Welcoming 2012 with Open Arms

Well, it has been way too long since I have updated the farm blog. Since the last check in, many things have occurred. We had a successful corn maze season, harvested our corn and soybeans, and have been preparing for 2012 all winter long.
The harvest last fall was a disaster. Due to drought conditions throughout the 2011 growing season, our yields were under half of what we normally run. Thanks to crop insurance we were able to stay in business for another year.
The corn maze & fall festival went really well except for the last weekend when we got "snowed" out! That weekend sums up my whole perspective of 2011.  Have you ever had that feeling where no matter what you do or how hard you try, things just keep going in the opposite direction? Well, that is how I felt.
If I took one thing out of the whole season, it was that you have to remain mentally strong. 
My family and I have been busy preparing for the 2012 season. With a positive outlook on things, I truly believe this year can be a success. We have a nice looking crop of wheat beginning to grow(planted last fall), and are currently preparing land for our spring planting. We intend on planting alfalfa hay towards the end of this week. Check back in & enjoy pictures we accumulated over the past 6 months!!

Gearing Up for the Fall Festival

As usual, summer was here and gone in the blink of an eye. The drought during mid summer did some damage to our corn crop and I anticipate yields will suffer. However, our soybean fields in the southern part of the county received much more rain than here at the home farm. The soybeans are above waist high. I believe we will exceed expectations with the soybeans. We will be finishing up the final cutting of hay in the coming weeks.

Right now we are busy preparing for our corn maze & fall festival. The maze was beat up pretty bad in Hurricane Irene, but we have the trails cleared and game stations in place. The fall festival opens Sept. 17th and we will remain open Saturdays and Sundays until Halloween. We have the corn mazes, corn slide, cow train ride, farm animals, hayrides to the pumpkin patch, and much more!! It is a great place for families to enjoy the whole day!! Things will be hectic throughout the next two months. Besides having the corn maze open, we will be making more hay, harvesting corn & soybeans, planting winter wheat, and more!! Check back in!

John Deere Pedal Tractors

Bucking Cow Train Ride

Beautiful Mums on Sale

Big Map at Entrance of Maze

Pumpkin Patch

Wheat Harvest Videos

Straw Baling

Raking the Sea of Straw

Making Small Bales of Straw

Loading up "Big Bales" of Straw

After the wheat is harvested, the straw is left in the field to be baled.  We are making both small bales and big bales this year.  We are in the process of doing this right now.

The Wheat Harvest !

Resting after a hard day's work

This past weekend, the wheat harvest took place.  The John Deere combine goes through the field harvesting the wheat.  It thrashes the grain from the plant, putting the grain in a storage bin in the machine while expunging the straw out the back.  The grain is unloaded onto a truck which hauls the grain to the mill where it is sold for either bread or animal feed.  Wheat yields exceeded expectations due to above-average weather conditions and farm management practices. 

Racing the Storm

Thursday, 7/8 - Attempting to Plant Soybeans

No sooner than we rolled into the field with the soybean planter, Mother Nature rolled us with a thunderstorm.  Not much rain, just enough to mess up our plans.

Meet Hurricane Hill's New Mascot - Cornelius !

Cornelius

New this year - Hurricane Hill's mascot - Cornelius!!  Cornelius will make special guest appearances from time to time at our farm market stands.  And we're hoping he'll stop back during Corn Maze season.  Stop out and say hello!