• Harvest Corn.
• Till corn stalks to prepare for planting wheat crop.
• Plant cover crops. (This helps with weed management and soil health. This year we planted Sudan grass and a winter barley, tillage radish mix. We’ve done this for a few years and really like it. This year we’re planting it where we won’t be planting a crop until next spring. So, instead of trying to keep the field clear with tilling the soil or spraying, we plant these crops.)
• Swath one of our cover crops called Sudan, which is used for animal feed. It is a great protein source.
• Get ready to harvest soybeans.
• Work the corn stalks in that were previously harvested.
• Plant the new wheat crop.

Our last crop to harvest for the year is milo (grain sorghum), which has been bombarded by a pest called sugar cane aphids. These pests suck on the juices of the leaves then leave residue called honeydew that turns into a very sticky substance. Imagine trying to harvest a plant dipped in honey, because that’s what it’s going to be like. This year we couldn’t afford the insecticide needed to rid these pests. Some of our neighbors have sprayed, but still haven’t rid themselves of the aphids. Some years it seems as though everything is going against you.

With all this going on at the farm, we also have family obligations. We had our first parent/teacher conference of the year for our son, who is in 4th grade. We are fortunate that he’s loving his new teacher but we can’t believe he’s nine. Our daughter, who just turned three last month, is finally potty trained. Any parent knows the significance in that milestone. Try potty training in a field. Teaching a 3-year-old girl how to squat in a field has been an adventure. Toilets aren’t always available when she’s riding with us in the buddy seat of the tractor.