What great weather we’re getting this week! Many farmers who were not done yet have been able to wrap up harvest in the last week. More sun would feel nice, but these are ‘bonus’ days to get work done.

I felt bad having to spend some time inside catching up on paperwork and verifying harvest yields. But we’re getting close to deadlines to submit crop loss claims. It appears there won’t be any claims this year. With the exception of wind damaged fields, most yields were in the normal range.

Outside, there is a long list of ‘would like to dos’ I can come up with, but honestly it’s been a long fall and ambition is waning. So, as usual, we are prioritizing. Outside jobs will take place first. Shop work can be done when it’s cold, snowy and blowing.

After long delays this fall, a little bit of field work is happening in our area, I expect that to increase the next few days if we can stay dry. The forecast continues to change daily but we tentatively plan to do some tillage starting again Monday.

Right now, we’re trying to get chicken litter spread. Since July, we have been accepting manure into our storage buildings. It is now time to get the buildings emptied out and equipment moved inside for the winter.

We’re also trying to organize the barn lots to have everything in order. We make sure we put blocks under equipment so that it doesn’t freeze down and we can cycle the equipment through the shop as needed this winter. Final winterization of tanks, pumps, waterlines, etc. is also taking place. We checked antifreeze and brought batteries into the shop during one of the rain delays. Though it’s nice today, we know it is going to change sooner than we would like!