Combine came but not the rain

Technically it did rain enough to stop combining Saturday afternoon,  but not enough to make a difference to the sunflowers.  We've had some clouds and just missed some rain showers (some fell 30 km away). Dry weather is good for combining the wheat, although the blooming sunflowers and the alfalfa could really use some water.

The combine finally arrived on Thursday and has been going over since. The hot dry weather in June meant the grain kernels could have been a little bigger, but this is still the best winter wheat crop we've grown in Ukraine. The combine driver estimates 85-90 bushels per acre.

 Better management and that better than normal spring gets the credit.  Artom and the students are keeping busy baling straw, they finished with the gifted barley straw yesterday.  They have Sunday off before getting back baling wheat straw. Garry tells me that there is three or four times as much straw in the wheat fields.  Better fertilizer is my guess. 

Baby Danil watching mom and dad
 work moving wheat in the shed

They were unable to get the big trucks from Nebulon, the company that buys grain, so they could sell it right out of the field,  so it's going in the shed for now. They plan to sell most of it right away, we are spending 10,000 grivna a day for water on the corn.

We were not home Thursday to see them start, as our friends Steve and Jo and boys were flying into Kiev and couldn't find any train tickets to buy back to Zaporosia.  We left the village with the van around nine am, and discovered that some, or most of the roads in worse condition than usual for summer. There were some huge holes, about a half hour before the airport there was a thunderstorm and the van wipers don't work. We got there in plenty of time. We bought some turtlewax product that was supposed to help bead water off the windshield.  Garry googled how to apply it in English (instructions were in Ukrainian and Russian). It did work because when we picked them up, thunderstorm two hit Borispol (Kiev airport).

 The rest of the trip went okay, except for the holes in the road, which were harder to miss after it got dark after our nine pm stop for dinner at McDonald's.  Unfortunately we blew apart one tire and had to change it with about 30 km to go to the better roads. It was about one o'clock when we left them at the apartment building in Zaporosia,  and close to  two am when we got to bed.

Garry was still up making feed for the cows at 6 am Friday morning.

I'm back

I returned to Ukraine last Friday afternoon,  and immediately noticed how hot it was while waiting for the train to Dnepro. Garry tells me that 26 of the 30 days it was over 30 while I was gone. That's in the 90s for American readers.

My knee was/is sore from running to make my connection in Montreal.  My left knee is a little gimpy these days, and the plane from Winnipeg landed 15 minutes late and I was only supposed to have 50 minutes before takeoff.  When I got to the gate, it had been pushed back 15 minutes.

Sunflowers are blooming already 

Garry met me at the train station at 11:25 pm Friday night. We did stay in the city but returned the village before nine am Saturday, Garry wanted to make feed for the cows. He picked me some cucumbers and green beans.  I froze beans  (Garry did some while I was gone) and made sweet pickles.

Saturday evening we went into Zaporosia and talked for a couple hours at the hotel with a MCC board member whom Garry had met with Mel Wiens back in Steinbach years ago. We also picked up the vinegar and sugar so I could finish my pickles.

Garry's iced coffee came in a wineglass! 

Sunday morning we went to church in the city at Morningstar.  They kept blowing the breaker, probably because they were running the air conditioning.  Afterward Garry was helping Marina with the fourth Sunday afternoon of testing for the English institute next month (he did the three previous test days too). I didn't help much, I  read a book much of the two hours.

So far my jetlag hasn't been too bad, I've been sleeping 4-6 hours a night, which is more than I usually get the first week back.

Garry has been not quite as busy for a couple days. They finished baling the oats and peas before I returned.  He was hoping the combine would show up Monday to start the wheat harvest. However the guy is still doing barley in a nearby village.  He may get here Wednesday or Thursday.

Monday Garry had some of the guys helping clean up around the barns. It was overcast and we got some very light rain in the morning.  I picked veggies in the rain at 5:30 am until 7, when I burned the garbage. Sasha Borchuk told Garry it was hilarious that I was burning it in the rain. I spent the rest of the day freezing zucchini,  green beans,  beets and onions,  and making more pickles.

 This morning Garry was hunting down some guys to do some straw baling straw (if you're thinking,  wait, how are they baling before combining?  The big farmer combined their barley and asked if we wanted the straw. ) Garry was helping move the full wagons to the barn to unload.  There was some excitement when the tractor pulling the wagon caught on fire as the tractor started pulling away from the pile. Garry jumped off and sent one guy riding in the wagon for a bucket of water (they were near the barn). He tried throwing dirt on the fire (some wires had ignited, I think he said the flames were more than a foot high) with the other guy, but Tolik didn't quite get the idea and chucked clumps off dirt instead of loose handfuls to smother the fire. They did get it out, the tractor (our oldest Belarus) needs some repairs before returning to pulling wagons tomorrow.

The worse result of the fire is that Garry hurt his right knee jumping off the tractor and was hardly able to walk tonight when we went to the movies.  Garry had bought tickets last week before I got here. He found out one of the cinemas in Dnepro has started showing one movie once a week in English.  We saw Rocketman. We walked out very slowly after, but Garry says it felt fine for driving.

We did not get a significant amount of rain,  the guys are watering the big corn field now. It's more than seven feet tall, they are still having trouble getting enough water on that field but they hope to get it wet enough to move the pump to the hayfield for the weekend.

Haying again

While the boys here in Manitoba just finished first cut hay on Saturday night around midnight,  back in Ukraine Garry and the guys finished second cut alfalfa on Friday.  However, they are not done yet.

Today they started baling up the oats and peas they planted with the new alfalfa seeding this spring. This will be good hay for the dry cows and big heifers instead of alfalfa hay. They are healthier with a lower protein hay, so they don't get overly fat. Garry tells me there is a lot in the field, there will be many more bales than the second cut alfalfa.  They cut it last week so it would dry over the weekend, with the oats it's a heavier, thicker stem to dry into hay. He tells me the pea plants/pods were pretty dry when they cut it. Garry was thinking they might make have to make silage with it, but it's hot and dry in Ukraine now. He says the students are mostly over the sunburns they got last Monday at the beach.

The corn is growing 

Today they were switching the water pump from the big cornfield to the small alfalfa field next to where they are baling the oats and peas. At least while they are watering with the "gun" they aren't reconnecting sections of waterline that have blown apart from water pressure.  Garry said he still has some to reconnect before turning the water back on the cornfields.  It gets really muddy where the water was going full blast where it comes apart.

Meanwhile I have three days left in Manitoba before flying back to Ukraine.  Over the weekend I did the ALS walk in memory of my mother with a number of the family, we were 14 counting kids in strollers this year, and saw all the grandkids at Havilah's birthday party.  I tried to get a photo of them together, but... well let's say it didn't go well.

Still one missing here

Maybe next time

Thursday afternoon I'll be going from Winnipeg to Montreal to Amsterdam?  to Kiev, barring a delay that will mess it up, I'll be in Kiev a couple hours Friday afternoon (my flights are only an hour or so apart,  but you lose eight hours between Manitoba and Kiev) and take the evening train to see Garry before midnight.  He should be done haying by then.

Success

I have been unable to log into blogger on my tablet, which I have been using to post with since arriving in Canada and even back in Ukraine. However, I did find a way to get on, so you don't have to wait until I return to Ukraine in one week to see the photo of the cute twin heifer calves born this morning in Ukraine!. 

It's been a busy week, both for Garry in Ukraine, and for me here in Canada. I think I could stay busy here for months, when I'm here, I try to get the house organized... for everyone who asks where we stay when we are in Canada, we stay in our house! Our youngest boys, Seth and Jonah are unmarried and live in the house all year. Max Boradin, our Ukrainian "son" is here for the summer, and vacations, when he's not at university, We sleep in our own room, in our own bed, when we are here. Most of our stuff is still here, although the guys put their own touches on things, they are 20 something guys so it tends to be a little messy. There was a flood in the basement while I was gone, so it gave me a chance to sort some stuff.

I also spend a good amount of time with the grandkids, sometimes without their parents, as they spend some date time with grandma here. This past weekend that meant I was in Morden with almost three year old Abby, when her parents were going to spend the night in Winnipeg. Abby is on medication for her seizures and managed to get into her pills (in a child proof bottle in the top of the cupboard) without me seeing. When I went to give her her pill I found the bottle open, and drove her to the ER. We finally figured out that she might have taken a triple dose of her meds, after finally getting her parents on the phone, and she got an ambulance ride to Winnipeg. All was fine, but it made for an exciting weekend. Abby and I ended up sleeping in their hotel room, when she was released from the children's hospital at 11 pm. They now have a locking box for her new pills. Garry says they may not let me babysit anymore, but I think its still on, I did drive her to the hospital.

The guys here are doing first cut alfalfa, so I made dinner last night for the guys driving trucks and tractors in the field. Back in Ukraine Garry is baling second cut. Yesterday he was loading on the wagon for a couple hours because one of the guys (Nikolai) had to stop. Garry was looking pretty tired when I talked to him via the internet this morning. He said it was overcast, so he was hoping for a nicer day to bale. They had to quit early yesterday because they ran out of baler twine. It was 35 C (mid nineties for Americans) and windy, so it was a miserable day to stack bales.

On Monday he drove the students to the sea for the day, as a reward for all the hard work they have been doing, they finally got all the water lines in for the corn fields so irrigation has begun in the big field too. Garry tells me that as they start to water each section of the field, that he is walking the field looking for leaks in the connections. So where there is a leak its really muddy, so he's walking through corn up to his shoulders and barefoot in the slippery mud putting parts back together. Last year not enough water pressure was a problem in the big field, but this year the water pressure has been high from the main lines, so they have more leaks.

Anyway, Monday he took sunscreen with him, but most of the students refused too use it. The girls wore t shirts most of the day, but their legs are burnt and some of the guys, including Nikolai, have peeling sunburn now on their backs and arms, making stacking bales difficult. Garry did cover the baby with sunscreen, twice, and tried to keep him in the shade in the stroller, so he's fine. His mother, Alona, was sure he'd be allergic to the sunscreen, but he put it on anyway.



Well one more week to get things done, I am at the ALS walk in Winnipeg Saturday morning, and Sunday afternoon, there is a birthday party for one of our granddaughters. Not sure if I'll be in church in Piney, where the party will be, or in Steinbach, I've been there once this trip. Then I'll be flying out on Thursday, after I get my tooth fixed on Wednesday, and get about a hundred other things done.

Rain, rain

Tuesday morning Garry was telling me that it had rained overnight and there were puddles so they might not be able to work in the field.

After Monday's work, there is about one day of dripline connection work left to do so they can get the water running on the big cornfield.  Monday morning he spent an hour and a half reconnecting lines that had popped open the first night the water was on in the small corn field. He says there seems to be more pressure in the line than last year.

When I talked to him at the end of his Tuesday, he told me they had had three tenths of an inch of rain, and couldn't even drive on the dirt roads to the fields in the morning. Instead they dug a trench over to the Crawfords so they could run irrigation water to their place. Scott and Shannon have been carrying buckets over from our house for their garden.

Photo from a friend's Facebook page

I just talked to him (around 9 PM Tuesday evening in Manitoba) It's Wednesday morning and there's no power in the village.  He said that around 1:30 in the morning he woke up to a thunderstorm and put on a coat and ran out to rescue some very wet young  geese and turkeys.  He said he didn't think anyone in the village could have slept through the storm. The electricity went out and it poured.  He checked the rain gauge at the Crawford's this morning and discovered that they had another 3/4 of an inch of rain, so an inch over two nights.

He says that if they ran the irrigation system full out it would take 5 days to get that much water on the fields. This is definitely the wettest spring we've had in Ukraine.  Next week the second cut alfalfa will be ready to cut and bale, and the oats, peas will be ready to harvest as silage. If it stops raining that is.

Garry told me he thought it was sunny out this morning, but when he went outside, it was only sunny over the village and to the east. There are more storm clouds building to the west, and heading toward the village.

Garry was happy that he hadn't left his rubber boots outside Tuesday and he had dry feet to go make feed for the cows. Max had already taken the tractor over to start the generator running so they could milk the cows.

Garry said the metal was delivered yesterday to finish the back and end walls of the heifer shed, so maybe they'd be able to put that up today, since it will definitely be too wet to work on the irrigation lines. They can charge the batteries for the drills at the barn with the generator, so it's possible.

Hopefully the utility company gets the power back on before afternoon milking.

Farewell

It's early Sunday morning in Manitoba,  right now Garry will be in Dnepro helping Marina with the first day of testing for this summer's English institute.

Of course,  here in Manitoba I was getting ready for going to bed Saturday night (when we talked as he was getting up Sunday morning) after a big day of cooking and hanging out with most of the family.  I had the four oldest granddaughters for a sleepover Friday night, we camped out on all the recliners in the family room.  Isaac came to play in the morning before seven (we were up at six) and had fun playing with the girls.  Mostly making mudpies, I think.  He didn't want to go home after lunch.

The guy students are enjoying a much needed day of rest today from working on installing the drip lines in the cornfields. The girl students are not milking by themselves in the afternoon or cooking lunch for the guys in the field today. Garry tells me that yesterday the girls (I  believe the two from our house) made gretshka (buckwheat)  with meat and vegetables and Friday they did farsh (ground beef) with macaroni and vegetables.  Thursday they made brotebrot (open faced sandwiches) and bought kielbasa in the village for them. Garry said he hadn't realized how much cheaper the cooked meals would be.  They do cut kielbasa thicker than I do.

They are perfecting the operation of the new irrigation equipment to water the alfalfa (thanks Victor for some photos).

Garry tells me the small cornfield is finally ready to turn on the water if Max installed the filter, he (Max) was doing some welding yesterday on that system. They will all be back at work in the big cornfield on Monday.  Garry bought more macaroni and other groceries yesterday, when he taught his last classes in Dnepro. 

The cornfields were just sprayed for weeds, if you farmers noticed the weeds in the photo. That will be it for the fields,  other than adding water and possibly some fertilizer in the water sometime this summer.  They did use more fertilizer at planting this year, so they won't have to dissolve so much in the water this year.

Garry also bought paper for the printer. The last two times I talked to him (we usually talk twice a day over the internet,  sometimes for an hour or more) the printer was going. Every time we sell milk to the milk truck we have to give the driver two sheets of printed certificates (one two sided) so we often print a pile off for Yana to keep at the barn. The week before I left, I had to buy whiteout to fix the master copies.  Some sharp eyed person had noticed the year was wrong so we had to change the 8s to 9s.

Garry tells me that they had a problem selling milk yesterday.  A month or two ago, we thought we were losing our milk truck pickup, the company was going bankrupt or something and wouldn't be buying our milk anymore.  Victor had gotten a phone call and we were scrambling to find a buyer. The guy who buys some milk to make cheese might be able to take more... then suddenly they would still pick us up, but they had a smaller truck.

At the time, they agreed that the milk company truck would pick us up one day and the cheese guy would come the next. One on odd days, one on even. So Friday was the 31st, and Saturday was June first. Two odd days in a row. No one picked up the milk, so it's a full tank to sell today!

On Thursday at the weekly staff meeting,  Nelly surprised Garry by bringing a cake. It was to say goodbye,  she had bought a train ticket to Odessa Sunday evening.  Garry had been trying to talk to her about her plans for weeks, but he'll be dropping her off in Zaporosia in a couple hours. 

So we'll be looking for a new translator for the next school year.  Hopefully we can find one who connects well with everyone, especially the students.