Well we have been living in Dupree, SD for almost 2 weeks already. The cell phone communication is so poor, it is very frusterating. We have Verizon and that is the best out here, which isn't very good. Chris & Andy have other providers and they don't get a bit of service out here. Our handy, dandy wireless internet seldom gets enough recption to work, and usually doesn't last long when we do get connected, so that is why I haven't been able to update this in a long time. I tried to post pictures first, but that wasn't going so well so maybe another time that will work better....
About the wheat:
We have been fortunate to cut around 800 acres of winter wheat (from 3 farmers) so far. I say that because it has rained about 1/2 of the days we've been here! ugh. Some bad thunderstorms, but thankfully no tornados or hail on us. We got some pictures, will get them on here when it works better. This town had several tornados go through it on June 16th of this year, still repairing roofs and some windows are boarded up. A lot of the towns debris ended up in a wheat field just east of town, I got pictures, it is crazy. Glad we didn't have to combine that field. The 1st 600 acres or so of wheat we did were great here, standing tall and yielding 50-70 bu/acre. At the field we are at now the wheat is mostly mangled and fallen over from wind and hail and it is just a weak stem, a different variety that isn't standing very well, not as good yielding either. This town has a rather small elevator with not a lot of storage, and they have been piling wheat on the ground since we got here, and with all the rain on it now I can't imagine all the spoilage there will be. But apparantly the Northern Plains headquarters doesn't see it necessary to build any more bins. More farmers around here have some of their own storage too, but this is one of the the only elevators in a 60 mile radius apparantly. The 1st farmer we cut for we hauled the wheat to his bins. The 2nd farmers bins were full from last year so we hauled 30 miles or so to Dupree's elevator, it was usually a long wait there too. And the farmer we are currently working for has his own storage also.
About the people:
We have really enjoyed cutting for these farmers, they have all been so friendly and we like hearing all thier stories about the tornados that went through here recently, and just hearing about their lives and experiences as well. We are actually inside of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation right now. 1 farmer told us that this was made a reservation only 15 years ago. It is probably around 1/2 to 2/3 of the population are Indians here, maybe more the farther you go into it. This is the biggest reservation in South Dakota. We have learned so much about these people and the culture here.
Holly's Grandpa & Grandma Bosacker are visiting us again for a few days! They got here Monday around suppertime and will head home on Thursday. Too bad it has been too wet to combine since they've been here! We are hoping that by this afternoon it will be dry enough to get in the field again.... We have all had a great time visiting and playing cards with them, and enjoying all the sweet corn they brought from our patch back home!!
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