Safety first

As you can see from the lack of posts for the last several months, creating a blog post has not been a top priority in our lives that last few months. Probably a good thing as taking care of our family, house, etc. should be our primary priorities.  As you can see, a blog post has risen to the top again.

Since the last post, things have changed but have also stayed the same in most respects. The weather has turned a lot dryer, but our girls are still growing and changing daily. This post is about another change that has occurred.

While we were drilling wheat in the middle of October, I (Tyler) was waiting on some parts that my brother Tanner was bringing to me.  Instead of the parts, I got a phone call that he had been in an accident. So, I headed for the only vehicle I had other than the tractor I was in, a truck filled with seed wheat. So, I went over to the pickup a couple of miles away where my father was drilling. Thinking it was something minor like he wasn't paying attention and went in the road ditch, my father and I were surprised to see all of the vehicles on top of the hill as we approached the scene.



1. The pickup my brother was driving after it was removed from the scene.

 As you can see from the pictures, it was more than a small accident. They are of the pickup he was driving at the time of the accident. When he came to the top of hill West of our farm, he had a head on collusion with an older man from our community that had been out cutting wood. They were both following the tracks in the gravel road where everyone drives (normally in the middle of the road) and when they got to the top of the hill neither had time to react and hit head on.

When my father and I arrived, the EMT's were there and were cutting into the pickup trying to get Tanner out of the pickup.  No one was working on the other pickup to get to the other gentleman, so it was apparent he was no longer alive.  The EMT's tried to keep Tanner stable while they waited on the life watch helicopter to arrive from Wichita (he was awake the entire time that someone was at the scene). Once the life watch team arrived after he had been in the pickup for an hour and a half to two hours, the EMT's removed him from the pickup.

After an hour ride to Wichita in the helicopter (about 250 miles), the medical team determined that he had a shattered right ankle, broken left femur, broken left wrist, and many bruises and cuts. He had surgery the next day to put a rod in his left leg and plates in his ankle and wrist.  After a week in ICU to watch his breathing, he was moved to another facitility for 2 weeks before he came back to Ness City to our parents house.

After quite a road to recovery, he is doing well. He is now walking with a cane and will slowly get back to walking again without support (cane or crutches) over the next month.

This post is meant as a reminder to all of us that we have to always be on the look out while on the road. All of our family and our neighbors have come to the top of that same hill thousands of times without and incident, but at any time someone could have been coming from the other side and it could have been any one of us in an accident as most everyone drove in the same tracks. It took awhile to break the habit, but I now move over to the side of the road when I come to the top of the hill on a gravel road. There are numerous examples of things that farmers and ranchers do on a daily basis that could be done differently so that they are done more safely. We hope that this post would allow everyone to reevaluate what they do on a daily basis that as they drive down the road or go about their daily chores that they would remain as safe as possible.

Harvest Shots

Finally some long awaited harvest shots.

The Combine- What we use to cut down the wheat and take the wheat berries from the heads.

Upclose of the combine header

Unloading the wheat into the grain cart, which will take the wheat to the trucks that we take the grain to the elevator.

Eve helping Tyler drive the tractor which pulls the grain cart.

Eve in the field

Family Picture minus Daphne in the tractor cab.  Unfortunately Daphne is too young to be in the dust of the field.

God has really blessed us this year with a safe and bountiful harvest.  And I think we are finally recovering from all the hard work and long days of harvest.

Farm Friday - Crop Inspecting

Harvest time here is quickly approaching, but every year right before harvest, Tyler gets to work inspecting fields for the Kansas Crop Improvement Association.  He started doing it in 2002 after a friend in town no long had the time to do it.  This year Tyler will insect over 4,000 acres of certified wheat that will be used for seed, as well as some fields of native grasses.  But before I get ahead of myself, I will talk a little about the wheat seed.

There are hundreds of different varieties of wheat grown.  Different areas of the world plant different varieties since some have qualities that help to produce better yields for their area.  Plus new varieties are constantly being created by crossing certain varieties.  Companies like Monsanto and Syngenta are working to develop these new varieties and the process takes over 10 years.  The seed that comes directly from the companies is called foundation.  After it is planted and harvested, it is called registered seed and after that is planted and harvested, it is called certified.  The acres Tyler inspects is certified, so the farmer planted registered seed and is harvesting it as certified seed.  Tyler's job is to inspect the field for two main problems.  The first is varietal purity which means he is checking that the wheat is maintaining its specific qualities and has not been planted with another variety.  Secondly he is checking to make sure there are no noxious weeds, like bindweed, being grown in the field, since not all the weed seed may come out when the seed is cleaned after harvest.  Tyler walks through the whole field, end to end, and in different directions to get a thorough look at the field.  The biggest field he has inspected this year has been 320 acres, which is a square 1/2 mile.

Here is a good picture of what the wheat looked like at the beginning of the week.  The wheat has to loose its green and turn to gold before it is ready to be harvested.  The super hot weather we have been having is helping to turn the wheat and Tyler is talking about trying to cut a sample tomorrow to see if it is dry enough to cut.  Harvest is coming soon.

Book Review - Climbing Kansas Mountains

After seeing our post about taking Eve to the top of the grain elevator, our librarian Jean suggested we check out Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon.  It's a charming book about a boy whose father takes him on a trip through town so they can climb up to the top of the grain elevator.  The illustrations are beautiful and we loved how the book took time to use pictures to help further the story.  It helped to show some of the charm and beauty of a small Kansas town, as well as being an accurate agriculture book.  Eve enjoyed the book and sharing her elevator experience with the boy.  We recommend this book.

Farm Friday - Planting Milo

It's planting time here in Kansas for fall crops.  Some people plant corn, some soybeans, and some, like us, plant milo.  Milo is the common name for grain sorghum.  Its used for feed for cattle and pigs, although I have heard stories down at the elevator of families eating it like popcorn many years ago.  Tyler has spent the last few days planing our acres.  I have to admit that in order to right this blog, I had to learn about how we plant our milo.  It is one of those things that I always kinda knew how it was done but not exactly how and I enjoy that I am learning new farm things too in this blog.

     The planter implement is attached to the back of our tractor.   There are eight boxes to hold the seed for the eight rows it plants at each time.  We plant 30,000 seeds/acre which is two and a half pounds/acres.  That's an amazing 12,600 seeds/pound.  There are two disks in the front that cut a slot in the ground that the seed will drop into.  Our seed is planted using no tillage which means the seed is planted directing in the previous crops stubble.  Plates spin and drop the seed at a determined rate.  Then two closing wheels follow and close up the slot so that the seed is planted around an inch deep.  We plant at a speed of about twelve acres/hour but it takes longer, as the planter boxes have to be reloaded with the seed.

   While the planter is planting the seed, it is also applying liquid fertilizer.  The liquid fertilizer is applied two inches to the one side of the seed.  We use a mixture of nitrogen and phosphorus which feed the seeds and helps them grow.  This makes our milo not organic because all fertilizers, like miracle grow are not considered organic.

    So now we have to wait around 105 days until it is time to harvest our milo.

Farm Friday - Doctoring Cattle

As parents, we are responsible for the health and well-being of our two children.  On our farm, we are responsible for the lives of over 500 animals who also rely on us for some of the same needs.  Food, water, safety, and their health are needs that we meet for our animals everyday they are under our care.  We take these responsibilities very seriously.  Today's Farm Friday is focused on how we take care of our sick animals.  We do use anti-biotics on our animals when it is necessary.  We feel it is better to treat our animals than to let them suffer from a treatable condition and the meat from the animal is still safe to eat.  We eat it too. 

So the first step is to identify the sick animal.  Some of the symptoms we look for are excessive slobbering and/or snot, limping, bloating, excessive panting, or if the cattle are lethargic.  If any of the cattle show these symptoms, they are separated from the rest of the herd and brought into the corals for closer examination.  There are some symptoms, like a lump in their jaw, that we know right away we can not treat and will require a trip to the veterinarian.  If they do not have any of these symptoms than we continue with our evaluation by taking a rectal temp (sorry no picture of that, haha).  A regular temp. is between 100 - 102.5 degrees and if it is higher than that, than an infection is present.  Some of the common ailments our cattle have are conjunctivitis (Pink Eye), Bovine Respiratory Disease, or Bovine Virus Diarrhea.  These conditions are treatable with anti-biotics that we use as directed by our veterinarian.  We only ever give the amount as prescribed by our vet to insure the animal is getting proper care.

Once we determine that medication is needed, the animals are brought through cattle panels into a squeeze shoot.  This helps to keep the animal contained so we can do the procedures on it and neither us nor the animal is harmed.  The animal gets the anti-biotics through a shot.  Some also receive a vitamin injection (like when we take vitamins) to help them receive extra nutrition to help fight off the infection.  None of our cattle ever receive steroids.  Most only need medication for a few days and are able to get healthy and regain the herd. 
Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments section and we will try to get you an answer.  Have a great Friday.

Farm Friday - 3i Farm Show

Yesterday, we all headed out to the 3i Farm Show.  It is the biggest free show  in the state of Kansas and it can be very overwhelming your first time there.  There are buildings full of exhibitors showcasing new farm technologies and other products.  But the big part of the show takes place outside spread over 10 acres.  There you can see all the newest tractors and combines, all the newest trucks and cars, lots of cattle guards, gates, etc, and lots of farm stuff in between.  I admit that I don't know what half the stuff is that we walk by, but at least I have learned a lot from my first one 5 years ago. 

One of the highlights for Eve is getting to go in all and sit on all the farm equipment, especially the John Deere stuff (we are green people).  Here is a picture of Eve and Tyler in the cab of a combine that Tyler wishes we could afford to own.  And above she is getting an early start on learning how to operate a lawn mower.

She even got me in the action by hoping on the back of an atv with her.

One of the vendors even had cattle on hand to help demonstrate their products.

And Daphne had gotten shots earlier in the morning and this is how she spent our whole time there.

It was a breezy fun afternoon, walking around, seeing all the new stuff and spending time together.

Trip to the Top

On Wednesday morning I decided that I needed to go to the top of the grain elevator to take some pictures for yesterday's blog.  Tyler was out farming and with the wind picking up, I wanted to have it done before lunch.  Of course my little follower wanted to come and I, without too much thought, gave in and said yes.  Throughout the years, I have taken many friends and family on a tour to the top and  it is always a good learning experience.  The owners were quick to agree to letting me take her to the top under one circumstance, that she was somehow tied to me.  After a few attempts to rig something up, they decided very thick electrical wire would do the trick.  She thought it was fun that we couldn't go anywhere without the other and so we began our trip to the top.

The way you get to the top of the elevator is in a small metal elevator.  It fits two people tops and go down about an inch when you step in.  I could start to see the nervousness on Eve's face and her hand grip mine tighter but she didn't day anything and so we went on.  She even kept quite for most of the ride up, well until the part when it is dark and you can't see anything.  She started to panic a little, but so did I on my first time up, but it soon becomes brighter and you know you are almost there.  When we got to the top it was nice and loud because they were moving some grain around and loading rail cars and that seemed to panic Eve the most.  We walked down the bin corridor a little and headed outside to see all of the town.  It is so beautiful to look out and see the houses and then since it is a small town, you can see the fields all around.  I think she had a fun time as she told everyone she saw that day about how special it was to go to the top.

Farm Friday - Grain Elevator

Grain Elevators like this one are an iconic part of the Kansas landscape.  They are in every small town and sometimes now are the only thing left operating after a town's residents have all moved away.  Until I moved to Kansas I didn't really know anything about grain elevators.  I didn't know that the middle school I went to was a block away from one (Moyer and Son in Souderton) or that I walked past one everyday in college on my way to class(until Tyler visited and told us what it was).  The Rockingham County Elevator is actually the reason for all the train traffic through JMU and why I was sometimes late to class.  But I did get a crash course in grain elevators when we moved back to Tyler's home town and his family helped me get a job at our local elevator (and I still work part-time there).  The first day I walked in there I couldn't identify have of the grain the elevator took in or had any idea how it worked.  Now its almost been 7 years since I started there and I have learned so much and can't wait to share.

Wooden Elevators like the one in the picture began being built in the 1900s (this one was built in the 1920s and is not longer operational).   They could hold about 20,000 bushels of grain and were not intended for long term storage.  The elevator's main job was to elevate the grain high enough to fill railroad cars.  Concrete elevators began being built to hold larger amounts of grain and have the ability to store the grain throughout the year.  The concrete elevator shown at the top was first built in 1947 and had four additions built on in 1950, 1953, 1957, and 1982.  It is 140 feet to the top and 102 feet to the top of the bins and holds approx. 848,000 bushels.  The elevator takes in wheat, corn, soybeans, and milo (grain sorghum).

So now lets talk about how the elevator operates.  The first step in taking in grain is weighing of trucks.  At this elevator the truck drives onto the scale where it is weighed and probed to get a sample.  The sample is used to determine the quality of the grain as well as how wet the grain is.  Then the grain is dumped out of the trucks into the pits and reweighed to determine the amount of grain the truck had held.   In the picture you can see the scale (it has to be long enough for a semi-truck) and the two dumps.  The windowed part is where the workers weigh the truck and do testing on the samples.

Next, the grain has to be moved up the elevator.  This is done by cups that travel up the elevator leg and at this elevator there is about 700 cups doing the job.  Once at the top, the grain is separated into each bin.  To get the grain down the long corridor, the grain is placed on a conveyor belt and travels down to the tripper.  The tripper is moved by hand to the opening of the bin and deposits the grain down into the bin.  The grain is stored there until it is ready to be loaded out onto trucks or railroad cars.  It is loaded out by another conveyor belt underneath the bin that moves the grain to the loading area.  The pictures show the belt and the one at the bottom is a better view of the tripper.  You can also see the different bin openings on the ground on the hallway.

So there is some of the basics of how a grain elevator works.  Please check back tomorrow for some funny pictures of my adventure taking Eve with me to the top of the elevator to get these pictures.

Ag Day

Eve is petting Pete the Donkey as part of our local Ag Day.  Farm Bureau sponsered a time where the students in the third through fifth grade got to come to the fairgrounds and learn about agriculture related things.  They saw speakers on animals, beef, sunflowers, wheat, and water issues just to name a few.  We were able to take the girls and help serve lunch.  This was the first Ag Day that has happened in a while and the kids and teachers had only good things to say about it.  Eve had a good time visiting with the animals, although she was a little reluctant about actually touching them.

Here is a group of students learning about all the different products that contain corn and soybeans.  They even have an assignment to take and complete with their parents at the grocery store.

Here is a three week old bucket calf.  The calf's mother died during childbirth and now the cow is being bottle fed by some 4H kids.

Eve was a little hesistant to make friends with Cookies and Cream the lamb.

Farming Friday - Our Farm

So Today is the first addition of Farm Friday, a time exclusively focused on farm facts and issues.  What would be the best topic for our first Friday?  Our farm.  We would like to share with you the facts about our farm, so you can see what we do on our farm and our role in agriculture.  Since I am definitly not the expert on the nitty-gritty of our operation, I asked Tyler to write this post so it can be as exact as possible.  I asked him to try to put it in words we can all understand because agriculture, like any other specialty, can have words and phrases that only those in that field understand.  So take it away Tyler.

We along with Tyler’s parents, and Tyler’s grandparents operate a 6000 acre (a mile by mile square is 640 acres, so over 9 square miles) diversified farm (we raise more than one product on our farm) in Western Kansas about 15 miles from the nearest town. We grow winter wheat, milo, and forage sorghum and raise feeder cattle. We raise wheat using conventional tillage. Conventional tillage is using a tractor and tillage tool to turn the soil like a hoe or rototiller. We also use no-till (the soil is not tilled) to grow wheat and milo. In no-till, herbicides are used to control weeds instead of tillage.

Most winter wheat is milled into flour used to bake the bread that is in our kitchens. Winter wheat is planted in the fall using a drill, goes dormant during the winter (like lawns in colder climates), and is harvested in the early summer using a combine. Kansas is the number one wheat producing state in the United States. There is also spring wheat (planted in the spring and harvested in the fall) that is grown in northern areas of North America. Spring wheat is milled into flour that is used mainly in baked goods.  A picture of the wheat at harvest time is at the top of the blog, and here is a picture of the wheat as it is right now.

Milo is planted in the spring using a planter and harvested in the fall using a combine. It is grown predominately in from Western Texas up into the Nebraska panhandle. It is used predominately for feeding cattle in the areas where it is grown. It is also used in the production of fuel ethanol. Kansas is the lead milo producing state in the United States.

We raise feeder cattle on the 1800 acres of pasture in our operation. Pasture is land in native grass production. Native grass is the grass that was growing on the land before humans started tilling the land. Feeder cattle is the stage after a calf is weaned and removed from its mother before it goes to a feedlot then on to slaughter then on to our tables. Cattle are typically weaned when they are approximately a year old. We purchase our feeder cattle in the fall after wheat planting and feed the cattle grain during the winter while the pasture is dormant. The cattle then harvest the grass during the spring and summer while it is growing and then are sold and enter a feedlot where they are prepared for slaughter on a grain diet. This occurs in July through September. Kansas is also the leader in the United States in beef production.  Here are just a few of our hundreds of heifers (female cattle) doing what cattle do best, grazing (the way cattle eat the grass).

We use the forage sorghum as a feed for the cattle during the winter. The forage sorghum is similar to milo as it is planted in the spring; however, it is harvested in late summer. It is planted using a drill, but is harvested with a swather which cuts the forage sorghum and lays it on the ground in a windrow to dry. The windrow is then picked up with a baler after it has dried. We use a round baler which rolls the forage sorghum up into a sphere 5 feet tall by 6 feet wide. These bales are then stored until they are fed to the cattle during the winter.

So that's a short summary of our farm and there will be many more posts on the daily ins and outs.  While we were out taking some pictures, Eve and I got to watch Tyler doctor a heifer so I'm sure that will be a post to come soon.  If there is anything that is not clear, please leave a comment (please don't let that be the only reason to leave a comment) and we will try to explain it in greater detail in a later post.  And please become a follower (in the right column) so you can keep up with us.

First Post

Welcome to my new blog.  I am so excited to finally get it off the ground.  It has definitly been something I have been wanting to do and planning to do in my head for almost a year now and well things always seem to get in the way of making it exactly the way I want it.  Well, it will probably never be exactly how I want it and with two growing girls, its best to just kick it off now and make it be a work in progress.


There are a few reasons why I am starting this blog.  One of the main reasons is to show what life is like as a farmers wife here in rural Kansas.  When I met Tyler and starting dating, I was a suburban Philadelphia girl going to college in VA.  One of the first things we talked about was his life in Western Kansas.  How could we not when it was his passion and dream to go back and farm with his family one day.  He put it out there that if this relationship was going somewhere, it was going to be in KS because thats where he was planning to be the rest of his life after college.  At 20, I thought I was up to following my heart whereever it went and living in rural America as a farmer's wife would be a fun adventure. And no, I had really no experience with farms, agriculture or anything like that.  I had never even really heard country music.  So after we were married we moved to a small town (about 1500 people) and we started our new life and I had culture shock right away.  There were things to get used to and times where I sat wondering what people were talking about and times I felt out of place.  But Tyler helped me get a job at the local grain elevator and my education on agriculture and rural life really took off.  I have come to learn so many new things and have grown to enjoy my life here, although I miss many East coast and PA things, especially my family, all the time.  And now I hope in this blog to share some of the things I have learned.  There are lots of things in rural America and agriculture that I wish I had known and am glad to have that knowledge now and I hope that I can help some people learn some of these things too.  So stay tuned for Farming Friday when I will talk about issues and other topics related to our farm and other agriculture issues.  This Friday will be about our wheat and cattle operation and I am excited that me and Tyler are working on that.  And with all the big issues happening, I'm sure there will be more than just Friday posting.


I also hope to share some of the joys and struggles of living in rural America, from the lack of shopping opprotunities to the local county fairs.  There are good times happening out here.


Plus, as a part-time working, mostly stay at home mom, how could I have a blog without talking about my kids and the issues I am working through as a mom.  And as a mom, how could I not dote on my two little blessings, they enrich my life everyday.  They inspire me, make me laugh, sometimes cry, bring my great joy and challenge me.  And as a homemaker, I will share some of the success and failures as I try to take care of them and Tyler.


And above all, even in the little things, we as a Christian family, hope that our blog shows God's hand in the life of 4 imperfect people.  He has provided us with acres of blessings and we are still discovering new ones every day.


Thank you so much for checking my blog out.  Please become a follower, add it to your blog roll, and/or make a comment.  I am looking forward to wherever this blog is going.