A PROUD FATHER AFTER HARVEST

Harvest is one of those times that are demanding, causing one to lose sleep. On the other hand it is also one of the most rewarding times. This is when a years worth of work and worry come to fruition. To me it was more than a years growing time I am talking about.

Having worked every harvest since 1977, I would have to say that this has been by far the most fun. While driving a truck for the first time in a field and having that responsibility was good nothing beats this year.

Most harvest memories revolve around what I was able to accomplish or certain highlights. This year was different because of being a parent...and a proud one at that.

The way my two boys stepped up this year and met the obligations and responsibilities head on will always be at the top of the list (unless it might be grandchildren in the future). 

Dillon ended up getting strep twice this summer and Logan stepped up to fill his spot with mowing, weedeating, and helping dad with jobs in the shop. Dillon was well enough to finish swathing a late first cutting alfalfa while I went to a meeting.

While I view these things as something most kids their age should be doing, not necessarily swathing, but helping out around the house without backtalk or complaining, their growth was more.

Dillon ran combine by himself for the first time and Logan was in charge of the bill of ladings and dumping the wagons. Both jobs were challenges I set out for them and they met them head on. 

I vividly remember some of my firsts on the farm and how nervous I was. I didn't quite see fear in their eyes but there were drops of sweat on their foreheads.

So why was this my most fun and memorable harvest? As a father you want to see your children grow and progress, not only in school but with life skills. I new they were nervous of making a big mistake but after the jitters went away their faces lit up every day.

Farming is a unique profession where a family can do most work together. Now I am not saying that everyone will be talking with each other at the end of the day (hasn't happened yet) but there is a bond between "teammates" that is created that makes the family bond stronger.

Looking back at this year we are fortunate to keep this tradition going of teaching our young farmers and ranchers responsibility and fun. If it were in the hands of the Department of Labor and the Obama appointees this year could not have happened.

While there are many years ahead for Dillon and Logan to grow, learn, and make mistakes I am certain that this year will be one of their most memorable because there is nothing like meeting a challenge head on and looking back with satisfaction at the end of a day with a job well done.

I guess that is why this is my most memorable is I feel that looking back on being a parent and how Dillon and Logan have grown makes me look at them with satisfaction. 

Oh, I had better mention the glue that keeps all of us together, Rhonda. If it wasn't for her being a great mother, wife, and farmer this year could not take place. Her understanding (and cooking) keeps everyone going.

And me, I hope that I am a good father and manager. My job as both is to set people up to be successful. I hope to give them the tools to (physical or mental) to perform and challenge them enough to grow.

This harvest I believe that we all grew in different ways. Me, trusting young adults with their jobs, Rhonda probably trusting that I knew what I was doing, and the boys, smiles after harvest for becoming young men. What father could be prouder?

Merry Christmas From The Blair's 2011

At Christ the Redeemer
in Rio de Janeiro

At a church in Rio

First off, we hope that this finds you and your family doing well. If you are like us we can’t believe that another year is gone and passed. If you paid any attention to the news it seemed like the world was going to implode with unrest in the Middle East due to bread prices, regime change in North Korea, economic instability in Europe, Japan’s tsunami, and our own troubles in the U.S. Just think, the Mayan calendar calls for complete destruction in 2012. With that in mind you had better of enjoyed 2011 ;)




Dillon & Logan in the shop
with Dixie Dog

 

My name is Wally Weather Station and I will be your host this year. I am in position to give you a great account of what happens on the farm. Not only with weather, but with everything else. I live on a pole in the center of the farm, giving me a bird’s eye view of everything that happens. Since weather played a big role in 2011 I was asked to do this.



And what a year 2011 turned out to be. You could say that it was the year of different weather. We had snow into May, rain that prevented us from planting crops this spring, tropical weather in Brazil, and freezing cold when we arrived home. May set a record for rainfall, causing haying and harvest to be late. Even Bandit was tired of the weather. Without any spring crops harvest was done in eight (8) days, but we have more winter wheat planted than we have ever had on the farm. And it is looking really good.

Dillon turned 15 in February and has his learners permit so watch the roads next year. Logan turned 13 while in Brazil (will talk about that later) and had the best present of his life. Rhonda and Robert celebrated 17 years of marriage, meeting each other in Sao Paulo, Brazil on their anniversary. This is the first year they have been able to spend that day together without anything going on for several years. However, I won’t tell you their age because they will unplug me.

Sports and school take up the most time. Dillon is a sophomore and Logan is in 7^th and both carry straight A’s. Both boys played basketball. Dillon spent time on JV, but played some varsity earning his letter. Logan played on an AAU team from the Craigmont area and his class was moved up to play Jr. High basketball. The 7^th Jr. High almost went undefeated, losing in overtime on the last game. They both played 3-on-3 at Locust Blossom and Logan had his cousins as teammates. They attended a basketball minicamp with a former coach at LCSC and Dillon played summer league. Dillon also went to NBC Camp and won the “Grit” award.

Dillon & Logan
with coach Walker

Dillon played on the Kendrick Golf team and they made it to State. Logan played baseball, was a pitcher and played different positions. Logan and some of his friends played in a baseball tournament in Potlatch…for Genesee. It was tough for Robert to see him in those colors, but he said a Genesee uniform never looked better. Both played football this fall and Dillon received his letter in that. Now basketball is in full swing again.

Chris (Robert’s brother) started working full time on the farm taking place of Dean King who had worked for 7 years. Dean had been diagnosed with cancer and beat it. Dean is doing well and was able to drive truck at harvest and helped with fall fertilizer. Chris started at the right time helping to clean up the 23 trees that blew down or were topped out during a windstorm last November. We also had lots of fence to fix due to that.

In June the America’s Heartland film crew was at the farm. They were interested in what was being done with Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) and precision agriculture. It was an interesting experience that everyone partook in. You can watch the video from our website www.threecanyonfarms.com or this link http://vids.kvie.org/video/2169504176.

Brazilian Whitetails

The biggest news was Robert being named an Eisenhower Fellow. In April Robert traveled to headquarters in Philadelphia to meet the other U.S. and International Fellows. General Colin Powell is the Chairman and there are just over 2,000 Fellows worldwide with 18 being Ag Fellows. In May Gong Weibin, a Fellow from China, visited the farm starting what they hope will be many visits from people around the world. To learn about the Eisenhower Fellowship you can go to http://www.efworld.org/ .

Robert’s Fellowship took him to Argentina, Uruguay (where he spoke in front of 1,000+ farmers), and Brazil where he learned about their agriculture, precision farming, remote sensing, and UAVs. He met with Eisenhower Fellows in the respective countries creating a closer bond between the countries. He spent a total of 6 weeks down there totaling 51 meetings.

Rhonda & I with Flavio
Nogueira & family

Rhonda joined him on November 5^th in Sao Paulo and as mentioned, they were able to celebrate their anniversary together. They traveled north of Sao Paulo to different towns for meetings along with stops in Brasilia and Belo Horizonte. In Belo they spent time with Robert’s friend and 2011 Brazilian Fellow Flavio and his family. They had a weekend together seeing some sites and celebrated Robert’s birthday and their last day having dinner with Flavio’s family and other Fellows.

Then the fun really began, Dillon and Logan arrived in Rio de Janeiro on November 19^th. They traveled alone and met up with mom and dad at the airport. During the week in Rio they toured the sites like Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer along with playing on the beach. Everyone became sunburned at some point and there was not enough aloe in Brazil to sooth the pain.

Dillon & Logan with the
Girls from Brazil

The highlight of their time in Rio was traveling to Petropolis (north of Rio). Petropolis is the home to the summer palace of the last monarch of Portugal and Brazil. There is also a strong German community there because farmers were needed to harvest their cash crop, coffee. It is something of a retreat and there had been a casino there built in Bavarian style architecture that is tourist site…and that is where the real fun began.

While going through the old casino a group of students were on a fieldtrip there. We walked down a hallway and a group of girls followed and went past. Robert saw them huddle up, look back, and giggle. He motioned to the group and Dillon and Logan to get together for a picture. That picture started about a ½ hour of picture taking with many girls.

Dillon & Logan going
bananas in Brazil

Since it was Logan’s birthday (the driver told the girls this as well), it is customary for girls to give the birthday boy a kiss and they lined up to do it. Dillon was watching and said “I wish it was my birthday” prompting the driver to tell the group of girls this and they started kissing him as well. Needless to say Dillon and Logan both want to return to Brazil.

Now it is time to finish up and get back to work tracking weather. It is cold, but there is no snow. We hope that you had a great year and wish you a Merry Christmas and an Awesome New Year! Take care and God Bless! Adios, Feliz Navidad y Feliz Ano Nuevo! (Spanish)  Feliz Natal e Feliz Ano Novo! (Portuguese)

SINCERELY,

Harvest - Day 6 - A Generation Lost

I was hoping to write a little more often than six days, but that is how it goes. Waiting for trucks, a minor breakdown, and a high school practice football game (Orange and Black game) have kept me in the field longer which has deprived me of sleep. Anyway, it is the weekend and no phone calls that are really demanding.

I finished up the first field Tuesday but haven’t had a chance to tally the final yield. If you are a Facebook friend you have seen some of the pictures I posted. It is definitely one of my favorite fields because of the view down the Clearwater River canyon, the route that Lewis and Clark took to the Pacific.

It took me Tuesday to Friday to finish up the second field (twice as large as the first) and I moved onto the third one. Wednesday brought the mechanic out in the morning to replace a couple of bushings for the straw walkers. We had it apart and at the shop so he could press them in. It is very crucial to get them seated properly.

But as I have been cutting I have been thinking about a generation that was lost this year. My great aunt, Henny Reil, passed away earlier this year at the age of 96. Looking at her house is not the same. Her husband and my grandparents farmed together in the 20’s and 30’s. Her mind was still sharp up to the end.

This will be the first harvest in my memory that there will not be 4 generations alive. The wealth of knowledge and history that is lost is immeasurable. I asked Henny earlier this year if she ever remembered a year this wet and she said no. We had a record amount of rain and I didn’t get any spring crops planted.

As I am sitting on my butt going around in circles, I have been wondering about farming and the future for my boys. What major changes will be made in my lifetime that will seem foreign? Will farmers be regulated out of business? Will they even be able to keep farming? These questions bother me because I don’t have the answer.

I think of the changes that happened in Henny’s lifetime like the move away from horse drawn equipment to mechanized farming. The change from steel wheels and tracks to ones made from rubber. Or to the extreme, the use of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) and auto steering to assist with farming.

Today, our lives are so dependent upon electricity of one form or another. I use it to light my shop, run my welder, grinders and drill press. Gone is the stationary motor and drive wheels on the wall to run shop equipment.

What would I do without my Android smart phone, Jawbone ear piece, yield monitor, or camera to help me during harvest? I can call about markets, talk to the service department, and take pictures of problems in the field. But are we better off for the advancements?

There are some in the U.S. and world, elitists that are trying to halt advances for agriculture and business. They would almost like to see us go back to riding horses. I mean, how does the EPA expect us to regulate dust on a job that requires us to work in dirt? Should we all go back to picking berries and eating pemmican?

No, I believe the advances made during the lifetime of my great aunt have made us better as people and a society. We are not only living longer, but we are living better. The American people don’t have to worry about food, it has always been there.

Why? It is because of the advancements of technology. I am thankful that I don’t have to farm with horses anymore; I deal with enough horse puckey as it is due to radicals and government regulations. Take care and keep it between the fences!

Harvest - Day 1

It is that time of year again (finally)….HARVEST!

Yesterday we put the water tank on the back of my pickup in case of fires,

did a few odds and ends, and moved equipment to the field. Put the header on the combine, set the fan, concave spacing and rotor speed and calibrated the yield monitor.

With the engine going full throttle I gently place the header into the wheat to start harvest. Wheat bunches up on the platform because the rust and grime isn’t worn off yet and cut up the hill to where we will park the equipment for this field.

I cut my circle, the bankout wagon is placed, and the disc is put into the ground to provide black dirt to park equipment on to reduce the threat of fire. I move the combine around to a straw free spot after dumping a full bulk tank load into the wagon.

Chris climbs into the wagon with a can for a sample and we head to town to get a moisture reading. At the elevator the moisture tests 10.5 and we are good to go for harvest (moisture needs to be 12 or less). We head back home to get the semi, service rig, and lunch boxes.

When I get to the field it starts to sprinkle. I climb into the cab, set up my cell booster and climb back out to put tarps on the truck, trailer, and wagon. It quits raining. I stand there with my brother and hired man looking at the root structure of the wheat that was worked up (basically killing time) and contemplate cutting or not. I get back on the combine (this is around 1:30) and it cuts beautifully.

The boys come out to the field (they were at a basketball clinic) and run wagon, Rhonda takes pictures, and our hired man drives the truck to the elevator. I am dumping into the wagon while watching a rabbit run at everyone because his home is now headed to the elevator. Yields aren’t bad, but I haven’t been able to calibrate the monitor with a weight.

Both Rhonda and Logan ride with me on the combine and Dillon leaves for football practice. We see a couple of deer and fill up the truck, trailer and wagons for tomorrow. We head for home after walking around the combine around 8 pm. The one paycheck that a farmer receives for his hard work, the investment, and worrying that has to last 365 days is finally here.

Harvest Almost Ready

Well it has been awhile since I have last posted in April. Farming is a busy occupation and when you throw kids in the mix, it is almost insane. I did not get any spring crop planted, the trees that blew down in November were cut up and taken to the mill, and we ended up with two cutting of alfalfa hay.

Today however we are nearing harvest. We have winter wheat to cut and this will be my shortest harvest in memory. I figure it will take around 8 days to cut our wheat baring any breakdowns.

My little brother Chris has been working on the farm full time and Dillon and Logan go back to school on the 24^th.My hired men will be helping out again as well to drive truck and Rhonda will be cooking meals, taking care of the farm, and running the boys to registration and practices.

I am looking forward to harvest right now because there is an opportunity for Chris and Dillon to learn how to properly run a combine. Depending upon the weather I am sure they will get their chances.

Looking back on this year, it is almost a blessing that I did not plant any spring crops because we are already 2-3 weeks later than normal and the garbanzo beans look like they will be ready late September to early October.

Another reason I am thankful for not planting a spring crop is my Fellowship. I leave on October 14^th for Argentina. Most of the meetings are in place, airline tickets are purchased, and hotels are reserved. As I get closer to my departing date I will give a better account of my meetings.

Back to harvest. The combine is as ready as we can make it, the semi is ready, and all the tractors and wagons are good to go. Water tanks and extinguishers are filled in case of fire, and tools are ready in case of breakdown. The Jawbone is connected to the Android and the Insight is ready to give me instant feedback.

Even though harvest is the most stressful time of the year, I am thankful that I am a farmer. What other occupation can a person have that allows them to see their family any time and to watch their kids grow right before their eyes. Even when they take time to pose from getting equipment ready or Bandit get into the groove.

To all of those that are harvesting, good luck and God Bless!