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CORN SWEAT SEASON AGAIN

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This weeks farming update.

Sure, blame the corn for the humidity. 

According to the weather channel email I received on Thursday, an acre of corn releases 3000 gallons of water into the air every day. It’s “evapotranspiration”. A quick google search shows multiple newspaper articles blaming corn for the humid weather. I am tempted to call it misleading. I mean I don’t like the humidity either, but is it really all the corn’s fault? Data from the Ohio State University Extension office in 2024 says corn sweat is not contributing MEANINGFUL levels of humidity. More humidity is brought in by weather systems with southerly winds and bringing humidity from the Gulf of Mexico. The greatest amount of water usage by a corn plant is during tasseling and flowering, which is where we are at in SE MN. My corn just started tasseling this week. (And again, I am so amazed at how it all works! The silks emerge at the same time!) After tasseling, water usage in the corn decreases. All plants have some form of transpiration and evaporation. Don’t blame it all on the farmer and  my corn. 

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The header photo by Kelly is soybean flowers. Soybeans are looking good and coming along.

This week I have been either finishing the projects at the Rep, or down in Chatfield lighting ‘Shrek’, the musical for Wits End Theater. Lots of road time. And with the main route to Chatfield, Highway 52 South closed at I90, I’ve been taking other routes. Sometimes Highway 7 through Eyota to 52, sometimes Highway 10 through Dover to the East side of Chatfield. Usually County Rd 19 through Marion to 52, or my favorite, County Road 1 through Simpson, past the Root River County Park, down in the valley over the North branch of the Root River and Fugles Mill, through Pleasant Grove, and into the west side of Chatfield. I try not to take the same road home as there. 

I still haven’t gotten the oats harvested. It got mostly ripe but still had some green in it and that’s where it’s been sitting for 2 weeks. Rain and thunderstorms the last few days have caused more of it to go down. A lot of oats has been taken out. The Oat Mafia FB  page says a lot of guys are finding it wetter than preferred. And there are some photos that show a stark reminder of the benefits of applying the fungicides. Fields without are broken and flat, while the fields with it are standing well. 

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No fungicide on left, fungicIde on right. PHOTO COUTESY OF THE OAT MAFIA FB PAGE

Oh, then our refrigerator died on Wednesday. I had noticed the freezer temp was 33 degree’s in the morning, and I thought maybe it was just defrosting. That afternoon it was at 39. We took everything to the basement chest freezer and I put a thermometer in the fridge. I laid on the floor and vacuumed off the coils and used the long narrow cleaning brush to dig out as much dust and gunk as I could. A repair guy was consulted and it was not given much hope. By that night, Kelly emptied the fridge, taking it to the downstairs smaller fridge. That little basement fridge was originally purchased as the “egg fridge”, but it has since become the pop fridge. Thanks goodness we have it. It’s a little no-name fridge that just keeps chugging along. Daughter is very put out that we don’t have the regular fridge upstairs. She insists it is still working and I’ve had to rescue her food and take it to the basement fridge a couple times. Thursday morning I went fridge scouting. The salesguy, Randy, his first question was counter depth or regular? “Uh….” Then he asked me what color? “Uh….” Did we want ice and water in the door? “Uh….”  I didn’t have any of that information. My only question to him was ‘”Which ones have the better interior lighting like our old one?” That local store is where we’ve purchased appliances since we got married. They had a delivery slot open for Friday afternoon. I’ll take that one! And I sent Kelly some photos. We met there in the afternoon and agreed on a fridge for Friday.

Priorities, you know? When I checked with Kelly, her only priority was double doors. Yep, that was all I looked at. And freezer at the bottom. And good lighting. Beyond that, I didn’t know. 

I hate having too many choices, so thankfully that only left us three choices, and if you remove the $12,000 model, well, I sent Kelly photos of those two. 

By Friday evening daughter should be back in her happy place and we’ll have a new fridge with nice interior lighting.  

IS YOUR REFRIGERATOR RUNNING?

WHAT ARE YOUR APPLIANCE PRIORITIES? 

37 thoughts on “CORN SWEAT SEASON AGAIN”

    1. There are some fridges that can dispense hot water. My mind boggled trying to understand how you put hot water in a cold Appliance??

      And I kinda miss Pee Wee’s Playhouse. It was always fun.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    My fridge is running. It needs a water filter replaced every six months so that the water from the door spigot is fresh and cold. Otherwise it just runs. Like Kelly’s choice, the freezer on the bottom was my first specification. After engineers began designing fridges that way, I could not understand other designs. (But then what do I know about appliance engineering?). It solves the problem of opening the freezer door and having something fall out.

    I do not have any appliance priorities right now. I like a gas stove, despite the eco considerations. The exclamation, “Now we are cookin’ with gas!” exists for a reason.

    Will WP eat my post like it did yesterday?

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  3. wow on oats with fungicide.
    i used to do the refrigerator running bit and people often got a kick out of it.what were the other ones?

    august later this week? what the heck

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  4. Because the stove and microwave in our ND house are shot, we are having a new stove andicrowave installed Wednesday as an incentive for prospective buyers. The stove in our MN house is a gas stove with a double oven. I haven’t lived in a house with a gas stove since I was in elementary achool.

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    2. There is an induction range in the house our church purchased recently that is on the corner of the block the church is located on. It is the new parsonage. I guess the induction range is really a pain to have because you need special pots and pans for it.

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      1. The only requirement for your pots and pans to work on an induction range is that they be magnetic. Chances are that most of the cookware you own would work. Cast iron and enameled pans work just fine. If a magnet sticks to the bottom of your pan it will work.

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        1. Right. We had one pan that didn’t work, but everything else we had worked. Just lucky that way I guess.
          Kelly likes it for heating her tea water fast in the morning.
          If making multiple things for a meal, it’s not as big a deal as I’m timing things out. People say it has more temperature control, more like gas, but since I’ve never had gas, I don’t know.

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        2. We’re about 50-50 between magnetic and non-magnetic pans, but if you know that ahead of time, it’s just part of the consideration. We’d have to replace a few pieces. It seems a lot of cookware manufactured these days is induction ready.

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        1. Oh, no! I have had some of my Creuset ware since 1979! It is still great. It will like the gas range in our new home.

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    4. My sister and b-i-l have an induction range. They like it, but did have to replace some cookware. My sister’s favorite pasta pot with the strainer lid didn’t work with induction. Before buying the range, they first got a portable induction cooktop to see if there were any major drawbacks, but they were comfortable with it pretty quickly and went to the next level.

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  6. The Beast is not running right this minute, but it’s still working fine. It has a freezer on the bottom, double doors, and water inside the left door. That filter has to be changed every year in July. I think I changed it in June this year. It’s a huge thing. I don’t need as much food as it can hold. It’s still working though, so I’m not planning to replace it right now. Are new fridges really $12,000? My goodness.

    I think my water softener is kaput. The water doesn’t feel right and there is a lot of weird colored discharge coming from one of the tubes that drains it. Also, Northfield has manganese in our city water. They say it’s okay for adults, but infants shouldn’t drink it at all. I’m considering getting a water system for my whole house. That would include a new softener system and a reverse osmosis water system for drinking water. I’m going to get a couple of quotes before I decide.

    I have had some trouble with WP eating my posts too.

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  7. I went outside after dark one evening a few nights ago. The corn around here is pollinating like mad. I could smell it in the night air. It smells so sweet and summery! The corn must be 9 feet tall in some places. It’s a great summer for corn.

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  8. We replaced the fridge here 8 or so years ago, with the small (formerly) standard size with freezer on top. Only thing that fits in this kitchen, for one thing. We don’t need a larger size since we have a chest freezer in the basement. Lately, though, I’ve noticed some liquids in center of top shelf are freezing, and I’ve tried to adjust; need to try that again.

    I prefer basic (again, old fashioned) stoves that don’t require much programming, which is what we have. I understand how to set the timer…

    Love the soybean flower.

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  9. World‘s largest recommendation for the service plus offered by Centerpoint energy where they will repair and replace anything and everything and if they can’t get the part for it, you can go online and find the part somewhere and they will replace it no charge

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  10. I have no control over my appliances. But they have done rather well by me.if I have any problem, it is taken care of immediately. All electric of course.
    Clyde

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