If you think things can't get steamy on a dairy farm.......you have another guess coming! In winter........fresh cowpies produce steam, and so do other happenings. Do you have any idea what you're looking at here?
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That's a steamin' wagon-load of hot soybeans! The soybean roaster was here yesterday morning. I enjoy the billowing steam, the deep rumbly sound of the roasting machine at work, and the aroma of the beans being cooked. You can see the roaster's fuel source, an LP tank hauled right on the truck.....shown in the next photo:
You've probably been wishing desperately to see a grain roaster up close........well, here you go. It can also roast corn and other types of grain.
The roasted soybeans are a source of protein, to be put into feed for our cows. If you were here, you could snack on a handful of the cooked beans, too.
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Oh, I'm so easily led off on tangents. Yesterday, Blogger "rhymeswithplague" posted a link to a choir singing on YouTube, and from there I allowed myself to get sucked into a sea of myriad other videos there on YouTube. Goodness.......a person could get lost for a whole day......perhaps even drown! I even found videos of farm place near here hit by the tornado last May. Simply search "Dunkerton" on YouTube and you'll find them; they are the Magee farm videos. (I didn't even add "Iowa" to "Dunkerton" because I'm pretty sure there's only one place by that that name in the U.S. and perhaps in the entire world.) Dennis Magee is regional editor at the Waterloo Courier newspaper and he was at work in Waterloo when word came that a tornado had just hit Parkersburg; he and a photographer headed out to chase down storm stories and photos. They ended up in a harrowing situation on Highway 218 north of Cedar Falls just as the tornado was bearing down on that busy 4-lane thoroughfare! Suddenly they saw car lights coming towards them in their lane......the cops had to turn all the traffic around to get away from the tornado! Dennis didn't know it, but the tornado was then headed towards his farm home north of Dunkerton---about 15 miles from where he was. He wouldn't have needed to bother going off chasing the storm; he could have simply gone home for a gripping story and sensational photos! That tornado stayed on the ground for close to 40 miles! The whirling monster was moving along within a huge, dark box-like mass of clouds and dirt.......we watched---and heard---it go by 1-1/2 miles south of our farm. Thirty minutes before that I had started to take a walk out on the road, but quickly changed my mind......a dark cloud bank was visible in the west, but what really creeped me out was the continuous low, deep rumbling sound......like constant thunder way in the distance. It was way too unusual.
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Yeah......I'm really random......now we'll jump to my son: He attended Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, a few years ago and sang in the "Ritterchor" there, so I searched YouTube yesterday for a video of that mens' choir. No, there was not one, but there were a couple short videos of the larger Wartburg Choir visiting Wartburg Castle in Germany........one of Martin Luther's haunts. The Wartburg Choir takes a tour over there every other year. A view of the castle grounds is here.........and here is the Wartburg Choir singing inside the Wartburg Castle, videotaped by one of the singers right there in the choir loft, evidently......the sound quality is not very good, but its interesting to see a bit of the inside of the castle. I found it interesting and that's why I'm bothering telling you so!!
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10 comments:
Tornadoes are tough and scary. Last year we had a tornado on the ground for 180 miles and over a mile wide in some places. We lost two people in Izard County, one right behind the ridge on the west side of our farm.
We stood in the basement and saw it coming. We were lucky and just got the edge, the wind, and not a direct hit. We did loose many roofs, trees, fence, and outshed damage. We are still recoving. There is no power guite like a tornado.
I love to hop on the random train with you :) it's fun!
Hummm fresh roasted soy beans I do think I would have a hand full... I wish we had smell a vision :)
Jeanelle,
I can almost smell those soy beans roasting. I have never experienced a tornado and this looks pretty frightening.
"Soybeans roasting on an open fire.
Jack Frost nipping at the cows.
Wartburg Castle occupied by a choir,
And tornados ripping through the boughs."
Yep. That's random, and a very enjoyable post.. except the part about the tornado damage; but that's real life.
I'd be willing to bet that roasted soybeans are pretty tasty. I remember that during WW II, Kellogg made a breakfast cereal with soybeans, "Corn-Soya." We liked it.
Do you roast the soybeans for cattle feed? Or for human use?
It's one of my favortie smells...those soybeans roasting and the corn drying too...one of the perks of living in the country if you ask me!
Random perhaps, but a great post about the farm life. Never knew about the roasting of soybeans...are the caows happier if they are "cooked" Never thought of needing to cook food for cows. Is there anything elsre like that?
You tube is a whole world of its own. Not sure I could stay there long or the day would be gone.
Hi, Gail,
Quite a story you have there. I'm glad to hear you missed the brunt of the storm, but it sounds like you still had enough damage.....so sad to lose neighbors, too. Fortunately, no one around Dunkerton was killed in the tornado....they had time to take shelter or were not home. Thank you for stopping by. My your continued recovery and rebuilding go smoothly.
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Hi, Laura,
That's cute....the "random train"....I like that idea.....a random train of thought.....
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Hi, Egghead,
Yes, the roasting beans are a pleasant farm smell....unlike many others!
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Hi, Pat-the-Poet!
Very good new lyrics to that old Christmas song! Good thinking!
Corn-Soya....cool....I've never heard of that before!
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Hi, Ruth,
Yes, the beans will be fed to the cows. People could eat them, of course, too, but in this case, they're for the bovines.
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Hi, Anne Marie,
Yes, you're right, it is a perk of the farm, or in the small towns where the elevators do roasting of beans and lots of corn-drying, too.
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Hi, Reamus,
I think roasting the beans helps nutrients in the beans be more available and digestible for the cow. I think that's the reason, anyhow. I'm quite sure its not because they would taste better.
I don't think any other grains get "cooked" for feeding to livestock, at least not on this farm. Lots of grains get ground up, but not cooked. Didn't they used to cook slop for hogs years ago, though?
Love the photos of the soy bean roaster...very cool. Soy beans are very good little snacks...I was introduced to them a few years back.
Very Scary tornado story!! They scare the jeepers right out of me. When I was little, we would travel to Arkansas every summer to see my Grandpa....on one of those trips, we witnessed a tornado in the distance as we were driving. I will never forget what I saw or the fear I felt!! I will take earthquakes any day over a tornado! And I Hate earthquakes too!! When I was in eighth grade, a very large earthquake destroyed our down town area in my home town and did major damage to our home. Scary!!
Hi, Deserthen,
Sounds like you have a couple amazing stories there....seeing the tornado years ago, and experiencing an earthquake! Sounds very frightening!
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