Category: Wheat

If you give a mouse a cookie or if you buy a new combine

We bought a new combine at the end of harvest last year. So we are “retiring” our 9550 John Deere Sidehill combine. We went around and around on if we should just sell it, or do you keep it just in case, what are the costs, what are the risks, what are the holes that we would have, etc. So it felt like we went around and around so many times on this decision it felt that this post was appropriate to share. Enjoy….

If you buy a new combine, then you’ll have to sell the old one.

If you sell the old one, you will also have to sell the wheat header that goes with it.

If you sell the wheat header that goes with it you realize they don’t make tiny 12 foot wheat headers anymore.

And since they don’t make tiny 12 foot wheat headers anymore you’ll have to buy a 25 foot wheat header.

If you buy a 25 foot header you realize it won’t fit down the road like your 12 foot wheat header.

Since it won’t fit down the road like your twelve foot wheat header you’ll have to also buy a trailer. 

Since you have to buy the header and the trailer you start to do math and realize it will cost you more than you thought. 

Since it will cost you more than you thought you also think about the size again. 

While thinking about the size again you  realize your windrow coming out of the combine will be twice as big as the 12 footer.

If the windrow is twice as big as a 12 footer, you realize it will be too big for the tiny bale baler for the bales your kids sell each fall. 

If it’s too big of a windrow for your tiny bale baler you realize you would have to spread the straw.

If you have to spread the straw, you then realize that you’d have to buy a set of rakes to then make the small windrow again for the tiny bale baler. 

If you have to buy a set of rakes added to the cost of the header added to the cost of the trailer…. You think that maybe this could be too much of a pain

And maybe, just maybe you should just keep the old combine.

Mini Bale Project 2024

The kids continued their tradition of baling up mini two-tie bales to sell this fall. We would love to get these to a porch near you!!!

The kids baled and stacked these little cuties. We will have them for sale through us but also through some stores and farm markets. There is a list below of where they will be sold so far. I’ll update other places you can find them through the fall for purchase.

This project started with the kids hand baling grass seed straw that was left on the corners of the fields by our house. Then last year we had a neighbor who helped us actually bale the straw and this year they have their own two string baler to get the job done.

As always I love seeing our kids get an idea and have the ability to follow it through and do a little farming themselves. I was just recently explaining to someone that farm kids just don’t know any different. In their mind this is just what you do, look for opportunity, work hard and you hope it pays off. Love starting that at an early age.

Who knows where this project of their’s will lead in the future. But for now this 10, 8 and 6 year old are having a lot of fun making all these mini bales!

If you’re interested feel free to get a hold of me through the website on the “contact me” form, or email me at brenda@kirschfamilyfarms.com.

Where to buy:

Septembers 5th – Nash and Nichol Fall Favorites
September 14th – Bankers Cup Saturday Market

Upcoming-

Sonnen Farms

Heiser Farms Pumpkin Patch

The Start of Spring

We have hit the “it’s a good day to go get a tractor stuck” weather! Woo hoo!!! For those of you who don’t farm that means the sun has come out and every farmer is rushing around thinking now is the time to get all the things done. Meanwhile Mother Nature has dumped quite a bit of moisture which is sitting in the soil just waiting for you to give her a go so she can laugh.

I would bet we could queue up a few buried or at least stuck-in-the-mud tractor pictures this coming weekend. I’m hoping we aren’t one of them because we’ve all been there. We do have some radish we would love to get planted in this beautiful window of weather; but like I said, sometimes we get a little excited and things don’t go our way and it’s just not time and the soil isn’t ready.

So until then we can still get lots done in this sunshine. This week we took the kids out to pull wheat out of some grass seed fields. I told them it would take 5 minutes…and an hour later we were back home. So they are slowly getting the language of all farmers engrained in their young minds. Always bring a lunch folks.

I’m sure if you’re in any sort of farming area here in the Willamette Valley you’ll see a lot of activity in the coming days. Keep an eye out on the roads for SMV’s (slow moving vehicles) and please be patient, we are as excited as the rest of you for this spring sunshine to hit; our vehicles just drive a little slower.