is up. I am not sure about Southern Mn where I am moving ..but will check it out..Much gratitude to y’all and blessings.from way up here in NE MN…merri
Being a city woman I still enjoy watching the agricultural show on Sunday mornings, and heard a reference to your site. I decided to check it out, and really enjoyed seeing some of what you do to produce my food. Thank you.