My kids came in the house after playing outside yesterday and were in need of refreshment, so I reached into the cabinet and grabbed the hot cocoa mix. They looked at me like I was crazy. Hot chocolate has always been a favorite of mine, but it just doesn't quench your thirst when it is 65 degrees outside, I guess. Anyway, what an incredibly odd winter we are having.Â
Producer Progress: Lucas Heinen
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I keep waiting for winter to arrive so I can get some work done in the shop, but until it decides to get cold, we are pedal-to-the-metal on fa…
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and with it comes the realization that another year is almost behind us. 2012 wasn't much to get excit…
2012 is behind us now and we eagerly anticipate getting started on 2013. Things will be better next year, I just know it.
Harvest progress is going well and we are running out of beans to combine. Yields have been decent overall, with a few exceptions here and the…
Corn harvest is under wraps for this year and, despite the pitiful yields, it is always fun to get to run the combine. We made good progress o…
Standing cornfields are becoming more difficult to find these days as farmers are chewing through their fields at a furious pace. I would esti…
I was outside last Saturday when I felt something strange hit me in the head. I looked around quickly to try and determine the source of the o…
If someone had told me this spring that I would be happy with 60 bushel corn, I think my laughter would have been heard for miles. However, ha…
An optimist would say that as each day goes by, our crop insurance check gets bigger. A pessimist would counter and say that you don't know wh…
Our coffin is almost sealed shut, we are just waiting on a few final nails to hammer it down completely. I believe next week's weather should …
Crop conditions in our area continue to decline, however we seem to be holding up fairly well considering the extreme heat and lack of adequat…
A little water goes a long way in changing a farmer's attitude. We received about 3/4 of an inch of rain last night and had beautiful weather …
I want to be as optimistic as I can about the lack of rain in our area and say that we are having great weather for putting up hay. We have ha…
Planting has all but wrapped up in our area and things went very smoothly overall. Early planted beans are up and look great. Later ones are t…
Planting progress is going well here in northeast Kansas. Spotty rains earlier in the week seem to have helped mellow the soil out, but have m…
Corn planting went well for the most part. Long hours and big equipment make acres disappear in a hurry. Most of our ground planted in good sh…
Planters are rolling and nobody is looking back here in northeast Kansas. When the calendar says April 5 (crop insurance magic day), it is tim…
Our opportunity to take what we have learned over the winter and try to be better farmers than last year is just around the corner. Months of …
Unseasonably warm weather these past few days has brought about signs of life that are a telltale sign that spring is on its way. My yard is t…
I had the opportunity last week to attend a town hall meeting in Hiawathaput on by one of our senators from Kansas. Adver-tised as a "listenin…
I have spent much of the last two weeks in the semi hauling grain to Atchison and St. Joe. Some days it seems like I am the only one at the el…
Waiting around for winter to show up is beginning to cause quite a backlog in the shop.When the sun is shining, ground is bare, and there is n…
Christmas has come and gone once again. It was great to get the whole family in one spot and also to watch the kids tear wrapping paper into …
Having a warm shop to hide out in the winter has long been a dream of mine, and it has finally come true. With the help of two good friends of…
Recent rains and cooler weather look to have shut the door on fall fieldwork for now. We got within a day or so of getting finished with ammon…
Fall fieldwork and anhydrous application is progressing at a rapid pace thanks to good weather and bigger machinery. Farmers can cover acres i…
Hello to everyone from the rolling, snow-capped hills of northeast Kansas. My, how quickly things can change. We haven't had any measurable pr…
EVEREST, Kan. - There are fortunes in agriculture, but Lucas Heinen has been fortunate in multiple forms during his life on the farm.
