Harvest Kernels

We've been finding corn kernels on the bedroom floor. Hmmm ... I wonder who is responsible?

This moisture test came out 14.0, which is dry enough to cut.

Of course, if I tried to climb in and out of the combine bin to check moisture on the corn, I'm afraid I would break my neck. (See Randy doing his acrobatic act without a net in the upper lefthand photo in the collage above. It's kind of blurry, but you get the idea.) So if I have to sweep up a little corn, it's a small price to pay.

Corn harvest 2015 on the County Line started August 27. We were able to cut for a few days before we ran out of dry grain.

After Randy put corn in the grain moisture tester (see photos in the collage) and got a 16.6 reading, we waited a few days until the corn could dry out more.

We got started again on Wednesday, September 2. It was my second attempt at getting some photos I was happy with. Maybe I'm a wheat farmer at heart. I think wheat harvest is inherently prettier. The dried up corn and crepe-paper-like crinkly husks don't have the natural charm of wheat, in my humble opinion.

This year, we also have a lot of weeds, which doesn't make farmers OR photographers very happy. (I got some ideas for corn shots after seeing posts from fellow ag-vocate and Facebook/blog friend Jenny Burgess, Sterling, of Farmwife Transparency. Thanks, Jen!)

We don't have yield totals yet. However, this third year of corn production on the County Line is not a bin buster.

Photo through the dirty combine window, but you can see the corn cobs coming into the combine.

Yes, modern corn varieties have some drought-tolerant properties bred into them. However, that just keeps the "window" open a little longer for ear development. It's still important to get a good rain during that time frame. This year, we didn't.

Because we are totally dryland on our farm, wheat continues to be the primary crop for us. And that isn't likely to change.

When I saw the corn cobs left behind, I kept thinking about Frosty the Snowman's corn cob pipe. I would take more "frosty" temperatures after the blast furnace heat and wind of the past few days!

 

The adventure continues ...