Harvest Moon

I wrote this a some time ago and found it today.  I've been wondering what the harvest moon will look like this year and how cold it will be.  It's been a very cool year until late when we finally got our normal summer heat.

"Last night was a beautiful, full harvest moon. The problem is, nothing is ready to harvest except the garden.

The garden has been a good one. My friend Steve saved it when he offered to come help till it up with that old fashioned big wheeled push culitvator. It took off ahead of the weeds and never looked back after that, around the first of July.

We have taken over 1000 pounds of produce out of the 30 by 40 piece of land. Took out two big buckets full of tomatoes last night and the freezer is filling with them and corn and beans.

The first planted crops need another 30 days and the late planted crops need 60. They won't get 60 so they will be whatever they are the day Jack Frost takes them.

Last year we were getting ready to shell dry corn, a first in history for me. 190 bu corn at 14% moisture in the middle of September. We lost a third of our potential yield due to drought and heat and still made out well.

Today you have to make out even better because everything we touch turns to gold. There has never been a place I couldn't put extra income to make the farm even better so everything is prioritized. Pushing dirt and cutting trees is first on the list this year, lost about 6 acres of production due to last year's work that never got finished."

September is a busy, outdoor month for us with lots of festivals and activities we like to attend.  This year the expenses have surpassed our income potential so its slow as she goes.

Our grandson Tyler reminds me of 3 years ago about this time when we were anticipating another harvest moon.

Ed Winkle