Mr. Potato Head

We dug our potatoes today.  I have been cutting back the last few years, on the amount that I plant, so that digging is no longer an all day affair!  It took us about 2 hours to get all the spuds out of the ground and in to the cellar.  We're not going to starve this winter, that's for sure!

Reynald looks a little tired of digging already, and we've only just begun!

This variety is called All Red.  Not only is the skin red, but the flesh as well.

Yukon Gold potatoes.  They are not the highest yielding potato, but so good.]

The gold standard for us is the Red Pontiac.  They yield really well, and oh my, they can and do grow to a huge size.

There were some even bigger than these!

Reynald's hand for scale.

Big R for Big Red Potato.  This spud wasn't quite 25 pounds, but you definitely would only need to peel one potato for dinner!

Baxter came over to help.  He just laid down here, next to this big potato, that was as big as his head!

Reynald grabbed a handful of arugula and stuffed it in his mouth.  Seriously, he really did!  Then he asked what it was!!!

The gator full of potatoes.  

Loaded up to head to the potato cellar.

Earl showed up yesterday and the day before and pruned our fruit trees.  He says he has the best job in the world!  He gets to make a huge mess in his client's yards and then leave!  Indeed, a huge mess he made, but it's worth it.  He does such a good job and for a very small fee.

Earl's mess!

Now my mess to clean up!  

Late Fall Field Work

This week we started our late fall field work.   We've gone through a few equipment transformations for this operation, ending up with this John Deere "ripper".  It's a narrow piece of equipment, that penetrates to 14 inches below the soil surface.  The purpose is to break up the compaction layer that is about 10 inches down.  It also helps to capture precious water that can run off and not be absorbed in to the soil, particularly if/when the ground is frozen in the winter.

Another benefit to loosening the soil like this is that the wheat roots can go deep for water, which is always scarce in this country, especially this year.  We are headed in to the third year of drought here.  We are trying to give our little plants every chance possible to survive and thrive.

Here's what it looks like!

This is how every day starts.  Filling the slip tank on the pickup from the bulk fuel tank.  Then it's off to the field to fill the tractor fuel tank.

K, this is the coolest invention ever.  A battery powered grease gun.  In the old days you used to have to pump the grease gun with one hand, and hold on to the tube with the other, while holding the grease zerk attachment to the zerk.  It was a three handed job!  This is so much easier and faster!  The green tube is more grease.

Every day you have to grease certain wear points on the machine.  And look who showed up this morning to help!  It doesn't take long at all to grease this implement.  He just stopped by to see if I needed any hydraulic oil, and I didn't.  But while he was there, he greased for me!  Reynald has his own machine that he is running, doing the same thing that I am.

Here's the whole machine.  

This coulter slices the ground so the shank can go in the ground.  Then those two wheels that you can see behind the shank, gently pack everything back down.

This is Indy and the John Deere ripper. I really really love this tractor!  I have nine shanks on my machine.  Reynald has 11 on his.  

This is what it looks like after you farm over the standing stubble.  Not much disturbance at all.

This is a closer look.  You can see the slice in the soil.  Most of the work the shank does is well below the soil surface.

Here I am farming.  You can see how narrow this is.  25 feet wide!  

And this is how fast I am going, most of the time.  5.4 mph.  It takes forever to do this operation.  It's a real exercise in patience!  

Such a beautiful sunset this evening.  

The days are getting noticeably shorter.  The sun sets shortly before 6pm now.  

New (to us!) combine

Yesterday we drove to St. John to bring home the new (used) combine that we bought.  It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for a drive in the country.  Mom and dad went with us.  Dad drove the rear flag car and mom rode with me to keep me awake!

Reynald and the new combine.

Dad and Baxter checking the air pressure on the header cart.

Mom minding Baxter who was really excited about the outing!

The 30 foot header.  You can see that it is hardly even used as the paint is still on the main auger!

This machine is almost identical to the one we have!  We were so excited to find it at a price that was within our budget.

Oh look, Reynald already has his lunch pail and water jug in the cab!

Dad and Reynald checking out the header transport cart.  The header was not correctly placed on the cart and there was a significant bow in the main beam, due to the distribution of the weight.  We re-positioned the header on the cart, before moving which helped significantly.  

Couldn't quite fit the entire "load" on the pickup tail gate, but folks seemed to get the idea!

Ready to hit the road home.  We had to dodge lots of Cougar football fans on their way to the game, and several hunters, as it was opening day of hunting season.

Once home, we did some careful measuring and maneuvering to fit the combine in to the shed!  As you can see, everything is within inches, or maybe even half inches of each other!

Made it safely home!  

Baxter was happy to be home and off leash!

After some careful positioning, both combines in the shed, just barely!  The new machine is the one on the left.

Not much room between, but wait, there might be enough space for.......

little Colt, the Challenger 45 tractor!

Another view of the tight squeeze!

And, just enough room in front of the new machine to park the ride on lawn mower!  Whew!!!!

Kitchen Banjo

A few days ago, Reynald was helping with the dishes and after he finished drying the frying pan, he started playing it like a banjo!  It was so hilarious!  There was blue grass music playing on the radio so it was a perfect "banjo synch"!!  Oh it was so, so funny!

Here are a few photos......

Reynald and the "kitchen banjo"

Baxter was kind of embarrassed!

More kitchen banjo!

After a couple days of gently stewing on the stove top, the salsa was ready to process, as was the pear butter.  I didn't add a thing to the pear butter, it's just pure fruit and so incredibly sweet!  It will be a real treat on toast or biscuits with butter!

Mama's salsa....

It took quite a long time to cook down because I kept adding more peppers, both sweet and hot to the mix.  I think the final outcome was a good one.

A couple jars of pear butter.  It smells and tastes so good!

Now that the canning is over for a few weeks, I needed to find room in the pantry.  A summer of blowing dust had left enough soil on the shelves to plant a wheat crop!  So, before I put the pears away, I took a few moments to rid the shelves of the summer dust deposits!  The rest of the house is still a dusty, dirty mess, but there isn't time to deal with that now.  January is deep cleaning month.  Until then, we'll just have to see what plants may grow on the window sills and coffee table!!!!

The pantry, freshly cleaned and organized!  Plenty to share when you come for a visit!