Category: Life on the Farm

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Farm Auction Sale Bill 1944

Iowa Farm in a Valley

A Story of the Ultimate Sacrifice

I was going through a box of newspaper clippings of Lila’s. There was a farm auction sale bill dated from January of 1944. I think you will find it very clever.

PUBLIC SALE

As I am sick and tired of farming and quarreling with my neighbors, I have joined the Navy and am going to end it all by offering the following to the highest bidder at my place, known as Poverty Point, located 2 miles south and ½ mile east of Center Point, Iowa.

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Harvesting During a Drought

Drought corn field in Iowa

We started combining corn early. Drought has affected both our corn and beans. Wherever the soil is less than deep black dirt, plants are stunted and show stress because of lack of moisture. We are thankful that we practice crop rotation, where our corn is planted on last year’s bean ground. With extreme drought crop conditions crop rotation is one of several ways to raise a better crop.

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Dealing With Drought

Unloading Grain Into a Grain Wagon on a Farm

I stand under the shade of a grain bin to escape the searing sun, waiting for the signal to push in a gate lever over the grain bin sump to cut off the flow to the bin’s unloading auger. I then move to the control panel to turn off the power to that unloading auger. I’m here to save my husband from having to climb in and out of the grain bin multiple times for each wagonload of grain.

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Is Farming the Best Job Ever?

Sunset after an ice storm

According to Andrew Van Dam’s recent Washington Post article, The happiest, least stressful, most meaningful jobs in America,  farmers, lumberjacks and foresters love their jobs the most. Lawyers self-report that they are the least happy profession in the United States.

Why in the world would the whitest of the white-collar professions have less career happiness than the bluest of the blue-collar professions?

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Great is My Thankfulness

Harvested Field

There is so much to be thankful for this year. On November 9th the crop was put safely in our bins. The moisture content of our corn and beans were good, and bushel counts were outstanding.

During the growing season there were timely rains and the weather was great for raising grains. During the harvest there were a couple of rains that slowed us down for a few days, but not enough to cause the gnashing of teeth. It was a very dewy summer and fall, but the dew dried off every morning so there was little slow down to our combining. Continue reading “Great is My Thankfulness”