So while I was down at the Soil Health field day in Indiana, the field crop crew was busy harvesting winter wheat at the NCRS. Here is the combine harvesting one of the plots on Farm 1 on Tuesday. Over the next few days they got all of the experiments and production wheat harvested. I don't know what the yields were yet.
I have shown this view of Farm 7 a number of times over the years. Notice anything different? Well a few weeks ago new farm signs were installed sporting a new layout. This was on Wednesday morning.
And here is that same view, well without the sign, on Friday morning with the wheat all harvested.
Another thing happened this week: the linear irrigation units were started on on Farms 3 and 5. The pic below was on Friday morning on Farm 5. This is the latest by far that we have started irrigating in the more than 10 years we have had them. There has been maybe one year that we didn't irrigate in June, but generous rain this season has kept them parked. Which is a good thing. Glad to see them running now though as it's gotten a little dry. Plus there would be shallower rooting in the wetter soils anyway, so good to be able to give the crops a drink. The non-irrigated farms looked on longingly however.
While I was out there I spotted Kalvin filling in a hole. We he should since he helped make it in the first place. But there had been a good sized mudhole there all season. Couldn't figure out why since it is tiled. Well they finally had time to check it out and dug a hole to maybe help it drain and figure out the problem. Then they came across a broken tile. But not one of the new tile lines, but one of the old clay tile pieces that has been there maybe 50 years. So the water running through it was spilling out and making a mess. They patched in a new piece, filled some rocks around it and then soil. Mission accomplished.
Which is a good thing as this will be part of the path of the 5K race here at the NCRS on August 30. No, it's not a race of the farm crew (are you kidding?), but a real sanctioned race: The Farm to Fork 5K. It's for charity and everything. If it sounds like something you want to do, then there is information on our website. Not sure where, but search Farm to Fork 5K and it will show up.
This was a short blog post, but the next one will probably require a sitting position or several visits. So come back tomorrow night.
