Ashley Reding's Latest Update From Kentucky

We enjoyed a week away from the farm last week and I am so very happy to report that we got a couple inches of much needed rain while we were gone. If I had charged a dollar for every time Aaron checked the internet or called home for a rain report while we were gone, I could have made a nice profit!

Kathryn (who turns 10 on Tuesday!) has been reading the Little House on the Prairie books this summer. Last week I decided to pick one up and read it myself – for the first time in 25 years. I laughed out loud when I read the following lines from By the Banks of Plum Creek: “It’s only till I harvest the first wheat crop,” said Pa. “Then you’ll have a fine house and I’ll have horses and maybe even a buggy.” I am just wondering if, after the grasshoppers ate his crop, he told his wife, “but NEXT year…” I have a feeling this line has been passed down for many, many generations!

Thinking of my “farmer mentality” topics, I heard a statement again this week that I had heard before, but it causes me to chuckle each time. What’s the only way to get five farmers to agree? Hang four of them. This goes back to the independent mindset that is so ingrained. If you are in a farm family, you know it’s true!

I have only mentioned the crops a little bit lately because there hasn’t been much to report. Before we left town, the corn was really stressed. The field had a white tint to it instead of that lush, beautiful green. We were certainly blessed with rainfall and have a good chance of more rain this week.

Watching the radar and praying for sufficient rain are two big activities on the farm in the summer. Other things we are doing include checking over all of the equipment, cleaning machinery used in spring, putting things away and pulling other things out so that we are ready to go when it’s time to harvest. We are also looking at the logistics for the fall and determining if we need additional drivers to help lead machinery from field to field. We are scouting the crops to keep an eye on weeds and the overall health of the crop. This is a happy thing when it rains, but not such a fun thing when drought is setting in!