After several weeks of no rain or missing the rains, we finally received anyplace from half an inch to an inch and a half on Tuesday afternoon, evening and overnight. As slow as it came, I am sure it was all soaked in by the soil.

Last week I focused mainly on corn. The reason for that was there wasn’t a lot to talk about with soybeans. Not much has changed. They just seem to be growing slow. We have yet to make our first in-crop herbicide application on any fields other than the hemp dog bane infested ones I sprayed three weeks ago. We will be omitting some of the harsher chemistries out of spray applications next week in hopes to not stunt the beans any longer. With the rain, growth should be ramping up. The summer solstice is next week, and I don’t think we will have any beans blooming, much less in full bloom!

Rock picking wraps up

The kids were very excited about the rain as it meant no rock picking on Wednesday. However, Thursday we were right back at it. We are at the tail end of picking for this summer. It has been a longer season than usual with few weather delays.

They picked a 150-acre field for me, now they are picking up where we left off in one of dad’s fields last year. Dad’s field is in soybeans, so we could keep going several more days if we can keep a full crew. Kids that have stuck it out for the season have made some good money! Where else can they earn $50 a day and be home for lunch?

It wasn’t cheap to pick rocks. It ended up costing between $40-50 per acre. Maybe we should have driven the crew a little harder, but I’m glad to have that project done. No more chisel plowing that field! I don’t want to bring up more rocks! Over most of the field, the crew averaged a backhoe loader bucket every couple of acres. I had hoped to make one big pile, but convenience won out, so there are several spots where rocks are piled.