the haynes family farms: Memorial Day

So, Memorial Day marked the first day of picking wheat. We met Ben at the field where they were just getting started picking. Darrel was walking behind the combine making sure Ben was cutting at the right height.

I thought this was pretty funny and pretty typical , it pretty much sums up the life of the farmer today -

Combining/farming on one side of the road, men playing golf on the other side of the road! HA! What do the men in our family do on holidays, weekends, or times when other men have HOBBIES? work :)

Ben said when the wheat curls down like that, the wheat is really dry. Jack came up with this pose by himself -

Ok, so apparently when the combine is ran for the first time since the last harvest (fall last year), all the little mice that feast throughout the winter eventually find their way shot out of the back of the combine (I can't help it but I find this really funny) - SO, Jack found this mouse/rat? in the wheat stubble and was so proud!

I know it is so gross, but at the same time it was so funny and he was so amazed, I couldn't make him put it down. Anyway, he already had nasty rat germs on his hands, so what then?

Ben picks a bit and then tests the moisture in the wheat to see if it is dry enough to pick and if so can it be sent straight to the elevator or it can be taken to the bin at the farm to dry down some more with aeration fans or he can move to a different field where things may be drier- He says he wants no more than 13 1/2% moisture...

This moisture tester was almost Ben's Christmas present...I was so excited, I have even visited another local farmer to get his opinion on the type I should order, when Ben came in and said he and Darrel had ordered one! Needless to say, I'm still a little bitter :) Did I mention they have no hobbies so I have to buy moisture testers as Christmas gifts?!

Oh yeah, that's the mouse riding in the combine with us. He laid it down smelled his hand and said, "Mom, my hand smells like, smells like, uh, it smells like..." "A rat?" "yeah, a rat, yuk"

The kids watching the wheat being loaded down on the smurf. Jack said, "What's a smurf?" What a deprived childhood!

The wheat gets unloaded into the auger and will be stored in the grain bin until it can be taken to the grain elevator. That's the family patriarch checking in on the grain hauling.