Airfest

Great Bend had an air show this weekend, celebrating the 75th anniversary of its Army Airfield. We were planting wheat, so we didn't make it. But I had an "air show" all my own in an alfalfa field.

Since we are planting wheat north of Stafford, I took Randy his noon meal on Monday. When I found out he'd be refilling the drill after a couple of rounds, I decided to wait so I could get photos of the process.

At first, I lamented that I hadn't brought my book. But then I decided to take a walk in a nearby alfalfa field, thinking maybe I'd find a stray Monarch butterfly left behind when its compatriots departed for warmer weather in Mexico.

I didn't find any Monarchs. But I still experienced the aerial acrobatics of hundreds of little flying machines. I've never gotten photos of the little blue butterflies before. I later found out the bright blue ones were male Melissa's blue butterflies. They are about the size of a thumbnail, so it's not easy to get close enough for a clear shot before they flit away to another perch.

I also saw a few painted ladies (though their numbers were fewer than the smaller aerial artists) ....

... clouded sulphurs ...

... and, perhaps, some cabbage whites? I'm not sure, even after spending some time looking at a Kansas butterfly and moth website.

I may not know their names. But I know they made my day.

Beautiful and graceful,

 varied and enchanting, 

small but approachable, 

butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life.  

And everyone deserves a little sunshine. 

 ~Jeffrey Glassberg

Today, I'm scrambling to get my KFRM report done before 7 so I can deliver Randy to the field and go to Zenith to fill a 100-gallon diesel tank on the pickup. I'll pick up seed wheat on the way home from getting some medicine in Hutchinson, then deliver the noon meal to Randy again. Helping Randy move from over west to a field closer to home is on the agenda sometime this afternoon, barring breakdowns and other complications.  I'll be the one "flying" from one thing to another today. I could use some wings.

Farm Fresh Fragrance

The sun has risen on the 2016 alfalfa season.

 Looking west at first light - the other side of sunrise

Hay season has been a long time coming this year. Spring rains kept the swather out of the field in May. But the generous rainfall has produced thick windrows as the guys have swathed hay this week.

The fragrance of the purple blooms mixes with the perfume of the freshly cut alfalfa. It could be bottled under the name, "Farm Fresh." (It sure beats the aroma of diesel wafting off Randy's clothes after a repair job.)

Yellow and white butterflies play "tag" among the flowers, dancing too quickly for a photo on a warm June afternoon.

 

Randy called with a photo request after swathing a field Wednesday morning. He thought it was ready for a prairie portrait.

I think he was right.

For more information about our alfalfa crop - from swathing to raking to baling - click on this Kim's County Line link. 

From Bloom to Bale to Back of the Truck

The snapshot told the story: From alfalfa bloom to bale to back of the truck, another Kansas crop was completing its life cycle.

Last week was haying moving week. We will feed the majority of the alfalfa, sudan and silage we raise to our own cattle, but Randy markets the extra hay through Sunflower Trading, a division of the Kanza Co-op. So far this year, he has contracted seven loads to Morrill Hay Company near Larned.

  

After we added a semi to our farm fleet, Randy bought a hay trailer from our neighbor. Both Randy and Jake got their Commercial Driver's Licenses (CDL), so this is the second year we are hauling the hay ourselves.

Photo from June 2008

After the alfalfa is baled in the summer, the guys stack it in rows near the road.

Jake picked up the bales, two at a time, and then brought them closer to the truck.

Then he puts each bale individually on the trailer, placing them two across on the flat-bed. It's kind of like building with Legos. You just keep adding "pieces" to the "design." Unfortunately, there are no handy connective pieces to keep everything stuck together like Legos.

After the bottom rows were in place, he added another layer, positioning the upper deck in the "groove" between two bales.

Last winter, the guys painted a white stripe down the middle of the flatbed trailer. That helps give a visual marker for getting the load centered. 

This particular load was a little smaller because it finished out the field.

This year, the bales are lighter in weight. They are also worth less. This year, we are getting $70 per ton, while last year's high was $130. Much of last year's crop was sold at $110.

The price difference can be attributed to availability. This year, western Kansas has gotten more rain, so there's more alfalfa available. In addition, feed grain prices are down, making alfalfa worth less, too.

Once the bales were in place, the guys strapped them down.

Jake lifted Randy in the tractor bucket to place the straps over the top.

This is not the photo op your wife wants, believe me!

But they got it all strapped down with no mishaps and no insurance claims. Success!

Last year, we didn't sell any extra hay until February, so the photos weren't nearly as pretty as those on a beautiful fall day.

Royal Visitors

Adopt the pace of nature: 

her secret is patience.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've been seeing Monarchs flit and float on the air currents as I drove my sedate 45-miles-an-hour to and from Zenith, pulling a fertilizer tank. I hoped the butterflies were not wiping out on the grill of the pickup or blinded by the dust kicked up as tires met gravel road.

Monarchs, the "Queen" of butterflies, are in their annual migration, a journey that takes them from northern climes to the warmth of Mexico for the winter months. To me, they are like flying stained glass, the brilliant orange and yellow of their wings framed by black, like panes of a church window.

At home, I'd walk the tree rows, searching for a Monarch taking a breather. The Rose of Sharon bushes at the driveway evidently aren't butterfly magnets. I've never glimpsed any butterfly swooping in for a quick drink of nectar from those pink and white blooms.

On Snapshot Kansas on Facebook, I'd seen a few people post photos of Monarchs grouped together on tree branches, kind of like farmers hanging out for coffee at the local cafe. But none were using my yard as a gathering place.

On Friday, I parked the pickup and fertilizer tank on an alfalfa field, just adjacent to where Randy was planting wheat. (Yes, we are still planting.) And I finally discovered that Monarchs must like the purple alfalfa blooms.

We were a half mile away from 4th Street, a more heavily traveled paved road. I could hear cars passing by, but I hoped we were far enough away that no one wondered what the crazy lady was doing, creeping through an alfalfa field.

I was finally successful in my quest to sneak up on the hungry travelers. Ralph Waldo Emerson had it right: Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

 

God, thank You for the moments 

that wake me up to this perfectly beautiful world.

(From a Guideposts daily email devotional)