13 Jul Janel: Good ole western Kansas

Western Kansas—The days have been hot and we’ve been busy harvesting wheat out here in good ole western Kansas! I enjoy it out here. Typically, it’s hot and dry but we’ve had a couple of pop-up thunderstorms. The wheat has been yielding anywhere from 30 to 70 bushels per acre but the test weights have remained under 60 pounds per bushel. Certain varieties didn’t yield well this year that yielded really well last year. Too much wind shelled out one variety which was disappointing.

One reason I love harvesting here is because when I arrive I put on my blue header and don’t have to take it off until we are finished with the job. It’s easy to get the combines and headers down the roads and hardly anything in the way helps a lot and that’s how it should be where crops are harvested! It drives me crazy when there’s trees in the ditches and fence posts and other things in our way on country roads. This is nice wheat cutting country and I like it!

We’ll be finishing up and moving north shortly. I can’t wait to see what western Nebraska has for us to cut. Our 10-day forecast is very hot and dry so we should be able to just keep harvesting!

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is sponsored by Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc, BASF, AgriPro, Gleaner and High Plains Journal. Janel Schemper can be reached at janel@allaboardharvest.com.

Schemper Havesting in the field June 29 in western Kansas. Photo by Ian Leshow.

Harvesting wheat June 30 in western Kansas. Our blue headers do a nice job.  Photo by Janel Schemper.

Harvesting wheat in western Kansas.  Photo by Janel Schemper.

Harvesting wheat and a pop-up thunderstorm approaching quickly.

Janel Schemper harvesting wheat in western Kansas July 1.  Photo by Carlene Schemper.

That’s me harvesting wheat in western Kansas. See that pop-up thunderstorm behind me? We got wet and had to finish the field the next day. Photo by Carlene Schemper.

My combine and header in the wheat field. I had stopped to get my lunch from the cook!

Harvesting wheat in western Kansas. The tractor and grain cart was about to unload the wheat onto the truck.

I let someone else run my combine for a few rounds while I got out to check the wheat and also check behind the combines making sure they were doing a good job! I love being in the field! Photo by Carlene Schemper.

The meals delivered to the field are so amazing, especially when you’ve worked up an appetite!

Miss Moo sleeps in her combine seat. She loves the air conditioning cranked!

Miss Moo dreaming in the combine again.

Moving to another field after dark. Following JC and Sunder up the road!

I love wheat harvest and the Great Plains of America. Photo by Carlene Schemper.

A storm approaching.

We keep harvesting until the rain shuts us down. We got a sprinkle and it did shut us down for the evening.

A beautiful wheat crop.

Harvesting wheat in western Kansas.

Blowing off the combines, greasing and fueling the combine is part of my daily routine out in the field!

Happy Fourth of July!

A gorgeous moon on the Fourth of July!

I enjoyed a few fireworks at 11 p.m. on the Fourth of July in the camper park!

Unloading on the go.

Harvesting wheat in western Kansas.

Harvesting wheat well after sunset.  We had a nice wheat crop to harvest.

Hmmmm. Someone parked the pickup in the field but in the mud and when JC went to move it well, as you can see, it got stuck and then it was pulled out of the mud hole by the combine late at night.

A gorgeous evening but another pop-up thunderstorm approaching. Out here in western Kansas you might get hit or missed by the rain. We got missed this time around!

A gorgeous evening harvesting wheat in western Kansas.

Harvesting wheat in western Kansas.

I thought this pop-up thunderstorm would miss us but we got hit with rain and some hail, too. However, we moved two miles away to another field that had no rain so we kept on harvesting! It’s amazing out here!

See what I mean about not having to take the header off to move to another field? This is a dream but the way it should be, honestly!

We started a new field and I got full and was waiting on a tractor and grain cart but only for about one minute!

Good ole western Kansas is very beautiful at wheat harvest time! I enjoy it here! It’s a favorite part of my harvest run!