Third Time's the Charm?

I've always loved the fairytale setting for our little farm home. The mighty arms of a chorus of old trees shade our house and yard.

Home Sweet Home "dressed" for fall - file photo

But on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, I was questioning my love affair with our big old trees. I know that Sunday night's storm toppling our 100-year-old-plus cottonwood had something to do with our hasty exodus from our upstairs bedroom to the main floor. As branches pummeled the roof and rain fell in sheets, it sounded a little like we were in a war zone. (Not that I know what that sounds like, but you get the idea!)

Early morning light revealed that not all the branches and trees had fallen in the Sunday night storm. There seemed to be plenty to "decorate" the yard and smash the rain gutter and flag pole after Tuesday night's storm, too. But, thankfully, the roof survived at our house. However, we will have to replace the roof at the farm employee's home.

The road in front of our house had been blocked by our massive cottonwood Monday morning. On Wednesday morning, it was trees from the shelterbelt across the road that blocked our way until Randy could get the loader tractor to again clear the path.

Our south driveway again took a hit in the Tuesday storm. This tree was just to the east of the cottonwood.

The tree that shades Randy's pickup also got an unexpected haircut. Thankfully, it didn't fall on his pickup.

We have had our share of wind storms this summer. A storm in mid-June skewed our lean-to and made it "lean" a little more than it should, as well as delaying wheat harvest for a few days.

The same storm damaged trees at a cemetery not far from our farm.

The two storms this week brings us to three - count 'em, 3! - violent wind storms since June 21. I'm really hoping "third time's the charm" comes true and puts an end to the storms and the damage.

Google tells me that the origin of the phrase "third time's the charm" is probably ancient since things that come in sets of three have often been associated with good fortune due to their similarity with the Holy Trinity. Another source says that the possible origin for this phrase comes from the common folk belief in perseverance. It's said that one shouldn't just give up in the face of setbacks and should instead, "Try, try and try again." This suggests that trying once or twice isn't enough, but trying four times is too much.

I'm all for perseverance, but I'd say a fourth wind storm this summer would, indeed, be too much.

However, Randy and I were surprised to see that the corn had fared much better than we'd expected.

Both of us had envisioned our corn snapped in two and leaning over like our trees. So we were surprised and, yes, thankful, too!

I missed this round of the clean-up since I needed to be in Stafford at 8 AM to help with 4-H foods judging.

Hmmmm - maybe I wasn't too sad about that!

***

This morning, we did a little farm scouting tour. Here's the milo, which has enjoyed these abundant "drinks" of water lately:

The silage is doing well, too:

County Line Virtual Crop Tour

We had no trouble social distancing during our County Line wheat tour.

This year, because of Covid-19, the Wheat Quality Council substituted a Virtual Wheat Tour for its usual in-person variety. After the abbreviated version with volunteer scouts was completed the week of May 18, the final report estimated a potential Kansas wheat harvest of 284.4 million bushels. That was below the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent estimate of 306 million bushels.

The virtual tour was not meant to fully replace the annual Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour that annually hosts 80 to 100 or more participants. In that tour, participants drive across Kansas for three days, scouting several hundred wheat fields the first week of May. This year’s tour was hosted by Kansas Wheat and Kansas State University Research & Extension, with support from the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The abbreviated tour May 18 to 21 was offered as a snapshot of the wheat crop’s potential, using a later-season formula from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. 

We completed our own County Line tour on Thursday, May 28. It was not virtual for me. I had my own personal guide and scout.

My guide believes our wheat is the best its been for several years.

Last year, this field was totally in corn because heavy rains in the fall of 2018 kept us from planting part of our 2019 wheat crop.

The wheat in this field is a little taller.

This past month, we've had timely rains - about 4 inches of gentle, soaking-in rain spread out in regular intervals during the month. (The photos below were taken on May 7.)

 

We've also had cooler weather, which has aided in filling the wheat heads. In our fields, there's not evidence of diseases like stripe rust, though some has been reported in parts of Kansas.

 

We did find some freeze damage, particularly in low-lying areas. You can see the damage at the top of the head in the photo above. However, there is grain further down in the head.

While it's not "amber waves of grain" quite yet, we're well on our way to America, the Beautiful in wheat country. A general rule of thumb from the farmers at the coffee shop says that we should be cutting wheat about six weeks after it begins heading. That would put our projected start date in mid-June. You've heard of "old wives' tales." We'll see how accurate the "old farmers" are.

Our County Line tour wasn't exclusive to wheat. We also had some stops in corn fields.

 The rains have been beneficial for the corn, too, which we planted the third week of April.

 

It's grown a lot since these photos were taken May 1.

It's amazing what a little time and some rain will do!

The rains have also been beneficial to greening up our pastures to enhance our cow-calf pairs' summer dining experience.

We had quite an audience as we fished at the Ninnescah on Friday.

Our alfalfa got off to a slow start because of insects. It's taken awhile for it to rebound, but Randy hopes to begin our first cutting this week. 

Randy planted silage yesterday, and milo planting is also on the agenda this week.

This completes this edition of the County Line Virtual Tour. You are cordially invited to attend future tours right here at this web address.

Life with an Optimist: A Wheat Update

An optimist is the human personification of spring.

 –Susan J. Bissonette, author

"What would you like to say about the wheat in an update?" I asked my farmer.

"Well, let's see," he said ...

"It looks great, better than it has for several years."
"It's tillered and filled out."
"There are no mud holes, but it's also not dry and blowing away."
"It's one of the things looking great right now."
"It looks like a hundred-bushel crop ... Well, maybe not quite."

 

It's good to live with an optimist in these days of Covid-19.  Honestly, it's good to live with an optimist anytime.

After his Kanza Co-op board meeting on Monday night, he had even more good news:

"Do you know what the latest shortage in grocery stores is?" Randy asked.

"Nope. I just know you still can't buy toilet paper." I said.

"It's flour and yeast. Everyone wants to make their own bread!" my farmer said. "Maybe that will help boost the price of wheat."

Well, I guess the market didn't hear that news yesterday because commodity prices took another dive. But there's always hope, I suppose. 

Like I said, it's good to live with an optimist.

We'll see come harvest time!

And, by the way, his co-op board meeting was conducted at three different locations to make sure they didn't have more than 10 people at the same location and could maintain their 6-feet of separation. Technology for the win!