It’s always fun when you receive comments from people you don’t know because it means someone is actually reading your blog. What’s even more fun is receiving a comment from someone you don’t know telling you they like your blog well enough to nominate you for an award. Thank you, C. J., and Food Stories Blog –http://www.foodstoriesblog.com for nominating me for the “Illuminating Blogger Award”. C. J. specializes in Food, Science, Recipes, Cooking & Stories about Food. If you love food and anything that has to do with food and recipes, visit her blog!
Oh my goodness! Patience and tempers in this camp are beginning to take a turn for the worse! We have been inside this trailer house entirely TOO LONG! The last time we set foot in a wheat field was June 2 – that’s 12 days ago.
Yesterday, the girls and I did escape for most of the day. We headed to Garden City to tour the FREE zoo and then did a little shopping – fun and grocery. We went to the zoo with friends (who are also harvesters… young harvesters). I mention young harvesters because that is an issue in our industry that really needs to be addressed. It happened that Allie (harvester’s wife) could escape with the boys for a little while so they met us there.The Garden City Zoo is by far my favorite zoo! Even better than the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo, as far as I’m concerned. I could go there every day and not get sick of being there. It’s beautiful! This is its 85th year of existence and has always been free admission.
Pretty much a normal day with nothing much to report. We started and finished the field that we had to leave. It was PLENTY dry today! Test weights averaged 62/63 lbs, the protein was really low…7-8% and the average was 40/45 bushels per acre. The field was ROUGH with a lot of terraces. It took us the whole day to cut 135 acres. I like the variation the terraces bring to your day but if it’s time you’re trying to make, the flat fields are by far the best! We’ve got approximately 2 ½ days left of the acres we came to Shattuck for. Then what?? Will we move on or find something more to do around here?
Nope…not today. We thought we might get to start later this afternoon but it just didn’t happen. And, it wasn’t because we weren’t ALL anxious to get started.
Jim and I are helping another harvester on this first job of ours. The other harvester is a longtime friend of ours (Delane and Travis Reimer) whom we’ve known for over 20 years. Our kids played together when we reached the Chappell, Nebraska area. There were always a whole slug of kids at that stop – Zeorian’s, Krumbach’s, Reimer’s, Trummel’s, Slattery’s and more. It was the stop the kids looked most forward to (except Jordan, MT) because there were friends to get together with. There were times when the kids were all together in one trailer and the old folks were in another. Rain days were most looked forward to in Chappell so we could gather together for a meal and friend time.
As we were driving through Snyder, Oklahoma and further south into Frederick, I started feeling like we were the last ones to the party. I couldn’t believe the amount of wheat that had already been cut since we had been down just a week earlier. When we were through this area a week ago, we saw four combines running and wheat that looked like it should be cut. The harvesters began their exodus from all points of the Midwest with one thing in mind – cut wheat. And that’s what they did while we were still trying to get a truck repaired and a trailer house packed. Oh well…we did the best we could.
So, after all that work we did to get here, guess what it did last night – it rained. (Hurry up and wait – the harvester’s motto) Our first day of harvest 2012 and it starts as a rain day. Frustrating? Yes but, on the other hand, it gives us a day or two to take a deep breath, get settled and then gear up to the working stage. Those who busted their butts to get here and then had to start right away needed a break, too. It’s always nice to get to a place a day or two BEFORE having to start cutting – not the same day. So, if I’m responsible for their break – so be it. They needed one!
The title of this post will only mean something to Jenna and the rest of my family. 🙂 However, we certainly HAVE celebrated a couple very happy days recently. I will attempt to keep the number of words to a minimum because I’m sure I could get long-winded. The number of pictures I’d l ike to share will make this posting long enough.
On Saturday, April 21, Taylor went to her very first prom.
She had ordered her dress online – in plenty of time – on Thanksgiving. When she received it, it was way too big. I couldn’t send it back to the “store” as it was created in China. So, the next thing we had to do was take it in. It was a job that seemed rather overwhelming to me but I was willing to accept the challenge. I had questions, though, how to make it happen and called upon a neighbor who had done dresses like this in the past for advice. Taylor and I went to Judeen’s house for help. Judeen, bless her heart, just took over the job. I think she knew it was going to be something I really didn’t want to tackle! And, I’m so thankful for her and what she did. You would never have known that dress was taken apart and re-sewn. THANK YOU, JUDEEN – you are a miracle worker!
Yes, that was the way they were describing the storms that were moving into Eastern Nebraska on Saturday night…”The Storm of the Century”.
This particular tornado watch was being referred to as a PDS watch. Meteorologists define a PDS watch as follows:
“When the threat for damage caused by severe convection is unusually high, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) enhances the wording of its convective watch product with the following statement: THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION Such watches are known as “PDS” watches. PDS tornado (TOR) watches are issued when the forecaster has high confidence that multiple strong (F2-F3 on the Fujita Scale) or violent tornadoes (F4-F5 on the Fujita Scale) will occur in the watch area. PDS TOR watches are rare; of 3058 TOR watches issued during the period 1996-2005, only 7% (216) were PDS watches, When compared with regular TOR watches, PDS TOR watches should ideally be associated with a greater risk of strong or violent tornadoes.”
Brooklyn and Jillian came to our house to color eggs with the girls – minus Jamie and Curt – on Easter Eve. Once again…a tradition that started a LONG time ago! I remember sitting in my Harvest Grandma’s little kitchen (which actually seemed REALLY big as a little girl) coloring Easter eggs with her. I have a picture of the two of us somewhere and would love to find it. The girls try to make each egg different from the others by using crayons, rubber bands and great imaginations. The artistic abilities come out in full force. Sometimes, the artistry is so good that it’s hard for me to even throw those eggs away after they’ve been sitting out for days (and beginning to smell). By the time all five dozen eggs were colored, we had multi colored, polka-dotted, a bumble bee, a Mocking Jay (Hunger Games), a cross, and many, many more.
In 1923, Borlaug witnessed a demonstration in the streets of Minneapolis, MN where starving people were chasing a cart while men were dumping milk in protest of high prices. These starving people were just hoping to be given a portion of what was being thrown away. “Extreme hunger had more than just the stomach in its clutches…it strongly influenced the mind”. Norman knew he HAD to do something. And he DID.
While learning how he genetically changed the way wheat was grown and produced, all I could think about was the uneducated people of this country crying out about the GMO’s of today. If Norman had lived in this time, his research would be criticized to no end. An interesting statement that I read recently on another internet site stated the wheat that’s grown today “is not real wheat”. What the heck is it? The wheat that Mr. Borlaug “engineered” must not be “real” wheat either. At what point does wheat go from “real” wheat to “unreal” wheat?
“By 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, 34 percent higher than today. Nearly all of this population increase will occur in developing countries. Urbanization will continue at an accelerated pace, and about 70 percent of the world’s population will be urban (compared to 49 percent today). Income levels will be many multiples of what they are now. In order to feed this larger, more urban and richer population, food production (net of food used for biofuels) must increase by 70 percent. Annual cereal production will need to rise to about 3 billion tonnes from 2.1 billion today and annual meat production will need to rise by over 200 million tonnes to reach 470 million tonnes.” (How to Feed the world in 2050)
How will this happen? By itself? No, it will take the same kind of passion and caring that was displayed by Norman Borlaug after he realized what hunger was doing to the people of this great country. Hunger…is it something that we’ll be witnessing yet in our generation? What about our children’s?
In 1970, Mr. Borlaug was presented with the Nobel Peach Prize. The Committee Chairman said, while handing him his award, “More than any other single person of his age he has helped to provide bread to a hungry world”. He left the world a better place than what he found it. What’s your story? How will YOU make a difference?
It’s 2 degrees short of being HOT today in Eastern NE. The past three days the temp has reached at or near 90 degrees. Although I am loving this heat, the flowers that I have waited for a year to return are not. When it’s spring, the flowers like the cool weather so much better. With the past three days of heat and wind, the flowers are suffering. The crabapple trees, cherry tree, apple tree and the redbuds are nearly done gracing us with their beauty. There’s been previous years where the flowers last quite some time before drying up and blowing away.
A few of my most favorite flowers are beginning to “pop” – the iris. The miniature guys are first to show their beauty and the intermediate are beginning to sprout their bloom stocks.
