Fall on the Farm

Ahhhh, summer is almost over. Cooler weather on the way.

We have cut off water on the cotton. Now we will see if the bolls fill out.

This season on the farm is for working in the shop. Servicing and repairing equipment before harvest. I have mentioned before how my uncle said you don't have to be a great mechanic if you service equipment. Grease is cheaper than parts. That advice has driven us for a long time.
A few years ago I was riding with a pilot friend and we were talking about how airplanes get an Annual, where they go through every detail of the plane thoroughly. They, of course, can't pull over to the edge of the field or the side of the road if they have problems. I thought, we need to do that with the tractors. So, that is what we do- an Annual on each tractor and piece of equipment. Questionable hydraulic hose? Change it. The first year Ruben mentioned a dash light in his tractor- change it. Our repair costs are still the same, but our downtime during the season is way down. We still have some problems, but we prevent a lot of simple problems and we get a lot more done each day once the tractors start rolling. If you are going to have something, you are going to have to take care of it. This is a case of taking care of the tools by which we make our living.

Elsewhere on the farm-
The blackeyes have been cut and they are drying.
Also, the almonds at the house have been shaken and they are drying. This is unusual. We have never shaken this variety before the 20th of September. This year it is three weeks early. Most crops are ten days to two weeks behind normal. I am not sure I understand. But, they were ready. Good thing we don't just blindly follow the calendar. There is a value to checking the fields and understanding the crops. If we had waited till the normal time for harvest we would have had a lot of nuts stuck on the tree because they had dried out.
I can't take credit for this. We were getting ready to water again and Raul asked, 'Are you sure?' The nuts seems open and ready to be shaken. I had been looking down, at the soil and weed conditions. When I looked up I could see he was right. Thanks Raul, good job.

I hope y'all have a great week.

P