T-Minus…

The countdown has begun for the 2013 wheat harvest on Baldwin Farms.

Everyone is anxiously awaiting the day when we will begin cutting wheat in central Kansas.

Over the last few weeks, the wheat fields have transformed from beautiful, lush greens to amazing, dry, honey-yellows.

It’s a definite sign that harvest is right around the corner.

Based on what I’ve seen on Facebook and Twitter today, wheat harvest is in full swing in some south central Kansas locations and some wheat samples were delivered to an elevator in eastern McPherson County yesterday.

But it’s not quite ready for us just yet.

So we prepare and wait.

I’ve started scouring the grocery sale ads looking for good deals and have started baking cookies to help provide snacks to our harvest crew once we do start cutting.

My mother-in-law has been working to get all of her publications completed and mailed before the wheat is cut.

The guys have been busy trying to get the soybeans and milo 100% planted before harvest while also servicing equipment in preparation for the busy, busy time that is upon us.

We are all watching the weather, checking in with folks south of us to get their harvest reports, and taking friendly bets as to when we will officially start harvesting.

Adam and I were discussing over dinner last night that the anticipation of wheat harvest is a lot like waiting for Christmas morning to arrive:

You can speculate, you can predict, you can send positive thoughts, and you can snoop all you want through your parents’ bedroom to try and find out what you are getting.

But until you unwrap the gifts, you just don’t know for sure.

That’s where we are at.

You hope for high yields but you never know what you’re going to get until you start cutting.

You can take information and experiences from previous years to speculate, but you won’t know for sure until you start cutting.

All we know for sure is that we have a lot of wheat heads.

That could be good because a lot of wheat heads means there’s potential for a lot of wheat kernels.

But, considering the crazy weather we had this spring–that luckily didn’t kill the wheat–there might not be kernels in all of the heads.

You can go out into the fields and thresh wheat heads in your hands to get an idea of how many kernels you might be dealing with, but each field varies.

Each area varies.

So we wait…

…As patiently as possible.

And now it’s time to let you get in on our friendly little game of Guess and Wait.

When do you think we will begin cutting wheat on Baldwin Farms this year?

The rules are simple:

• 1.  In the comment section below, enter the date and time (Central Standard Time, please) you think we will get our first load of wheat delivered to the elevator.  Note:  I’ll show proof of delivery from our scale ticket.
• 2.  One entry per person.
• 3.  Entry must be submitted by 8:00 am (CST) Friday, June 21, 2013.
• 4.  The winner will receive a nice little shipment of wheat based goodies from The Old Muffin Factory located in McPherson, Kansas.

Happy guessing and happy waiting!

Now we’re all in the same boat together.

You’re welcome.

🙂