Grain Scoop

Some discussion came up after I posted a picture of the vintage grain scoop on facebook. Its an old rusty metal scoop that has been on this farm far longer than me. Likely one that my grandfather used to load grain into the wagon box to haul to town and sell at the elevator. It was about a 24 mile round trip with horses and one trip a day at around 65 bushels per load. 

The wooden handle was missing from this one. No surprise if it had worn out from use. The leading edge of the metal is worn thin and cracked from years of use on thousands of bushels of grain. I got creative and made a new handle out of an old broom stick just so it looks kind of original. I had to try it out so made a video along the way. You never know what people will find interesting. Or maybe boring. 

November In October

 Yes, its November weather in October here. Dressed up in full winter clothing every day and the furnace running to keep the house up in the high 60s comfort zone. We have had daytime "highs" in the high 20s this past week. Thats November temps and its mid October. No wonder they dropped that term "global warming" a while back as it is not very convincing in these conditions. 

No snow worth mentioning and the ground is mostly too dry to freeze. Great for harvest with no worries of getting stuck in the fields. Sloughs are either dry or lower than I've seen in years. Panic button has not been hit yet but there is concern for spring planting conditions if it stays this dry. 

But no use making too many long term plans as Covid might throw a monkey wrench in that. 

Hopefully we will get out Indegenous Summer weather in November but I'm not counting on it. 

Some video I shot here to preserve history. I watch this old barn lean and settle a little more each year and wonder how much longer it can stand. Poplar logs have done well to last 113 year without rotting away. On the bright side, I've still got the necessary tools to build a new one!

Making An Appearance

 Just to show I'm still alive as its been almost two months since I posted anything here. Just the usual stuff going on. The whole virus thing has not affected my life or work much at all. 

Harvest has been going on since Sept 9th in starts and stops. Typical weather gives us a day or two to work and then a rain shower shuts down harvest for a couple of days or more waiting to dry. As I'm doing today. I'm at about the two thirds complete point as of last night. I gave up about 11:00 pm with yet another plugged header auger from all the lumpy canola swaths I'm trying to feed through it. This is one variety I will try to avoid in future. My back is suffering from heaving on the big unplugging wrench so many times yesterday. 

Leaf colour are fantastic this fall. I managed to get out in the Merc for a long overdue drive and photo shoot of the fall scenery earlier this week when it was too damp to combine. 

Today I seized the opportunity to haul the first load of hay home from the East farm. With a five mile drive I try to get that job out of the way before real cold sets in.. Today was perfect. Lousy moose must have pushed one of the round bales almost into the creek and lost some of the twine. I might try and salvage it at a later date. I nearly hit a couple of moose the other night while crusing home in the Merc. Lucky the old six volt lights show far enough down the grid road to spot them in time. And good old shoe and drum brakes were well up to the task of a sudden slowdown. 

With my nephew's help we got the itchy oat field done last Friday. Nice crop but nobody wants to work with oats for more than a day due to the itchy dust. 

Almost Too Hot

It hit 92 here this afternoon and I haven't ventured out of the house since dinner. Nothing really urgent needs doing that I have to endure that heat and humidity. I finally gave up on waiting for rain and set up a sprinkler on the garden this morning. Its doing pretty good considering how dry its been but this heat will make it wilt. Seeing some early blight on the potatoes but they are producing well. Some pods on the peas and should have a few ready to eat in a day or two.
This heat will be burning the crops on the sandy hilltops as they run out of moisture. Its been great for haying and I got most of mine cut and baled within the past week. Nice working late in the evening when there is enough moisture on the swaths to bale well.

We are actually pretty lucky to get enough rain to produce some decent hay and then dry enough to harvest it.

A Productive Week

In spite of not getting any hay cut or baled, the past week was pretty productive. Moved the majority of last year's crop to the terminal cleaning out ten grain bins. I suppose if I hadn't been doing that I might have been cutting hay. But it seemed every day there was either showers or the threat of them and I'd probably not have cut any hay. As it happened, the showers did not amount to much in this immediate area. Seems you can go from dust to mud and back to dust again in the space of half a mile.
I even took the time to get some crop photos with the Merc. The bloom is starting to fade a little on the early canola crops so I knew I better not wait much longer for photos. The sky and clouds were perfect, roads were dry, and the Merc was ready to roll. I think I got some of my best crop photos and video yet and put some of it on youtube. It will be good to look back on in December when the snow is blowing.

What A Relief!

I've emptied 9 grain bins in the past 24 hours and my back isn't even tired. The grain vac has to be one of the best inventions ever. And what a relief to get rid of that high moisture wheat without any spoilage or beetle infestations. I'd been a little worried about it ever since the weather started to warm up. The small fan did not seem to be doing  much drying even after running a month. The big fan at the West farm did dry some. It all came out of the bin in good condition and is sold to make space for the new crop.
It was a long scenic 100 km round trip to get the grain vac but it was worth it. It was worth shooting a little video as the countryside is half yellow with blooming canola. Clouds were looking their best so this video will make you think all this world's a sunny day.
Now if I can get a day or two without extreme wind so I can get the chem fallow under control maybe I can get back to haying. Hardly a day without a rain shower.

Roostys Roofing

At least now if it rains only the hay will get wet. This roof was overdue for replacement so I took the day to get it done. Its a patchwork quilt of various bits of metal I acquired but I like it.