Over there

Here's a picture of one of the wheat fields before I left Ukraine last week. It is the greenest one, there is one near the highway where the headlands are just as green but the middle of the field is not from the road. It is growing but was planted a week later because of rain, so it looks kind of funny. Maybe it looks better now, its been warm. The field in the photo was planted where the corn silage came off, so you can see the cornfield that was combined late behind it. Garry tells me that will be the last field plowed, and part of it will be left unplowed to spread manure on this winter- or to pile it on anyway, and move it around in the spring before working it up for planting.

Hopefully the plowing is nearly finished, Garry says spending 2000 grivna everyday for diesel fuel to fill the tractor for plowing will not be missed. They should get done soon, they were ahead of last year and the colder weather helped get them back in the fields after the wet weather made it too greasy (slippery). They were doing the rented fields in another village when I left (farthest from home), and then just this field close to the barn to do when they finish over in Morrosnika.

the storage shed

They sold some of the first corn they harvested from the shed before I left. They will use some money to buy fertilizer for spring planting. It comes in big totes that they store in one of the sheds. They bought some already that they spread on the fields where they will grow sunflowers next year before working it up, trying something new to improve yields.

 Garry says they have had a number of calvings this last year, one difficult one where the calf died before he could get it turned the right way and born; it was a big calf with the head back, so the cow could not have it by herself. However, he says there is a really cute red and white heifer calf in the barn that was born on Sunday.

I am sure Garry is working hard this week, since he is not teaching and he had lots of things to finish before he flies home.