DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Celebrating America's birthday seems natural when harvesting amber waves of grain under spacious skies. For Chris Weaver of Finksburg, Maryland, it also includes a flag waving from his combine as a show of patriotism. The scene takes on added meaning this coming week as the country marks its 250th year.

"We keep flags displayed everywhere on this farm -- on equipment, outside the office and in the farm shop. I'm proud to live and work in this country," said Weaver. "And I think it's important to show that pride because it is easy to take it all for granted."

The stars and stripes were flying as Weaver harvested barley this week on June 25. He's participating this year in DTN's View From the Cab series, along with Tyler Rath of Belgrade, Minnesota. The ongoing feature highlights ongoing crop conditions during the season and includes observations on many aspects of rural life.

Both farmers hope to meld this holiday with quiet getaways -- although fireworks, food and family always promise to add a certain amount of good chaos. What these farmers don't want is more weather whammies to add to the craziness.

"July 4th is always a tough one for us because there's so much going on that we feel like we're behind -- even when everything is going right," said Rath. Rain and winds have cut through his region of late -- delaying some cropping operations and even toppling pivots in fields about 30 miles south of his farm headquarters.

It's shaping up to be a hot week ahead for both areas of focus, noted John Baranick, DTN ag meteorologist. "Humidity will be increasing too, making this week feel a lot more like summer than some areas have seen over the last couple of weeks," he said.

"In Finksburg, temperatures will be extreme and we could be seeing daytime highs in the upper 90s or even lower 100s in the middle of the week. Overnight lows will largely be in the 70s and this is going to create some stress with the continued drought in the region," Baranick added.

"High humidity will make it feel terrible outside but may get some afternoon showers going later in the week. It looks like a lot of pop-up type of showers, which could bring some relief on a day or two, or completely miss. Mother Nature may end the week with some fireworks of her own as a system may increase the rainfall risk throughout the weekend. At least that could bring temperatures down a good 10 degrees going into the following week."

In Belgrade, Baranick said daytime highs will probably be at or above 90 degrees all week while overnight lows will struggle to fall below 70. The heat will be somewhat offset by periods of showers and thunderstorms.

"With a front to the west producing clusters of thunderstorms, they're likely to move across the region at various points throughout the week. Models disagree though. We could end the week with drier weather results in slightly cooler temperatures by a couple of degrees, the type of weather that we would usually see for summer. Hopefully, that results in a great holiday weekend," he added.

TYLER RATH: BELGRADE, MINNESOTA

Rath never thought he'd say this in late June and early July, but his farming area is wet. The inch of rain that fell earlier on June 23 held him out of the field longer than he'd like, although it did offer some down time to make necessary machinery repairs.

"We have only had to irrigate our (English) peas one time," said Rath. "A thunderstorm this weekend would give us enough moisture to carry the peas until they are harvested and we haven't watered anything else."

It's a similar rainfall pattern to what he experienced last year. With a portion of his crops in organic systems, weed control options are a race against the now growing corn crop.

He started the process weeks ago by broadcast flaming corn right at spike. (https://www.dtnpf.com/…) Flaming happens again around V8 growth stage under the corn canopy and a cultivator follows immediately behind.

"As soon as the flame hits the weeds, they are weak. We run a cultivator directly behind the flamer going the opposite direction to help bury the weeds," he explained. The cultivator travels the opposite direction because the flamer wilts weeds in the direction of travel.

Rath said this flaming and cultivating continues until there's no clearance left for the operation. After that, he relies on a hand-weeding crew, which costs about $20 per person per hour.

Hand weeding is a cost he prefers to avoid and big reason he invested in a camera-guided cultivator hitch this year to the tune of $58,000.

"I know I'm not going to get rid of that cost totally, but I hope to knock it down some. I'm seeing positive results and think it was a good investment," Rath added.

English pea harvest is also due to begin soon. Crews from the processor carry out the harvest. "They've started to work around the area, but with the rain and cool weather, peas have been slow to maturity," he noted.

The processor tells the grower when to plant in an attempt to get a consistent flow of ripe peas into the plant and to avoid having so many ready at once that they can't get them all harvested in a timely fashion, explained Rath.

Processors rely on Tenderometer Units as a standardized measurement to evaluate the maturity and firmness of raw peas.

"The plant has a desirable firmness range -- too low and the peas get squished during processing. Too high, they get tart. It's a delicate balance," he added.

In other operations, second cutting hay happened this week, which is almost sure to make it rain. "I've been servicing pivots, just in case they are eventually needed," Rath said.

Most years, tending pivots defines July 4th, partially because it is also the time of year to top dress edible beans. Typically, a dry fertilizer containing 90 lb of urea and 10 lb. of sulfur is applied with a broadcast spinner spreader over the top of the crop. Cultivation follows to tuck the fertilizer and dirt around the plant before turning on the pivots.

Being able to chill and have some downtime gives Independence Day dual meaning this year, he noted. But he needs only to look at his son, Henry, to remember what others gave to grant today's freedoms.

"He shares the same name as his great-great-grandfather, who served in World War I and his great-grandfather, who served in Korea," Rath said. "We own and farm the land once owned by his great-great-grandfather. It's been call 'Grandpa's' ever since I was little."

CHRIS WEAVER: FINKSBURG, MARYLAND

Weaver has grown up surrounded by reminders of the sacrifices woven into the fabric of American patriotism. The Civil War battlefields of Gettysburg and Antietam sit close to where he farms. Maryland was a border state and his own family legacy includes stories of divided loyalties -- men who eventually returned home to resume life as farmers.

"The legacy that comes with being the sixth generation to live in my home and my children the seventh generation, is important to me because it represents sacrifice and blessings that I don't take for granted," he said. "The windshield we have to look through is big, but we still need that rear view mirror to look backwards. You've got to know where you've been to know where you are going."

The flags that decorate his farm are flown out of respect for the country he loves, he said, noting that his grandfather and father both served in the military.

"This country's founding fathers did such a phenomenal job in giving us so many rights. For example, I may not always agree with everyone's opinion, but our right to express them makes this country great," Weaver said. "I do believe we as a society can be arrogant at times and forget at times how lucky we are to have these freedoms."

The barley being cut this week goes directly to feed cattle on the farm. Yield was a disappointing 80 bushel per acre (bpa) with some spots in the field possibly lower, he said.

"That's off by 40 to 50 bushels of our normal yield," Weaver said. "Frost really hurt yield and made the crop hard to cut."

The early morning freeze on April 21 plummeted temperatures into the low 20s F following weeks of unseasonably warm weather and occurred alongside a prolonged severe drought. The damage was severe enough to trigger emergency government programs for those affected in the state. Weaver said the same freeze also hurt many of the grapes, cherries, peaches, apples and vegetable crops in the state.

The barley straw has already been windrowed and will be rolled into round bales and fed to cattle this winter. Instead of planting double-crop soybeans, Weaver is planting a cover crop mixture behind barley. He worked with Pennsylvania-based Pine Creek Seed Farm to come up with a seed mixture of buckwheat, sunn hemp, radish, turnip and multiple clover and mustard varieties. It represents a $30 per acre investment.

"We want this soil to rest and breathe and get ready for next year," Weaver said. "I've heard the buckwheat increases activity of parasitic wasps and I'm going to be interested to see if that has any benefit. We're hoping to increase oxygen in the soil, too."

Programs to protect the Chesapeake Bay have encouraged cover crops in Maryland and there is cost share money available, but not for seeding behind small grains, Weaver noted.

"This is coming out of our pocket, but that's the thing about farming -- sometimes you have to pay to educate. It's the right thing to do," he said.

Tissue samples continue to come in on Weaver's crop. This week he was responding to those tests by spraying potassium, boron and various microbes.

"I'm a little disappointed in our beans right now. I want my beans flowering by June 25 and I feel like they are a little bit behind," he said.

A holiday break around the farm never lasts long, Weaver said. Additional foliar applications of fertilizer and fungicide are needed. He expects the next few weeks will be spent in and out of the sprayer.

"We shut down sprayers when temperatures reach 80 degrees to avoid additional stress on the crop. With temperatures expected to be in the 90s, we'll likely be spraying early in the morning and doing a lot of starting and stopping," he said.

There's plenty to do in the meantime: scouting crops, mowing, trimming, getting ready to plant cover crops. Toward the end of next week, the plan is to plant a patch of sunflowers -- a crop that is itself a visual celebration.

Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X @PamSmithDTN

(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.