Thankful For The Past & Looking Forward To The Future

Our family was very blessed in 2014. 

·         During the winter months we welcomed Cody into our family and enjoyed a more than average amount of snowfall!

·         During the spring months we persevered to complete planting with more than average rainfall.

·         During the summer months we had some wheat to harvest and straw to bale, but the highlight for the kids was a day of play at a lake.

·         In the fall months we had a nice weather to plan wheat, and soybean and corn harvest finally came to an end even though I thought we’d never be done, ha-ha.  We finished out the year by joining my sister and brother in law in Jamaica for their wedding; it was beautiful!

But the best thing about the year was that we all stayed safe and healthy!  And, we are fortunate enough to be able to plant our fields next year and do what we love!

During the winter months Brad and I have some conferences scheduled.  They are great for networking with others that work in the agriculture industry, learning new technology, and being motivated and excited for next year’s crop.  Brad also has a lot of grain to load out of the grain bins and truck to the grain elevators.



Loading the semi at home.  The grain is moved through the grain
bins (where it is stored) and falls into the trailer from the small
"load out bin" located above the trailer.

A couple of weeks ago my Grandma was watching the kids and I was supposed to be doing paperwork.....but, Brad was trucking and asked if I’d like to ride along.  Before we had Claire and Cody I used to go with him often in the semi.  It served as some good quality time!  But, the kids can’t ride along in the semi, so my rides with Brad are few and far between.  Even though I had a lot of paperwork to get done I took him up on the offer.  I know a lot of people haven’t been to a grain elevator before so I thought I’d take some pictures to share!

Loading the semi at home.

  


Upon pulling into the elevator a sample of grain
is analyzed for quality.  You can see the probe
above the trailer taking a grain sample.

                                
                                                           

After the grain is analyzed, the truck is weighed. 

The truck is weighed again after the grain is unloaded 

since the farmer's pay is

determined by the weight of the grain.

After being analyzed and weighed we get in line
waiting to unload the grain.

 

 

A chute under the trailer opens to dump the grain
at the elevator.