Ehmke Diaries

October 5

The triticale is lost in JFK airport!!! Very frustrating. Sunday after church we mowed, watered flowers and got rid of the dead ones. We did cut corn 2 days ago. That was our first crop and we were excited. It did well. Now the corn is in the elevator. We sell it to the elevator who will probably sell it to a feedlot for cattle feed

October 6

Triticale seed still sitting in New York at Delta Air Cargo. This is very frustrating. One Delta employee assured me it would go on to Atlanta today. But too late for Tanner to pick up in Kansas City. It is a 2-hour drive from Manhattan where Kansas State University is located to KC airport. Plus it is warm--85 degrees and the soil bed is drying which makes less than ideal conditions for planting triticale or wheat.

Late this afternoon Louise did receive a call that the seed was found sent on to Kansas City and that Delta will fly it on to Garden City--45 miles from our farm.

Today we will try cutting Milo, which is a grain sorghum. It is a cattle or livestock feed. It is also used for birdseed. We do not cut it ourselves. Another farmer who has a combine or a custom harvester will cut it for us. We pay them to cut it. The triticale seed is still lost!!!

In the meantime Marit had piano lessons. There was a JV football game where Layton played well--had some great tackles but Dighton lost to Scott City.

I called the Garden City airport at 10:30pm. The seed was confirmed on board in 4 parcels (bags) instead of the original 3. We wonder what we will get!!

October 7

At the bank in Dighton Louise wired payment of the seed to Poland. It will still take about a week for the bank there to receive it. Louise called the airport early to confirm that the seed had arrived. Hallelujah, it is finally here.

Louise drove to Garden City airport to pick it up. Yes there were 4 heavy plastic sacks of seed. As soon as we got it home Vance opened them and mixed the triticale seed with granules of phosphorous which will insure a good stand of triticale. He had the seed planted within an hour of receiving it.

The fun part is the 4th sack. It is a mystery seed, which we did not order. It looks like a square black-eyed pea--certainly a kind of bean. Louise called Delta to report that we had received an extra sack with no identification.

October 8

Today is catch-up day on bill paying, computer accounting. This is also 4-H week. Layton and 3 other 4-H members spoke to the primary school kids about the benefits of belonging to 4-H. They did a great job. Louise got photos of their presentation. Marit was especially proud to be a member and have her brother speak at school.

Marit had dance lessons after school. Vance is repairing equipment as well as checking fields of wheat to make sure the seeds are sprouting. He's also checking the Milo to see if it is dry enough to cut. We'll call the cutter tonight for test cutting tomorrow.

October 9

The cutter tried cutting Milo in the afternoon. The moisture was 18%, which is still wet. Ideally it should be 15%. The grain elevator prefers it at 16% or less. The farmer gets a drying expense as well as dockage if the grain is wet. So we want to cut it at 16% or less. Right now the price is about $3.95 per 100 lbs. of grain. So we will wait a few more days. Hope we get a hard killing frost soon. That would dry out the grain quickly.

Marit, Layton and Louise worked at 4-H concession stand at the grade school football game. It's always fun to work with the parents and kids. When our shift was over, Marit and Louise drove to Scott City to a Kansas Humanities council program sponsored by AAUW (American Assoc. of University Women) called, "Plucky & Purty: Women on the Santa Fe Trail" given by Dr. Sara Jane Richter. It was terrific. Louise was the program director for the presentation.

It's getting windy. Hope the Milo continues to stand. It is very hard to cut Milo when it is lying on the ground.

October 10

The wind is picking up very strong--45 mph. Makes everybody in a disagreeable temper--especially when that Milo is out in the field and not in the bin!

Dr. Jim Shroyer, an agronomist with Kansas State University Extension arrived to put in triticale test plots with Vance. There will be the Polish varieties as well as the regular ones.

Layton has a football game 3 hours from here. Marit was home from school due to a very bad cough so we did not go to the game. Instead we did house work and prepared for the trip to Lindsborg, Kansas tomorrow to the Svensk Hyllningsfest. It is a festival that celebrates Swedish heritage in the Smoky Hill Valley.

October 11

Layton, Marit, and Louise drove to Lindsborg--3 hours. There we attended all the fun--great parade, food, arts and crafts and a reunion of family and friends. Louise gets to practice her Swedish--all her family is Swedish. Louise's sister from Pennsylvania has arrived as well as Bethany College alumni friends. Marit wears her Swedish costume. The day is a little windy with the feel of fall. Attended the Bethany Homecoming football game that they won. K-State also won so everyone is pleased.

Our feet are sore but our spirits are high! Vance had hoped to get Milo cut today due to a threat of rain. But it is still too wet. Vance ended up working on some story assignments for a magazine.

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