A long road...

What a year it's been!  Yup, we haven't blogged for over a year so I guess it's time.  You have really missed a lot but we will do our best to bring you all up to speed. 

We finished our 2011 harvest in good time and with decent yields for the dry year we had.  Our winter was busy washing, fixing, upgrading equipment with GPS/Auto-Steer, along with some field work and CRP clearing. We also attended several Ag workshops and classes in the Kansas City area to better educate ourselves with new farming practices. In late winter, we began building Janet a Garden Shed for her to grow and produce our own organic herbs and vegetables and also help with the upkeep of her several flower gardens. 

We also built a work shop for smaller equipment storage, repairs, along with seed storage.

 In the Spring of 2012, we hired a local farmer to Strip-Till several acres for us on some corn ground. This process allows for the dry fertilizer to be placed directly in the row for planting and also creates a raised row much like you do in your gardens with raised beds.

Mid-Spring came with the hustle and bustle of clearing CRP, corn planting, drilling soybeans, preparing for wheat harvest, and unloading our Tu-Fu beans. 

With over a thousand acres of CRP to mow along with the regular pasture and road ditches, both of our brush cutters were worn out.  It was time for a new one!  We headed out during a wet week to pick it up.  It's a 2011 John Deere CX15 with all options.  Check it out!

 In the Summer months, everything was looking good but mother nature had other plans.  It started to get hot and dry.  Very hot and dry.  In fact, it was the hottest and driest summer on record in many places.  The green fields quickly turned brown and began to die.  Fires raged all over and some for several days fueled by the dry weather and high winds.  We all wondered if harvest was even going to be needed. 

Finally, we got a break.  The temperature dropped, the winds diminished, and small amounts of rain began to fall.  As Fall rolled around, the crops began to gown again and to everyone's surprise, the combine was being made ready.  Harvest 2012 was about to start!

Even Lucy was excited to see the combine rolling.

The corn harvest went smoothly and quickly since not many trucks were needed.

We began drilling Tillage Radishes and Rye Grass this year as a Fall Cover Crop.  The idea being the Tillage Radishes grow and will loosen the soil and reduce compaction while the Rye Grass grows to cover the ground preventing weeds from growing.  Both the Tillage Radishes and Rye Grass provide nutrients in the soil as well.

Finished this field in pouring rain.  It was a welcome sight though!

Here is an early picture showing the Cover Crop among some volunteer corn.  

With corn harvest complete it was time for soy-beans.  Given the year, the beans were not very clean and we were getting a lot of pods in the tank.  Many area farmers were having the same problem and there only was only one solution: a grain cleaner.  After a week or two of searching, we found one in Illinois.  It took several days to arrive but we finally got it and began to unload the bin while we waited for the longer variety beans to mature.   

Finally it was time to dive into the later soy beans.

So I think that has us up-to-date.  Finally.  Be sure to check out our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/morrisfarms and our Youtube channel at: www.youtube.com/morrisfarmmo