Put Away The Combine

I think the time has come to unhitch, clean up and park the combine in the shed after this scenic snowscape greeted me this morning . Short days, damp weather and poor drying are not going to let those last few acres of flax  dry in the field.

Funny, I was just thinking yesterday as I carefully picked my way through the field with the tractor and harrows that the last thing we need is more precipitation of any kind. I am literally "losing ground" as can be seen in each consecutive trip over the fields. The ruts I left in the soft ground with the combine a few weeks ago now have water in them which has come up from below. The sloughs that were full of water are now running over to the next one. Today's snow will add to the problem. The municipal pump has finally been shut down this week in preparation for freeze up. The pump, literally running for weeks (months?)  has kept the water level down on one of our major grid roads but heavy winter snow could put us right back where we were by spring.
In other news, in the tradition of Mr Toad I hauled another "classic" out of the woods last week while waiting for the ground to "dry" from the latest precipitation. This 52 Merc has been here for over 50 years and has spent the last 40 or so in outdoor "storage" so it has suffered the ravages of our harsh climate (and raccoons)
It has rust holes in the floor, not quite like Fred Flintstone's car but pretty bad. From the floor up it is not bad at all and should not take much to make into a "runner". At this point I am still in the assessing stage while I clean up the mess inside. It certainly has patina .

In a Flap Over Ducks

Its been in the news the past couple of days. Certainly not great timing for any organization to put out an ad blaming farmers and their draining land for flooding problems elsewhere. But that is what Ducks Unlimited apparently has done.  It has stirred up angry reactions from farmers on the Western Producer site  Not surprising at all. We are losing acres to flooding here every year. Roads have been built up and flooded again as the water table continues to rise. Pumps running 24/7 in some areas to bring the levels down on some of the municipal roads.
No question we have always known this is "pothole country" and we grow a lot of ducks for that reason. We have always been used to farming around the sloughs but recent years have expanded those potholes into small lakes in some cases. We are farming the high spots while some very productive land lies under water or growing cat tails. Dreams of next year getting back to "normal" don't come true and the water just keeps increasing.

 In other news, tried a sample of wheat today and it tested over 18% moisture so I parked the combine and went back to bale hauling. Beautiful day, just not dry enough to combine yet. Man, those fields are wetter than ever since the last rain. Ducks should be happy.

Blowing In The Wind

I don't know if it is the answer or the question but I hate wind!. Sask gets it's share but the past few days have been extreme even for us. Canola swaths have blown far and wide in some areas rendering them impossible to pick up in the combine. Nothing left in them anyway after tumbling across the fields.
I was lucky so far as most of my swaths stayed in place with only a few damaged spots on hilltops. The crop was  not great but is yielding near normal.
Lots of miles driving back and forth between farms with the combine changing headers and then long hours in the field. Its been dry which is ideal for harvest. Cold nights but no hard frost.
Hope my flax has not threshed out in those winds. It is still standing not quite ready to swath. It will have to stand a few more days before I can get to it.

Many Acres, Not so Many Bushels

Beautiful day behind the glass of the combine cab but wild windy and a bit cool outside. That wind damaged some of the canola swaths today. Sure did keep the combine clean as dust could not settle anywhere. Unloading the hopper had to be done in the shelter of the trees or the grain would blow away.
I'm doing a lot of acres per day but not as many bushels as there should be. Seems to be typical from reports of other crops I am hearing. Crops look good but just not yielding as they should. Ironic as grain prices are great and we were looking forward to a very profitable year.
Finished the standing wheat this evening. Now about 130 acres of canola swath to pick up as well as 50 of oats and 60 of wheat on another field. By then maybe the 140 acres of flax will be ready to swath.
Dry , dry conditions are allowing harvest to progress daily. Could do with a little less wind though. This was extreme, even for Sask.