2026, crops, Farming Update, Uncategorized

DO WHAT I SAY NOT WHAT I DO 

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This week‘s farming update from Ben

Finally turned some heat on.

I used the seat warmer in the car and the heated steering wheel, too. (The greatest invention ever!)
Daughter and I put the back on the chicken coop.
Took off an outside faucet and picked up a few odds and ends to move into the heated shop. Tested the heat in the shop.

Friday night it’s 23°F already. Brr.


Daughter did a presentation at her program. A Life Skills speech called, depending on her mood either “PICK UP YOUR DANG GARBAGE!” or “How to Clean up”. She’s very good at picking up our garbage. Let’s not talk about her own room. Staff said she did a real good job and made it fun.

Daughter has some very specific rules and she expects everyone to follow them. The other night I was going to bed and I said to her, ‘Love you’. She said “Love you”. I went to bed and she came to the bedroom to chastise me because I didn’t reply. I explained I said it to her first, so she was responding to ME and therefore I didn’t need to respond to her. That’s not how it works in her head. I said “I love you too” and then she was happy. Sometime I like to argue the point. Sometimes it’s not worth it. But when is ever NOT saying I love you worth it?

I Finished working on the chisel plow. Some new teeth, the Buster bar Points, and changed a tire.

I hauled in some scrap metal, delivered a wagon load of Straw to the local strawberry farm. And delivering some straw for goats on Sunday.

Bailey waiting for attention


I placed a Neon “CLOSED” sign in the shop.

There’s a long history to this sign. It was in front of a bank on Broadway in Rochester back in the 1980’s. The Rep theater moved in next door, the bank closed, and an insurance company took over the building. When they remodeled and took the OPEN / CLOSED signs down, I asked if I could have them for the theater. One sign was broken, but I got this one. We hung it in the lobby over concessions. Eventually the Rep moved from that space and I took the sign with me. It was used in several plays. 

It’s darn heavy because of the two transformers inside. I was hanging it for a show, and accidently leaned into it and broke the glass ‘OPEN’. Well Damn. I was kinda bummed. But it had a long run. I tried to decide do I keep or throw. Padawan and I re-wired it to CLOSED and now it’s in my shop. For safety, It’s on a switched outlet so it goes off when I turn the lights off. 

I got half my corn out yesterday, Friday.

I don’t have final numbers yet, but moisture is about 16% which means it only needs to dry one point for long-term storage. So that won’t cost too much. I’ve put a few thousand bushels in storage for when I need that financial bump in March, and sold the rest to pay off the fall bills. Test weight was good, that’s how much corn it takes to make a bushel, 56 pounds is the standard. That’s roughly 90,000 kernels.

Unloading the combine “On the Go”, meaning still harvesting while unloading.
Riding in the combine

I ordered diesel fuel finally. 550 gallons at $5.00/ gallon. Added 75 gallons to the tractor.

I was very happy to get out in the tractor and do some tillage.

Tractor buddies

Slight bit of urgency to this as I will be having foot surgery on the 20th.

Nothing major, just a couple bone spurs. (I always feel icky when saying I have bone spurs. Please don’t lump me in with what’s his name).

I GOT NOTHING.

TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES.

41 thoughts on “DO WHAT I SAY NOT WHAT I DO ”

  1. Starting whenever you start writing about harvests, I learn about oats, beans and corn. But it seems steady that you are hauling or loading up scrap iron and other metals. It seems that you grow a lot of THAT on your farm. What do you use for seed and fertilizer?

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    2. I take walks in my neighborhood and nearly every time I go more than a couple of blocks, at some point I will see something like a bolt or a washer lying on the ground.

      Maybe if you leave them, they take root and grow into big hunks of metal.

      I pick them up and add them to the miscellaneous hardware collection proliferating in my garage.

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        2. I wonder that myself sometimes. But there’s always more junk. Parts replaced, fences replaced. Machinery that wears out.
          I currently still have an old digger that I dragged out of the weeds this spring, and an old elevator that I’ve only got half cut up. A lot of junk that came from years of storage behind the machine shed. So I might not have so much big stuff after this.
          Course, then I had two sections of a culvert that were dug out of the road and replaced.
          If I get really ambitious, I could get the silo loaders out of the silo.
          And there’s the Barn cleaner chain and the barn cleaner Drive unit that’s still on my list.

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  4. Once again, Bailey wins the prize for cutest dog in the world…

    I’m in the process of replacing my cordless phone (I let the battery die 😳). I learned of this when I got that really fast ‘busy’ signal the other day instead of a dial tone. The battery in the handsets is supposed to charge for 16 hours, but I just realized one of them wasn’t totally plugged in, so I have to wait another 16 hours. 🫤

    But now I’m in angst stage – what if that doesn’t do it? what else could be going wrong? There haven’t been any power outages here this week…
    Do they both have to be fully charged for the thing to work, or should it work with just one completely charged?

    Just thought I’d ask, in case one of you knows this kind of thing, and it’s free-for-all day. 🤪

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  5. The rechargeable batteries in the handsets may be replaceable, if they are no longer holding a charge. (They used to make things that way, once upon a time. )

    I haven’t had a cordless that had more than one handset, but I can’t think of any logical reason the system would be dependent on two handsets to work.

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    1. I did go to Walmart and bought a replacement that fit, but they only had one left (others expected Nov. 22). It didn’t seem to do the trick, tho’ now that I know about the 16 hours, maybe I didn’t wait long enough.

      And I’ve had the old cordless set since about 2014, so I figured replacing the system (only $40) wasn’t a bad idea.

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      1. YA replaced our Ring today… she purchased a new one a couple of days ago. The old Ring batteries were running down in a day. Even the “new one” (at least a year old) was having trouble, so YA decided it was the RIng itself.

        I’ve warmed up a bit to the Ring after 3 years but not enough that it would break my heart if it were gone. I will be glad to not have a battery charging up all the time in the kitchen!

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        3. What Linda said… front door camera. It mostly records large vehicles going down the street front of our house, but YA likes it to keep track of when packages arrive and if anybody comes to the door.

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  6. Ben, if you’re hustling to get work done BEFORE your surgery, I don’t think you need to worry about comparisons on that front.

    Love your tractor buddies! Grandpa said about his time farming (lots of hours on the tractor) “I enjoyed it.” and I believe he did. Sounds like you do too.

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  7. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Hmm, foot surgery can be touchy. I know several people who had relatively minor surgery, but that still meant no weight bearing on the feet for weeks. Is that what yours will require?

    Otherwise, I got nothing either. I will head out to put away some summer lawn furniture and to stack my outdoor pots. The area under my deck looks like a tornado went through there. I am just waiting for the grass to dry off. Assistant Gardener Snuggles McGee, known for digging excellent holes, will go out with me to completely undo the bath and grooming from earlier this week. I am considering planting bulbs in my front yard that will come up blue next spring — Hyacinths and crocuses have many blue choices. That way I will have a reminder of this recent election in the spring.

    Meanwhile, no one in husband’s family knew that the governor-elect of Iowa had a Prada Modeling career in Europe around the year 2000. Now there are “My Model Governor” tshirts for sale with images of that career. Who Knew? Makes me laugh.

    https://store.robsand.com/products/my-model-governor-t-shirt

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    1. What they’re telling me is two weeks no weight-bearing. So I’m taking two weeks off from the college.

      And then four weeks in a boot.
      I’ve got a one night concert at the end of the third week out, so I’m hoping to be back for that.

      I’m not planning to get back on the tractor in the first two weeks. But I bet I can get on the tractor with the boot.

      It’s just one small lump on the top of my foot, like the tip of your pinky finger. Doc says there’s nothing to that one.
      And then one inside of my foot kinda on the side. That one’s a little bigger, but they still don’t expect it to be any big deal.
      Fingers crossed.

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  8. I would not make a good farmer – the space to accumulate stuff would be… well, let’s just say it’s challenging enough with a moderate sized city house and single car garage. And that’s before we get to the discipline needed for planting, nurturing, and harvesting a crop (and then tending to the soil to make it ready again). Dogs in a truck or tractor? That part I would be all in for… though my current two dogs would be just as bad at farming as I would be. Spoiled city slickers the lot of us.

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  9. It sounds like you had a pretty good harvest, Ben! Bailey has the sweetest, most loving look. I hope the foot surgery goes well and you aren’t laid up for too long.

    Just got back from a week in Two Harbors last night. There were lots of ships going by all week. One in particular hugged the shore near our lakehome late one evening so that it was clearly visible. They usually stay much further out in the lake and it’s hard to see them. This one was trying to stay out of the strong northwest wind caused by the storm that went through. There’s a whole lot of steel in those ships!

    I just turned my furnace on for the first time this year last night. I don’t turn it on until it’s 60 in the house. Then I set it at 64. This is the latest ever!

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  10. Ben, starting in January I will have only one functional arm for 4-5 months. I am having both shoulder joints replaced, the first on January 18th and the second about 10 weeks after that. I am trying to imagine what I will need to live a one armed life furing that time. Clothes, socks, activities, all need to be considered. I don’t think I will be driving very much, especially when my right arm is immobilized.

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    2. When I had shoulder surgery a couple years ago, I spent six weeks in sweatpants. If you’ve got pockets, make sure you put them on the side of the working arm.

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  12. OT surgery update.
    Success! The mass was cancerous but of a very slow spreading type. The surgeon described the 4 and 1/2 inch mass as coming out like the creature from the man’s gut in the Alien movie. No chemo treatment is likely. Maybe an oral cancer cell killer. Pain is minimal. Walking is ok bending over is out. Fingers work. Brain function still abby normal.

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