Planting Season begins...

 And so it begins....

We started planting soybeans on April 12th and were given one day to get the planters set and figure out the bugs that needed worked out. We weren't able to get back in until Saturday, April 21st. But we missed the big rains on Sunday and were back at it full-throttle Monday through Thursday, April 23rd - 26th. We have made great progress and know that we are really fortunate to have planted what we do compared to others. We are in a pocket where we are receiving rains, but fortunately missing the heaviest storms. We will resume planting in an area that missed the recent rains altogether today. Below are some pictures from our days in the field this spring.

First Day out planting soybeans down the lane from our shop.

Uncle Bob getting more soybeans planted with the 15" row planter.

Loading the planter with more seed.

During our planting delay, I attended a field day for a new crop we will be planting this September. It is called Cover Cress. It is a derivative of Penny Cress, only we will plant this as a pseudo "cover crop" in the fall and let it grow all winter through mid spring. Afterwards, we will harvest the seeds as you can see pictured below and Bunge and Chevron will crush them in Cairo, IL and ship them down the Mississippi River through the Panama Canal and over to California where they will be further processed into aviation fuel. It will be an interesting adventure as we haven't planted a "new" crop other than corn or soybeans since the 80's when we grew a few acres of wheat.