Daniel Paul and his wife, Amy, manage their organic Clover Hill Farm near Laurel in Marshall County. They have three daughters, Emily, Bethany and MaryEllen. Crops include oats, wheat, rye, corn, soybeans and alfalfa acres. He raises grass-fed and finished beef cows, pigs, goats and sheep.

We’ve not got a lot in yet. We’ll plant a little later to cross pollinate with neighbors. I’d estimate two-thirds of the surrounding area fields are already planted with corn and beans. I was busy with livestock, especially calving. We got probably 1.5 inches of rain. With it so wet, I’ll catch up on shop and book work this week.

We’ve done some trenching in the last week. Our north neighbor was planting in the past week. We put in some oats a week ago. We’re getting closer to more planting. We also tilled up a large area for rye planting.

A lot of the corn is up and looking good. A few soybeans have come up as well. I think we'll see a lot of that this week with the heat that we're supposed to have. For the most part everything is planted. I would estimate 90% of the crop in our area is in. There was some spraying late last week. Pastures are looking good. They may be a little short right now, but they should catch up with the rain we’ve had and the heat that is coming.

Soil moisture is decent, though we could use a shot of rain before too long. Everybody in the nearby area is done planting. Most of the corn is popping up and lots of beans are coming up, too. Both crops look good as they emerge. I finished off a fencing project, so it’s good to have that wrapped up now in good shape. We have one tractor in the shop for head gasket work, but it should be available again soon.

I finished spreading manure, and I’m ready to get tillage done after we get some rain this week. Crops are looking pretty good, although the ground’s getting a little dry. Neighbors’ crops are up and some of them are doing their first cut of hay already. I will get on that soon myself. I need to check on my tractor’s head gasket repair.

I finished spreading manure, and I’m ready to get tillage done after we get some rain this week. Crops are looking pretty good, although the ground’s getting a little dry. Neighbors’ crops are up and some of them are doing their first cut of hay already. I will get on that soon myself. I need to check on my tractor’s head gasket repair. I’m still waiting on my hay tractor repair to be done. I can’t really bale hay until that’s fixed up. I have another tractor I’m using to get some tillage done this afternoon. I got 2.5 inches of rain Wednesday evening. It was really needed. Crops look good now. It will make tillage easier, too.

Activities went fairly well last week. Our tillage is done and all the corn is planted in the ground. I wanted to get hay done, but I’m still waiting on a tractor repair. We received a few sprinkles a couple times that may have added up to almost 0.25 of an inch but it dried out fast. I like the rain chances coming this week. I’m looking to cultivate and plant beans soon. Overall, things looking pretty.

I’m driving my tractor home now and will make some hay. I finished planting beans Saturday night. No rain beyond sprinkles recently. It’d be nice to get a good shot of it and warmer conditions. Tillage looks pretty good. Crops are looking pretty good. They’ve mostly taken off, which is good as some earlier-planted bean fields struggle a bit, but they just need some rain.

I got quite a bit of hay done — well over 100 bales so far. Plans to do more Saturday night were rained out. I plan to bale the remaining left to do today. I’ll have to wrap it up because it’s a little wet. Maybe later this week I can cut another round of hay. I have about 40 acres to go with that. Overall, it was a productive week. We got only about 0.25 of an inch of rain. Sounds like we may get as much as 1-2 inches in the next couple days. Beans and corn are coming up kind of spotty. They need a good rain to germinate. I’ll work with cows this week as a bull will be delivered in a couple days. I have to sort out heifers to breed. We need some moisture to make crops really take off. They’re showing a good amount of green color. The beans are popped out and corn’s a little higher, a few inches or so. Neighbors’ corn is up to probably 20 inches on corn and 6 inches for beans.

I finished baling last night about 10 p.m. It felt good to be done before rain hits this week. I completed 250 bales so far this season. I wrapped about 80 of them because of wetness. We got just a tiny bit of hail, but it didn’t hurt anything. About 2.75 inches measured the last big rain and it happened in a short time. There was some runoff, some ponding, but no harm as a result. Corn, in particular, grew crazy in the last week from heat and humidity after the big rain. Neighbors might have chest-high corn. Beans are probably good, maybe slightly behind. Beans will catch up. I was glad about the rain as it helped plants germinate. Rainy forecast leads to plans this week to catch up on general repairs and sleep.

It's been a rainy week but that has allowed me to get cows worked and moved and some other catch-up projects taken care of. I've been able to get some of my beans tine-weeded in between the rains. Corn and beans are growing fast and so are the weeds, so I will need to cultivate soon. It looks like a break in the rain will come next week, so I plan to cut a couple grass hay fields to complete first cutting. Oats are just starting to turn color so I will be preparing for small grain and straw harvest soon.

Last week, I was able to finish first-cutting hay. I got my corn cultivated and experimented with seeding some cereal rye into the standing corn for cover crop and fall grazing. I also got started cultivating beans. The neighbors’ corn is starting to tassel, and crops look good due to the moisture and heat that we have had. Pastures are doing well due to more moisture than usual for this time of year. This week I am going to cultivate beans and work on getting the combine ready for oats, wheat and rye harvest as well as preparing for straw baling and second-cutting alfalfa baling. The straw and a good portion of the alfalfa will be put up in small square bales.

Last week, I got some beans cultivated, straw delivered, got all the sheep and goats dewormed and quite a few other odd jobs taken care of. I got the combine out and am working it over. I cut some second-cutting hay Sunday in hopes that it will be dry enough to bale before the next rain. The corn and beans are super lush and doing well because of the rain but it's really difficult to get hay and small grains harvested because of the rain being so frequent.

Last week I was able to get a couple of hayfields baled, and then I spent the rest of the week cultivating soybeans and working on the combine. Corn and beans look great in my area. It's been years since I've seen everything so lush this time of year. I am windrowing some oats today in hopes that I can get them combined this week and hopefully get some straw baled as well. The excessive rain has knocked them down some and made the new-seeding alfalfa and weeds grow well, so it won't be a great oats and straw crop, but I'll salvage what I can. I may cut more second-cutting hay as well if time and weather allow.

I wasn’t able to get much done. The rain’s been too frequent. It’s getting frustrating, as some stalks got knocked down. I need three or four dry days in a row. Neighbors’ crops are looking good. A lot of hayfields still need to be cut, so many of us in the area are in the same boat. A lot of farmers haven’t finished first cutting of hay yet.

It stopped raining, which was encouraging. It was too wet for a while, and I didn’t want to tear things up so we held off cutting hay, but I’ll get some of that done today and combine some oats soon. One field is not turning out well. Cultivating is mostly done. We have a few nice days ahead here so I’m looking forward to getting back in the fields more this week.

Last week I was able to cut some hay and get it baled but ended up having to bale it wet and wrap it. I got two oat fields combined and a little straw baled. The third oat field I will just have to bale and feed since it's knocked down so much due to too much rain. Hopefully, this week I can get more hay made and bale the rest of the oat straw. I have a rye field that needs combined still too, but it has standing water in it so it will be a while before I can get that if I ever can. After basically a loss on the small grains and straw, I’m thankful for excellent looking corn and beans.

Last week, I was able to get some hay made between the rains. I spent time hauling the hay home and got it wrapped so it would keep as I had to bale it wet. I spent some time working on equipment as well. This week, the custom weed zapper is supposed to come to run through my beans to get the broadleaf weeds killed. I have more hay to cut and bale as well. I have some more equipment to repair. I've noticed a few beans in the area are starting to change color already.

Last week, I got more hay baled and moved off the field. I cut a couple more hay fields that will be baled early this week, and I was finally able to get some small square bales of straw baled. The custom weed zapper was able to come and get through my beans. Looking to rake and bale hay this week, cut more hay and do some combine repairs. Later in the week, I need to get some cull cows preg checked before they go to the locker Sept. 1. Corn and beans are starting to change color in my area. It's been super helpful to have the rain less frequent, though, to be able to finally get some stuff caught up!

Monday and Tuesday, I raked and baled hay. Wednesday, I cut more hay after doing some maintenance on the mower conditioner. Thursday, I worked on the combine all day. Today, I sorted cows to take to the vet and then to the locker on Monday morning. I drove past a bean field today that already lost 80% of its leaves, and some bean fields are totally green still so there is a wide range on bean maturity. But I expect in a couple weeks we will be seeing some guys make some test cuts. I expect guys will be trying corn in about two weeks as well.

I got some more hay baled and delivered. Still a wide range in the bean fields. I saw one field yesterday, there was a combine sitting in the field that did a little bit of harvest but they didn’t go very far. Hoping today to finish baling straw which is way later than I would normally do it. Almost a month behind on that, but I should be able to wrap that up today.

Last week I was able to get some hay cut and baled. It feels good to be on some of the hay fields for the last time for the season. We took a quick trip to eastern Iowa for a grass-fed cattle field day. We are looking to expand that part of our operation, so it was a good learning experience. This week I hope to work on some fence and catch up on some random projects while I have time before corn and bean harvest. I haven't seen much harvest activity in my area yet, but with the hot and dry weather we have had the last few days things are drying down quickly.

Last week was slower-paced. I was busy doing odd jobs all week and spending more time with my family before things get busy again. Earlier last week, I noticed quite a few guys getting after some corn and a few beans before it rained. I haven't talked to anyone about moisture or yields, yet to know how things are looking. I'm hoping to build some fence earlier this week, and I will probably cut some more hay mid-week if the weather is favorable.

This last week I was able to build some fence and got another hay field done for the season. Later last week, I noticed a lot of harvest activity in the area on both corn and beans. This week I'm looking to bale a couple hay fields that I already have cut and then hopefully get some bean harvest started by the middle to end of the week. The neighbors are busy with beans primarily at the moment, but I suspect they are anxious to get back to corn as I've noticed the stalk strength is failing quickly.

Guys were going hard on beans this last week. Some of them finished beans and switched back to corn by the middle of the week. I'd say three-fourths of the beans are done in this area. I was able to get all of my beans done and was starting to do some custom harvesting of beans for my uncle, but my combine had engine trouble so I will be figuring out how to remedy that problem this week along with shipping a load of beans and getting other projects done.

Last week I hauled some hay, planted some cover crops, delivered some straw, loaded out a load of beans and did a bunch of other odd jobs. This week, I hope to deliver more straw, plant more cover crops and plant a rye field that will be harvested next summer. I may go to Wisconsin to look at a combine that is on auction. I have some more hay to cut, too, if a good weather window opens up.

Last week, I was able to plant cover crops and traveled to look at two combines but haven't found the right one yet. This week, I hope to cut and bale hay and possibly have a neighbor pick some of my corn. Neighbors are still working on corn and beans, but I expect they will make good progress this week with the dry weather that is predicted.

This last week I was able to get all my corn harvested, got cover crops planted and got some hay made, so things are really wrapping up for the season. This week I'll load out some corn, deliver straw and just get some other projects done for the season. I'll probably do a little bit of custom tillage and cover crop planting.

This last week I loaded out a couple loads of corn, I baled some hay and mowed some hay and l delivered hay and straw. Due to the rain we got, I didn't get cover crops planted for my uncle yet, but I expect to do that this week. I also need to deliver some hay, bale hay and put up electric fence so I can run cows on the corn fields. Neighbors are mostly done harvesting, but I do still see a handful of corn fields left to harvest.

The season was challenging, particularly with the excessive summer rain, but overall it's been a good season! Last week, I was able to finish baling hay for the season and baled some corn stalks. So now I can clean up the balers and park them for the winter. I also got electric fence put up and cows turned out on corn stalks. This week I hope to till and seed with rye the last two fields for the season. Also, I hope to get equipment blown off and parked for the winter. And straw bales sell like crazy this time of the year, so I will be making deliveries of them as well. This winter I will make repairs on farm buildings, fence and equipment. I also have fence that I would like to build if the weather allows.