2025, animals, crops, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Uncategorized

Squirrel Farming

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This weeks farm update from Ben.

I sure am enjoying the cooler weather. We had 30 degree’s Wednesday AM. I had moved the pressure washer inside the feedroom, dumped out the hummingbird feeders, and we moved the tomato plants and flowers into the garage. 

I was using the pressure washer to clean off the haybine after cutting the weeds in the oat fields. After I hose it all off once, I start the machine up and run it slow in order to clean off the reel and get the dirt out of the sickle and cutterbar. And as I walked back around to the front, pulling the pressure washer hose, I gave the hose a ‘flip’ –and stuck it right into the reel and cutter bar and I was done washing. I can splice it back together, and it might hold (it is a PRESSURE washer after all) I just haven’t had time yet. Honestly, I kinda forgot the machine was running and what I was doing. Brain Fart.

The top drawer fell out of our dishwasher the other day too. I ordered some new parts from Amazon and the dishes are piling up in the sink. Yes, we could wash by hand…we just haven’t had too yet. 

Last week I mentioned how the squirrels were tormenting the dogs at home. They’re very busy around the college too. Right outside the theater are a couple large Oak trees. Three squirrels are often scampering around them. I call them Frank, Bob, and Jane. Frank seems to mind his own business. Bob and Jane are usually chasing each other and fussing over something or other. When she does get a break, Jane can often be seen foraging in the leaves. She doesn’t mind me and I don’t mind her. 

I’ve been seeing groups of turkey vultures lately. Sometimes around home, sometimes in SE Rochester where there may be at least a dozen sitting in a cell tower. Did you know group of turkey vultures in the air is called a kettle? I knew that a group sitting together is called a committee. I didn’t know they could also be called a volt, or venue. If they’re feeding, it’s called a wake. Who came up with these names? I’ve been on some committees that would certainly qualify as having vultures as members…

I am part of CoCoRaHS for reporting rain and snow fall. Although I only report rain. “Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network”. All that’s required to become a reporting member is their special rain guage that measures rain to the hundredths.

https://www.cocorahs.org/

They have a master Gardner guide:

https://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=MasterGardener

 They have 1000+ stations across all 50 States and Canda reporting weather data, which is used by multiple agencies.

It started in Colorado in 1998. They sent out an email this week talking about “the Water Year” which runs October 1 – September 30.  So named because in Colorado, where this is based, most of the water accumulation comes from snowfall after October 1. And that snowfall is what provides water for the next year’s crops. 

The email last week showed how we can view statistics from our own locations as well as any of the others.

 I’ve been reporting since March of 2021. I see I have 907 reports. This year I’ve reported receiving 25.92” of rain. VS would like the site because there’s all sorts of fun statistics in there. 

Last week was our ‘Gotcha Day’ for Luna. I picked her up on October 5th, of 2023. Two years of that crazy dog.

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CROPS!

The neighbors got my soybeans harvested on Friday.

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I haven’t gotten the total bushels from the elevator yet, but according to the monitor in the combine, they were a little better than average. The price isn’t great, but it seems like there was a decent amount out there. Except where the deer have stripped the pods of the plants. I was out in a far corner of the farm and back there, it’s just stems. Stupid deer. I had to leave about half an acre of soybeans in one little field down by the house and buildings. They tried to get to it, but the head on the combine is 40 feet wide, and they couldn’t fit between the trees and a fence. Not the end of the world. The cost of combining that half acre would have pretty much taken all the profit from that half acre. 

The corn looks good. It’s very tall this year! But remember, the height really has nothing to do with the yield of the ears…

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There is a fungus called Tar Spot that’s becoming worse in the Midwest. See the black spots on the leaves? 

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Too much and it will kill the plant early, weaken the stalk, and reduce the yield. 

The corn is physically mature, but still drying down. typically when it’s mature, it’s still about 30% moisture in the kernels. The ears are still standing upright.

Too much rain at this point and it gets down inside the husk and can cause mold on the kernels. Some farmers have started harvesting corn and the moisture levels are all over the place. For storage, the corn kernels have to be 15% moisture. Once the ears hang down, it’s into the teens and drying it doesn’t cost quite so much.

WHAT WERE YOU DOING TWO YEARS AGO?

43 thoughts on “Squirrel Farming”

  1. I always enjoy these posts.

    I have experience repairing dishwashers. If you experience a pump stack failure, you might want to reconsider the proposition of fixing it yourself.

    The appliance was a 1970s Kenmore in my landlord’s Florida rental house. Low hours. Did a better job than any dishwasher I ever owned.

    $50 in parts. 7 hours labor, sitting on the floor, torso leaned into the cabinet, grunting and straining.

    I was sore for a week. The next year, the control panel gave out. Irreplaceable.

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  2. This month in 2023 we were going through the bathroom remodel. Six weeks of going down to the gym to take a shower. YA had two work trips during the remodel and she was very happy about being in hotels so she could take a shower every day.

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  3. Huh – interesting question, and I found my calendar:
    This week 2 years ago we got “trained in” so we could watch the neighbor’s dogs while they went to Ireland. I went to our annual Cemetary Walk – an annual “play” about some local historical figure, that takes place at various grave sites.
    My friend Pam was still alive, so we were having UU (guitar) Band practice.

    And a lot of the same stuff as this October.

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Rewind two years ago:

    *Pandemic isolation was winding down
    *I had just ended my psychotherapy career. Saying good-bye to clients was so hard, especially those I had seen for many years to support and maintain them. (Those clients had forms of chronic disorders that needed close tending to maintain wellness)
    *Our corgi, Phoebe, was 8 months old. We had just said good-bye to our 14 year old corgi, Bootsy, who was old, but who also had mammary cancer.
    *I was starting to notice Lou’s memory was failing
    *My mother had died in June and my Uncle died in late September. His funeral was 2 years ago last week. That was a difficult good-bye and the end of my parents’ era.

    September and October 2023 was a time of significant endings in my life.

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  5. Two years ago in October I was in my 8th month of unemployment and job searching. My unemployment benefit ran out and things were looking bleak. I’d submitted over a 150 applications/resumes (the final count was 175), and been through dozens of interviews, making it to the final round a handful of times.

    Although it was a stressful time, I did things I couldn’t do while I was working. I did yoga every day, read more books, went on many walks. One nice day in October, Husband and I went for a midweek fall colors drive to Red Wing, driving back up to the Cities on the Wisconsin side. We stopped along the river several times and had a lovely day.

    In November, I was finally offered a job and went back to work, but that beautiful fall day in October is one of my favorite memories.

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  7. All our canned tomatoes made it to the new house Thursday, along with three coolers full of food from our freezers and the weights and pendulum from the grandfather clock. The cat got to the vet for boarding yesterday, I started the process for getting a building permit for a fence at the new house, had lunch with Son and Dil and grandson at a brew pub in Luverne, and met new granddaughter for the first time. Checked into a hotel in Sioux Falls last night, and will pick up Daughter at the Sioux Falls airport tonight. We will go to Brookings early tomorrow for the baptism. Daughter is a godparent. Today we are doing as little as possible, napping, and may look at furniture later.

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  9. As was the case for Jacque, 2023 was a rough year for me. I turned 80 in April, and two months later I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Then, in August I was rushed to the ER in an ambulance after collapsing from severe abdominal pain. It turned out to be an ulcer that had perforated my bowel causing the contents of my bowel to leak into the abdominal cavity. After emergency surgery to patch the leak, I spent six days in the hospital followed by five days in a physical rehab facility.

    At that point it was time to decide on an action plan to deal with the cancer, and I was exhausted. Partly due to my age, but also due to other underlying medical conditions, I decided to forgo all invasive treatments. I’m lucky to still be here, and considering what’s going on politically, I’m not devastated by the idea that I may not be around that much longer.

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      2. The nice thing about this issue arising here is that it opens the door for us to tell you how much you are valued and loved here on the Trail. Usually that happens at a memorial service where the deceased cannot be present for it (at least as far as we know–but really we don’t know). We have all walked this trail for many years now, and I miss everyone that has moved on in whatever way. And I will miss you but wish you Godspeed. Keep us posted on your health.

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    2. wow pj i am sorry to hear that.
      i guess we all have to face the end but that doesn’t make it more palatable. we are all dying from the day we are born but i am living in lala land under the premise that ill live another 50 quality years. i suppose you can adjust when you accept that your choices can take the inevitable and plug it into the equation.
      ill miss you and all that you bring to the blog. ill be thankful for the time we had with you but that never does the trick
      heres to hoping it goes into remission for the next two years

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      1. Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. They mean a lot to me. I’m grateful to have been part of this quirky community for so many years, and I appreciate your support. I don’t think my demise is imminent, but the reality is, I’m not going to get better. One day at a time!

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  11. OT: Yesterday I referred to a Book Store Cat who it seemed had died overnight on Friday. Turns out somehow an old post from 7 years previous, when Rosencrantz (his brother cat) had actually died, got reposted by accident. (And of course I had the names switched.) Guildenstern is alive and well in Chapter Two Books, downtown Winona. Whew.

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  12. I honestly can’t remember what I was doing two years ago. It couldn’t have been very interesting!

    There was new siding and a new roof that year, and I think I also got a new furnace.

    Pippin was in his last year of life but I didn’t know it yet.

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  13. Looking back two years, apparently I was doing nothing important except having an unusual winning streak in Wordle.

    I saw a kettle of turkey vultures one day. Maybe it was two years ago….maybe three….not sure. I live on the top of the river bluff, so sometimes large birds will be soaring over the river at a great height, and then when they come toward the bluff they are pretty much at eye level. The birds were swooping and soaring, difficult to count, but I think there were at least eight of them. None of them had the red heads, so they must have been young birds.

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  14. Two Octobers ago nothing special or notable happened but November was more eventful. That’s when I fractured my right ankle, requiring surgery and placement of a plate and pins. It was a long and miserable recovery – no driving, needing to use a knee scooter. Thank goodness for wonderful friends who stepped in to help out. I have full use of my foot/ankle though there is still tightness across the front of the joint – that might never go away. It doesn’t stop me from traveling, however. Today I head out on another adventure – 2 week cruise from Japan to Singapore. With all that is happening politically, I am happy to leave the U.S. even for only 18 days.

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    2. I hope you get to enjoy a day or 2 in Taiwan as you pass by. It is a wonderful place, very modern, very democratic, and intent on staying that way in the face of a monster country next door that wants to take it over. In that way, it is like Canada.

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