Farming between teaching, Garry's week so far...

Garry has enjoyed teaching at the English Institute in Dnepropetroesk, week one is almost over, one more day and the picnic on Saturday, with two more weeks to come. The two of us left before lunch with the team on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Garry could take care of other business. Tuesday he went home early because the barley was being harvested (sorry no photos, we drove straight out to the field and I had not taken the camera in the morning) It wasn't pretty, but there was 15 ton(nes) which was put into trucks and unloaded onto cement over in the reno barn for the night, yesterday the guys, with a few teens from the village took it to the mill in the village. There was a lot of bucketing, and the ground barley was put in bags to be stored to feed the cows this year. The wheat harvest is supposed to start tomorrow (Friday) and it will be sold, since there is no place to store it, and we have enough for the cows with the barley.

Garry had a phone call on the way home about chopping corn for Vitaly (the farmer from Molazanahorina) his chopper had broken and he has nothing to feed his cows, so Garry started getting ready to chop some loads for him. He had to change from the hay header to the corn one, he was hoping to find out how well it would work, since it had a rough time last fall when someone else used it, and it might need some fixing before his corn is ready to become silage in a few weeks. First thing he discovered a flat tire, which took a while to fix, he took it off, put it in the back of the van, and drove it over to Molazaharina, where Vitaly's workers were able to fix it, but it was after six by the time he drove the tractor and chopper over there to start. He got two loads cut, but on the third load he started to hear some noises, and a bearing went, so parts will be needed. It was dark by then, after 9:30 and he called to see if I would drive over to pick him up.... but no van outside, Andrei had taken the guys swimming in it, and Garry does not have his phone number, and he couldn't get Max on the phone.

Eventually he did get him on the phone, Andrei got home around ten, and Max went to pick Garry up... he had a bowl of soup I had made, and still couldn't go to bed, because someone was coming at 11 to get him to breed a cow. Still he was up by six am and ready to drive to the city to teach!

Wednesday he had to get home to leave for Zaporosia by three for meeting with John with some government official about the trade school barn property. He was home by five pm, and in bed by eight....at 8:30 Andrei asked for him and said something about big problem with cow, baby, and I woke him up. It turned out it wasn't a cow calving, the ladies were just worried about Lada, the cow who had the giant heifer calf about 10 days ago. She is up and walking OK now, although they are tying her out under an apple tree everyday and putting her back in the barn at night, to make sure. She has an infected uterus, not unusual with the problems she had calving.

Lada is a favorite of the milker ladies

Her giant heifer calf, she was one month size at birth!

Garry did feel more rested this morning, and had another good day teaching, we took a detour on the way home and checked out the crops, and I had the camera this time. The corn could use some rain, both the tall and just trying to emerge stuff that was planted last week were the first wheat field was combined while we were in Canada, maybe it can come after the wheat is in the bin, and the straw is baled and the sundan grass hay they hope to bale tomorrow. It's thick stuff, it has been drying in the hot sun since Monday, but they haven't been able to keep up with it chopping it for green feed, maybe the heifers will be eating it next winter.

the sudan grass needs to be raked over

The regrowing sudan grass (sudanko in Russian)

That's our sunflowers and corn across the pond.

Garry's corn is looking good

The wheat is ready to combine tomorrow

some of the new corn is up, about 20%

You can see lots of wheat residue on the new seeding of corn

Maxim Boradim feeding the greenchopped sudan grass

Victor giving the heifers outside something to eat

Victor was helping Maxim Boradim feed the cows when we got back from school and picture taking. Garry hired Max, one of our orphan students to work this summer, he is sharing Andrei's room.


 It's Thursday, the day he sells milk, so he normally comes out earlier in the day to help out. He helped Garry start taking apart the broken chopper so they can try to find parts for it.

You are never bored farming!