Category Archives: Farming Update

2026, animals, Automotive, chickens, crops, Farming Update, Music, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

WARNING: TWENTY FOOT CIRCLE OF EXASPIRATION!*

August 1, 2026 xdfben 23 Comments

*Thanks to JimEd Poole for the phrase and T-shirt suggestion.

The vacation is over. Farming sucked this week.

The highlight of my week was putting a new windshield wiper on my car because it actually clicked into place and stayed there when I turned on the wipers. I’m calling that a win.

To sooth my mood, I listened to the music of Les Paul. Are you familiar with him and his wife, Mary Ford, and their multi track recording of “How High The Moon? It’s really pretty cool.

He’s a pioneer of the solid body electric guitar, and his use of recording techniques such as over dubbing and multi track recording was revolutionary.

Mary Ford was an outstanding musician herself. Reading about her reveals 4 marriages, alcoholism, and sadly, died at age 53, of complications from alcohol abuse, after eight weeks in a diabetic coma. Kind of broke my heart…

One of my favorite recordings is “Chester and Lester”, Les Paul and Chet Atkins. Which leads me to “Neck and Neck”, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. Which takes me to Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris and “All The Roadrunning”.

And that’s all the duos’s I can link because I don’t have any other Emmylou Harris.

So the farm.

Last Saturday the neighbors came out to combine oats. They made a round and a half, plugged up the combine with the grass, (remember, I said that was going to be a problem) And then, I think they were hot and dirty and mad and they went home. I’m sure he was as hot and frustrated as I would’ve been. I said that I thought they started on the worst field, and they should try some of the other fields because there was a lot less grass in them. And I don’t know why, but they never came back and they told me I’d have to cut the oats, sort of the traditional way of swathing it and then picking it up from there. That gives the grass a chance to dry out. Well if I’d have known I was going to swath it, I’d have got my swather ready before we went on vacation for a week. I tried Saturday afternoon to get the swather started and it’s always a bugger to get going at first. Sunday I was working on a show all day. And Monday was hot and humid and miserable and it was a Monday all over. I went to three different auto part stores, and I know I’ve talked about this before; the swather has a Chrysler ‘slant 6’ engine in it. These things were bulletproof and there was a million of them around back in the 70s. But the trick now is finding a mechanic old enough to know what a slant 6 is. And that’s been my problem. I’ve gotten a lot of parts that don’t fit and we can’t seem to find ones that do fit. John Deere doesn’t carry parts for the motors anymore. And I was in quite a foul mood most of Monday. By Tuesday I had mellow out a bit and by Wednesday hired a couple of guys to come and swath the oats for me. What’s a couple more hundred bucks to hire them…

And now, of course, after a month of no rain, now it’s raining on Friday. Need the rain, just not right now. Because now my oats is laying down. But at least the oats was standing well when it was cut! Yay! I’m afraid it’s dried up to nothing, so maybe some rain will help it rehydrate. And then eventually the swath will dry and then we’ll get it combined and then I’ll get some straw baled. The neighbors have had their Oats and Straw done for two or three weeks. But we’re not talking about that.

It was a nice gentle all day rain, and we have over an inch. I did bookwork, and other computer stuff, then organized the pencil drawer in the shop, and fixed a crack on the hood of one of the lawn mowers.

I did take a couple hours of one afternoon, when I wasn’t doing anything else, and painted our downstairs bathroom that’s almost done being remodeled. It’s done except for the countertop and sink, and toilet. The countertop is coming August 10 and I would expect a plumber a day or two after that. And while I was painting over the pink bathroom I was singing to myself Lou and Peter Berryman’s “Why Am I Painting My Living Room“.

The padawans were out and we started replacing boards around the bottom of the pole barn. It was hot and one of them complains a lot. Eventually I give him a new rule: “No Bitching”. Then he gets moody but I can handle that.

Front boards done; working on the side. And the door needs to be rebuilt.

I had rock delivered for the road. Ten loads of 18 tons each. Spending money hand over fist again. Can’t take it with you.

Never underestimate the value of a good driver who knows how to spread rock.

I also got stung by a bee working with the boys. Cripes. No allergies or anything, just another annoyance.

I cleaned the radiators on the big tractor, (AC, hydraulic oil, and water radiators) and worked up a small field that a friend plants for a deer plot. (His theory is the deer will eat that instead of my crops. It’s a nice thought that doesn’t work). And after the oats and straw is finally done, I’ll be planting cereal rye as a cover crop.

Chicken mama is down to 3 chicks… but the co-parenting guinea mom still has around maybe 15? She keeps them out of site most of the time and it’s hard to get a good count of them.

I mowed some more weeds. I finished lighting one show and started another, and this one is a drag show and a lot of fun.

There was a turkey buzzard sitting on a fence post one day. I thought, ‘well if that doesn’t sum up my week.”

I’ll end with this:

WHAT GETS YOU OUT OF A FOWL MOOD?

HOW MANY YO-YO’s DID YOU HAVE AS A KID? COULD YOU DO TRICKS?

2026, animals, chickens, crops, Farming Update, Movies, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized

Where in the world has Ben been?

July 25, 2026 xdfben 38 Comments

This weeks farming update from Ben.

We’ve been gone for a week. Returned to one last day of nice weather before it gets hot again.

Where were we?

Every restaurant was so loud you couldn’t have a conversation. We postulate the ambient noise level was so loud that everyone else has to get louder.

There are many wonderful parks, lots of free green space, art, and statues.

It seems like we had a hard time figuring out the subway ticket system but we got around and managed to make do with the kindness of strangers and only losing money on one ticket system I still haven’t figured out what I bought that didn’t work. Que sera sera

Took a Commuter train to visit a couple attractions. First time for that for us.

Sunday after the World Cup finals, one train was packed, but everyone was very nice. We laughed about how tight we were crammed in there. Kelly and I joked a full train on Sunday is probably different than a full train on Thursday at 5:00 PM.
The Wednesday 5 PM train was full, and seemed to skip one stop, and at the next stop, which was the one we wanted, only one door opened and we couldn’t get there before it closed and the train moved on. Daughter was VERY put out. A guy on the train said “I have missed so many stops…”

Traffic lights seem to only be a suggestion to some people.

A few more street signs would be really helpful.

I didn’t pack any shirts with sleeves!

We travelled there as Kelly had a work conference. We all had a few vacation days together before she had to ‘work’ work.
Daughter and I made our own fun after that. Saw some movies – in 3D!- and had a good time.

My steps the last week average about 8500. Daughter, constantly moving, averages 12,000 a day.

We had lots of help on the farm to keep things in hand.

The chicken from last week still has some chicks left; I haven’t gotten a good count as they’re hiding in the tall grass. But maybe 5 out of her 13. We’ve always said, the real world is a tough place for chicks.

And now we have multiple baby guineas.

At least guineas are good at co-parenting.

We want more guineas, but didn’t want to stick a guest with baby chick care. So we’ll see. The photo was from Tuesday when the Palawan’s saw them. I haven’t found them yet on Friday. Kelly saw them briefly, and then the mom seems to hide them so she can get out and eat. That’s kind of unusual.

Padawan 1 is broke, so I left him a list of projects. Darn if those missing soft skills don’t make it harder than it had to be for both of us as I had to remind him to do a few jobs, and offer help by text when he’d ask questions. And he made a few jobs harder. Which is how we learn, right?
P2 came out few times too. I’m not sure how much I’m paying them for work, or how much was goofing around.
Well, QSS all over again.

Thanks to Rick and Betty for picking up the mail. Thanks to John and Tamsin for taking care of the chickens, Tamsin, and the dogs, John. Gracie and Evan house sat and watered flowers.

I’m hoping to get the oats harvested Saturday. It’s still standing good, which is great, but the grass in it is getting bad. That only means it will combine a little tougher (because a combine harvester doesn’t like green stuff) and the straw windrow will have to dry out before I can bale it.

The corn got sprayed with fungicide by helicopter. Corn fungus’ have become a big issue the last few years as they move up from the south and the hot weather acerbates the issue.

I’ll post a few more photos after the location has been determined.

EVER HOUSE SAT? OR HAD HOUSE SITTERS? TELL US ABOUT IT

WHAT DECOR DO YOU MISS FROM THE 1950’s or ‘60?

Extra photos:

2026, crops, Farming Update, Medicine

Two Right Feet

July 18, 2026 xdfben 32 Comments

It’s so hot—

It’s so hot that I renamed my pig “Bacon.”

It’s so hot that I’m using Celsius instead of Fahrenheit just to have a lower number.

It’s so hot I saw the Devil buying an air conditioner.

It’s so hot I almost called my ex so I could be around something shady.

=================================

Another busy week just doing stuff. Meetings and stuff. I didn’t even have the padawans come out.

We had a hen hatch out 13 babies.

I cut grass one afternoon, I watered our new trees. Twice. I cut the grass around the trees.

I got the new steering hose back on the tractor and added 1.5 gallons of hydraulic oil that had leaked out, and I found and tightened a loose bracket underneath from when I ran over that stump earlier this spring, and we’re good to go again.

The corn just keep growing.

The height doesn’t equal better yield, (unless you’re chopping the whole plant for silage), but it doesn’t make the ear or grain any better. It just means the plant had good soil and good moisture.

The oats is ready to be harvested anytime. The sooner the better as the quack grass is overtaking the oats in places. Early reports of harvest is fairly positive. We’ll see.

I get an email every week showing the price of gasoline and diesel fuel.

It *was* going the right direction…I was starting to think about filling our farm barrel again.

——-

I have a problem. Well, more of an inconvieniece than a problem: I have a hard time making the peddles work on our lawn mowers. Or anything with a foot pedal operated by the right foot.

Yellow is forward, teal is reverse, and red is brake.

Because that’s the leg I hurt when I was 14 years old. In fact it was July 17 of 1978 when I did that. Forty eight years it’s been broken / messed up. But that stuff never bothers us so much when we’re young does it.

Anyway, my foot doesn’t move much. It’s sort of stuck out at a 45° angle to the right. And I wear a brace to support the ankle. I can’t twist the foot in, or move it up and down much. Meaning on the lawn mower, with the two peddles for forward and reverse next to each other, depending how exactly its built, I can’t twist my foot in to get ONLY the forward pedal, or I can’t push it down enough to move. I’ve made various modifications over the years including attaching a three inch block of wood on the pedal. If I take the brace off, I have more movement, but the foot hurts more too. I’ve tried scooching over and sitting sideways in the seat, but that’s not the best solution.

All this to say, I am working on modifications to the pedals on one of our lawn mowers to get my foot on there.

We use this one for mowing between the trees because it’s a little smaller and fits between the rows better.

This is modification version 3.3 and it’s almost there; I need a vertical block on the right end. That would provide both a stop for my foot, and room to push down without hitting the reverse pedal.

In a perfect word I’d move the reverse pedal out to give me more room. But that’s a little more involved.

WHAT INCONVIENCES HAVE YOU IN YOUR LIFE? Go ahead, complain for a day. You’re allowed.

2026, crops, Farming Update, Government, Mysteries, Technology

Monday All Over Again

July 11, 2026 xdfben 34 Comments

Mondays can be tough. Monday two weeks ago I accidentally ripped open a bag of flour in our pantry, which is also called the ‘doghouse’ as it’s a completely impractical storage area six feet deep, with a three foot door opening three feet off the floor, inside a closet. Because Heaven forbid my mom would waste any storage area. My family and I were recently talking about this area; as kids we had to climb in there to get things for mom because the adults could never get in there.

Long story longer, a month ago I needed something in a hurry from a tote behind a shelf unit in the doghouse. I had to move a bunch of stuff to get the shelf out to get the tote out. I had junk scattered all over the kitchen. And it all sat for a few days because I wanted Kelly’s help putting stuff back. And then early Monday morning, I was doing something in there that I don’t recall and something shifted and as I tried to shift it back, I ripped open the bag of flour. Then I knocked a 48 pack of AA batteries on the floor. It was a new package and batteries went everywhere. I closed the door and went to an eye appointment.

Later in the day, after my eyes cleared up, I started cleaning up the flour and trying to organize. I bought some pull out shelf slides and cut some boards and then realized if you pull out the shelf unit, you can’t get in the closet. So you’d have to be standing in the closet before you pull out the shelf, meaning you’d have to move the stuff in there first, and at that point Kelly said let’s re-evaluate this idea. Always the practical one that woman.

This last Monday I stopped at the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office to report my crops for the year. It’s called certification and it’s how the government tracks our production for all those farming handouts we get. I worked for this office back in the 1980’s when it was called the ASCS office. Certifications were easier back then. I had emailed this year’s certification maps into the office twice, trying to get the process done correctly, and there were still some questions. An hour and a half later all was well and I am certifiable. I mean certified. The agent helping me did a great job and when I told her this process was easier 30 years ago she gave me a blank look. Well, it was, I said. It just was. Trust me.

I went home and was gonna mount the loader back on the tractor for an upcoming lumber delivery. Usually this is a quick five minute job. But I bumped something and something shifted and bolts popped out and the support stands gave way. I stopped the tractor there so as not to make things worse. And then things got sketchy. I used a bunch of those wood blocks I was just saying I didn’t know why I had so many of. And I used a thing called a ‘Porta Power’ that I bought at an auction, and a jack, and a metal stand I’ve been saving for 15 years just for this purpose. I said some prayers and got it all jacked back up and the bolts replaced and the stands back in place and got the loader mounted. Whew!

I thought I was gonna start mowing weeds this week. I haven’t gotten that done yet. Got some other stuff done though.

Tuesday morning I donated platelets. It was my 80^th donation, meaning 10 gallons (which I quibbled about; donating whole blood 80 times might equal 10 gallons, but not donating platelets even at two units / donation. Still, I got a 10 gallon pin and a new hat.

Our basement bathroom remodeling has begun… I don’t think it will take long as nothing major is really happening. The old cement board shower walls have been removed, and a new shower stall will be installed, a new vanity, and new toilet. With bidet!

I got lumber delivered…more work for me and the boys.

JULY

July 4, 2026 xdfben 65 Comments

This week’s farming update from Ben

Happy 4^th of July! Sparklers for everyone!

It’s been hot. Got the fan on in the chicken coop. At the moment, daughter just came back from her walk and the dogs are panting. She was smart enough to cut the walk short. Wednesday when it was so SO hot, I convince her to just make her laps in the shop, the only place we have AC. How funny is that? The shop has AC, the house does not. Well, just how it goes. Don’t want the tools to rust you know.

The boys and I found work in the shop this week. Sure glad I’m not milking cows in this weather. I’d have been grumpy and ornery. And hot and sweaty.

Man, life is just relentless. I went back to read last week’s farming update so I’d remember what I’ve already told you. Padawan 1 quit another job and he’s back with me. Which is OK, but I’ve still got P2 around. I can’t really afford both. And together…well, you know, two nineteen year olds… It’s more work for me to keep them both working independently. And they still chatter and make noises. Such nice young men… can’t wait to see how they are in about five years.

We’ve gotten 2.5” of rain the last few days. The latest drought monitor map has us as “abnormally dry” back on June 30, so presumably we’re in a little better shape now. We don’t need two inches in two days, but an inch over a day, every week would be nice. Down around Grand Meadow, they got 8″ of rain. My goodness…crazy stuff.

One day in the shop I had P1 in the cab of the tractor trying to figure out why the blinkers would only work randomly. I had him start in the fuse box. It has a diagram on the cover so you know which fuse is what. Somehow he still managed to read it backwards. Considering this is all kinda new to him I wouldn’t be so concerned. However as he’s rebuilding the engine in his car, I wish I had more confidence in his skills… Eventually he deduced the switch was bad. He removed the steering wheel and got the cover off so we could see the multi function switch. High and low beams, horn, and blinkers. I called John Deere. $665 for a new switch. Well. Blinkers are overrated. He squirted some circuit cleaner in there and reassembled. It took a few tries and he had to take the steering wheel back off to bend up some tabs to keep the nut holding the steering wheel tight. Again, should I be concerned about the lack of attention to detail? Well, it’s not my car engine he’s taking apart.

I took the boys on a road trip. We picked up a part in Plainview and then to my tire place, Appel Tire in Millville. Dropped off four tires: The one that was packed full of mud this spring which I cut apart to get the mud out of, a tire off the generator meaning I just needed a used tire to hold the air INSIDE, and I replaced two tires on the haybine. We went to lunch at the only place in town, Whiskey Dicks. Brat burgers were the special and they were really good. The boys spent an hour talking like hillbillies, which kind of annoyed me. Then we picked up the tires ($476.52) and came back home.

P1 mounted the tires back on to the haybine. (Funny how all the machinery I bought in the 1990’s or 2000’s needs new tires these days. The haybine, wagons, the corn planter, the grain drill. Like I should only expect 25 or 30 years out of a set. It’s not the tread, it’s the sidewalls that crack and wear out.) On a car, there are the studs, or bolts that stick out and you fit the wheel over them and add nuts. On farm machinery there’s a bolt that goes through the wheel and threads into a hub. So a little fussier getting things lined up. And it gave him trouble and he got mad and didn’t want to listen and I just had to walk away. It took him an hour but he got the two new tires on. It doesn’t help when I point out he’s letting a couple tires make him mad. There’s that lack of a soft skill again. It’s such a shame when you get in your own way, you know?

P2 has more soft skills. He was mounting a couple new LED work lights to the rear of the cab. I thought we’d have to run new wires up to the top lights and splice them in. But that’s when I noticed connectors tucked under the fender as part of the blinkers. Often, the entire wiring harness is installed and then only some of it is used. The lights that we added would have been part of a ‘premium’ lighting package. Up in the cab, I ordered a new switch for those lights ($67), and it came with a couple wires that simply plugged into a connector and BOOM! More lights. Can’t wait to need them. Looking forward to it.

P2 also figured out how to get my shop garage door to talk to my phone again. It used to work, then I think I hit ‘factory reset’ or something. I gave him the manual and my phone, and eventually using his phone, it all works again and I can open the shop door from your house. He told me never to get the book out again. He did it all by asking AI how to make it work. Crazy stuff. And that’s why I gave that job to him.

Crops are looking good. The beans are starting to fill in, the corn is well over knee high; it’s at least waist high if not chest high in some fields. The oats is starting to turn color. I picked up two bales of twine last week, because we’ll be doing straw before you know it.

Half way through 2026 already.

WHAT DID YOU DO FOR THE BICENTENIAL?

WHERE WERE YOU IN 1976?

2026, chickens, Farming Update, Uncategorized

More of this and that

June 27, 2026 xdfben 30 Comments

This week’s Farming Update from Ben

It’s been a good busy week on the farm. Got lots of odds and ends done and I’ve marked several things off my ‘To-Do’ list.

The chickens enjoyed the straw bales left over from Movie Night on the Farm.

Sunday, we met Son and DiL at an outdoor wood fired pizza place near Waseca. It was perfect weather, and good pizza. As we were leaving, the owner asked us if we’d come back? Daughter loudly proclaimed, “No, I don’t think so.” Well, they asked.

Monday I got the haybine hooked up and mowed the roadsides. The haybine is the machine that cuts a swath nine feet wide using a sickle that goes back and forth very fast to cut off the stems of alfalfa or grass. Every now and then an individual section will break. Notice the missing one here:

It has been a lot of years since I had to replace one of those, just because I don’t cut much anymore, and I’ve forgotten what a pain it is to do it. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten the techniques needed. Or maybe it’s because I’m older. I used to do this out in the field with a hammer and chisel to knock off the old rivets, and then a punch to knock the stub out. Then there’s a gadget to smoosch the new rivet to hold the new section in place. I remember it was always a hassle and I’d be hot and sweaty and covered in bugs and I’d be mad about the whole thing. On Monday I was doing in on the concrete in front of the shop. I’ve also forgotten how little room there is in there. I had one end jacked up to give me more room. And I had a cordless grinder instead of a hammer and chisel. And I use a pneumatic air hammer instead of a hammer and punch. I didn’t get so grumpy about it all. But it sure did bring back some memories.

Daughter had come to the shop for a visit and she rode with me as I was cutting the roadsides. She took this photo.

Padawan 2, Max, was out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We moved a bunch of stuff around in the shed and I put things on the pallet racks. The trick is only to put stuff up there that won’t be used very often. The shop looks big until I try to get a tractor in there sideways.

Neighbor Dave was down checking fence in a section of pasture. It’s the area where the gully was filled in and the new waterway created, so we needed to build a fence to keep the cattle out of that area for this year. I hooked up the brush mower and mowed a path for the temporary fence, then went to the back of the pasture where Dave said the thistles were taller than he was.

Boy, yeah they were. It has been a long time since I was back in that corner of the pasture. It’s a valley with lots of smaller valleys bisecting it. It is easy to see how thousands of years of erosion have created our farms rolling hills.

On Thursday Dave and I built the temp fence. It’s just one hot wire. Meaning it’s an electric fence. And his cows are smart, and they know and respect an electric fence. And by ‘electric fence’ I mean the kind of fence that gives you a good “JOLT” when you touch it. It won’t kill anything, but it sure makes your arm hurt for 10 minutes. I supposed it’s like a taser. If cows learn about electric fences as calves, they do fine. You can’t take wild cattle and expect them to respect an electric fence. I’ve tried that. Electric fences also require insulators on the posts, and not too many weeds. There’s a whole skill involved in building an electric fence. Different skills than are required when making a 4 strand barbed wire fence like the padawans and I did a couple years ago.

(One of the blogs here; https://trailbaboon.com/2024/06/29/rusty-summer/)

P2 Max and I reshingled the feed building on Wednesday. The old shingles came off surprisingly easy. I had some left over shingles from doing the south side a few years ago. I bought two more bundles of the cheapest shingles the big box store had. Turned out to be a different color but no one cares or can really see the North side of this shed.

I’m not sure what look he’s going for here.

I put more stuff on pallet racks. A pallet of steel fence posts, and a pallet of wood blocks. A few years ago when I had to move these blocks out of what would become the shop, and I first put them on a pallet, I remember Clyde talking about all the blocks they had on their farm. And I have some blocks on a lower shelf so I can get them as needed, and I wondered, why am I saving this pallet of wood blocks?? Just what do I think I’ll be doing that I need that many blocks? Evidently I’m saving them for our kids to throw out when we die. And I threw out a few blocks. But still…I think I am saving too many blocks. But you never know.

Max and I also got the secondary lawn mower running. Then I did something and it wouldn’t run again. Fixed it and then broke it again. But now it’s running! The hood has a big crack in it. I think I’m gonna have to zip tie the crack together. A new hood top is $176 and I don’t think it’s worth that much. I ordered a new bumper, which is the hinge point at the bottom, and that was $76. This was Kelly’s parents lawnmower, so I need to ask her if she wants a zip tie scar across the top.

We got .6” of rain on Tuesday evening. A real nice gentle rain.

I got the roadsides raked and baled on Friday. It wasn’t much. Only 25 bales.

Next week the hot weather is back. I’m thinking of inside jobs.

EVER SHOCKED YOURSELF? I mean electrically, but whatever makes a good story.

KNOW ANYONE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING?

2026, crops, Farming Update, Government, Music, Uncategorized

This week in our little corner-

June 20, 2026 xdfben 46 Comments

This week’s farming update from Ben

The rain predicted for Wednesday morning evaporated before it got here. We just got sprinkles. And it’s still rather cool. A bit under normal temps. Growing degree units are still above normal, thanks to the early spring. Corn is already knee high, so that’s good. It’s almost canopied meaning that will keep the weeds down. The soybeans are maybe 6″ tall. Long ways to go for canopy for them. The co-op sprayed the soybeans for weeds this week.

One of Kelly’s co-workers was in a bicycle accident and has broken her clavicle. Her collar bone. And you all know there’s not much to do about that. Strap it to your chest and go about your day. This woman was back at work two days later. Typing with one hand. She’s a very busy person in the first place, and she said she was home staring at the walls, so she may as well be at work. With one hand. Been there, done that.

I was at a business the other day, and the clerk was typing with her two pointer fingers. And I thought again, thank goodness for 11^th grade typing class. And I chose that myself; Mom and Dad didn’t even push it on me. And back in the 1980’s I don’t know why I would have thought that? But good for me. Glad I did. I’m still trying to learn the numeric keyboard without looking at it. 559096 3940 175 5607259357028593164 That was me trying to type out some familiar numbers without looking. It’s 85% accurate… Not quite good enough for my accounting though.

My brother-in-law is missing his left pinky finger. He says the Q and Z aren’t a big deal, but he sure misses the A.

I had election judge training this week; regular and head judge. And since I’ve been doing this for 20 some years, there’s not much to keep it interesting. So I turned it into a game of judging their grammar. They talked about when your vote has been “casted“ really? Casted? And at one point she said something was done “correctionally”. I spent a long time thinking about that. Is correctionally a word? I wanted to look around the room and say ‘did you all hear that? Is that what she said’? One guy talked about the “Safe At Home” program, but it sure sounded like he was saying “Save At Home”. Hmmm… Call me judgemental.

The farm this week has been odds and ends. I threw out a bunch of wildflower seed expecting rain. So now I’m out there with the water tank in the back of the gator getting that watered– fingers crossed. I figured if I didn’t water, it wouldn’t rain, and if I did water it would, so I watered. And it worked! We got just over half an inch on Wednesday afternoon.

Monday evening the dogs were barking at something down in the feedroom. Kelly had gone down and opened the door but didn’t see anything. At one point, Luna came and literally got Kelly. Clearly indicating she needed to come back down there. I went down to get some corn and when I turned on the auger to load more feed into the wall bin, a raccoon climbed out the top of the bin. She bounced off my shoulder and tried to make a get away. And there was the dogs and this raccoon at my feet. I have had my close encounters with raccoons before and didn’t really need another. At least I didn’t scream like a little girl this time, I just tried to get out of the way. Corn auger is still running, corn is spilling on the floor. It was a whole big thing.

Padawan is at a(nother) new job, so Padawan 2 is coming out to help. He’s been around before and he’s a good kid, too. I took the mower off the lawn tractor, sharpened the blades, replaced a spindle, (the bearing supporting a blade), changed the oil in the tractor and cut more grass. P2 replaced a carburetor on our secondary lawn mower, and we worked together replacing a fuel line between the tank and the fuel pump. Although it’s still not running. Hmmm…. While he was doing the carburetor I replaced the sediment bowl on Kelly’s C tractor. And that still leaks too. Geez, batting zero on these projects. P2 had success replacing a door latch and gas strut on a tractor door. We moved stuff around in the shed and got the corn planter and grain drill parked away until next spring.

We spotted this big moth on a tree.

What is this? It was about 3 inches tall. Six legs, furry antenna. Maybe a Cecropia?

The summer festival season has kicked off. It was the 152 Annual Viola Gopher count on Wednesday and Thursday with a parade and fireworks and a street dance. Daughter’s group usually goes to the parade, but she wasn’t really interested. She told me only lazy people go to parades. I tried to explain I didn’t think that was exactly true, but I had trouble not giggling and she’s not interested in rational explanations anyway. She likes to move, not sit and watch a parade. We let her stay home.

It’s also Elgin Cheese Days Thursday – Sunday this week. Carnival rides, food trucks, and more dancing. I drove through Elgin on Thursday, on my way home from getting more parts in Plainview. There were a lot of garage sales, and two little girls selling earrings on a boulevard. And the local strawberry farm has fresh strawberries. Oh My Goodness they’re good. They make my knee’s buckle they’re so good.

Peas are being harvested and guys are planting soybeans following the peas.

I needed a few new farm shirts, so I dug to the back of the closet, found a couple with long sleeves I haven’t worn in years. Cut the sleeves off and they’re having a new life.

Driving home from Plainview, I heard Spike Jones singing “Chloe”. If the title doesn’t ring a bell for you, allow me: A phone rings, he answers, he says, “You don’t say. You DON’T say. You don’t say.” Hang’s up. The band says, “Who was it?” Spike replies, “He didn’t say.” Then later, phone rings again, same bit. Again they say “Who was it?” “Same guy.” Makes me laugh every time. I looked up the song on YouTube. Following Spike Jones was Cab Calloway and the Nicolas Brothers. Now those guys could dance!

Kelly is hosting a ‘movie on the farm’ night for her work people. The Residents and Fellows in the Pathology program come out and we do a bonfire and show a movie on the side of the crib. This will be the fourth year. First year got rained out. Second year was sparsely attended. Third year was in September and it was so cold and rainy we moved it into the shop and machine shed and showed the movie on the shop door. It was a good crowd and they all had a good time. This year looks like sunny but cool weather. She gave them a choice of movie and I haven’t heard what it will be yet. They do a popcorn machine, a root beer keg, they got vanilla ice cream, and the fixings for S’mores. P2 and I got out some tables, and straw bales for seating, cleaned out the garage, and he cut grass.

And then Sunday is Father’s Day.

Happy Fathers Day Dad’s!

ARE YOU JUDGEMENTALLYIST?

WHAT MOVIE IS GOOD FOR OUTSIDE?

2026, Farming Update, Uncategorized

Random Observations (and farming)

June 13, 2026 xdfben 22 Comments

This week’s farming update from Ben

First off, I am not a runner. Never have been and don’t expect I ever will be. So kudos to those of you that do get out there and run. Having said that, some runners have a much better form than others. And again, not criticizing anyone, this is just an observation. Some people just “glide” and they look so natural as they run. And others, they really don’t look like they’re enjoying it. And some look so “clunky”…I wonder if they’ll have joint issues in a few years. But still! At least they’re out there exercising.

The amount of construction going on in Northwest Rochester is kind of mind-boggling. There is dirt being moved everywhere, and there are so many excavators and dump trucks and earth moving equipment…it’s a kids dream come true! Most of the construction is for apartment buildings. So I guess it’s good for those construction companies, and the operators, and good for the developers. I don’t know how good it is for everyone else.

I was at this intersection Thursday:

Years and years and years ago, this was out in the country and this was a gravel road and I believe there was a trailer house in those trees. I remember going there to visit a friend of a friend or something. I don’t remember any of those details, but I’ve always had a good memory of locations and driving and I just know that I was there once. Now it’s a pretty major intersection on that northwest side of town, and I’m kind of surprised that the trees are still there.

====================================================

Back on the home front, the fire flies are back and that makes us happy.

Daughter had a birthday and she’s now 31! Wow.

We finally got some rain. Wednesday afternoon about 4:30 we were getting a nice light rain shower and then suddenly the wind picked up. Kelly and I were both working in the office, and papers blew off the desk and she went to close one set of windows while I was closing another set and in that short amount of time, the wind shifted around to the south and the rain came HARD and it was starting to get a little bit scary, and about then it was over. And then I got a call about a tree down on a township road. I was changing clothes when I got another call about the same tree. We had a few branches down on our driveway but nothing serious. Before I got to that tree, a sheriff Deputy called to tell me the tree was down. Yeah I know, thank you. Before I got there, I found a second tree down. It wasn’t blocking the road, just on the shoulder. Got that one cut up got and got a call about a third tree down. Finally got to the first tree, the Deputy was sitting there with his flashers on. We talked township business for a bit and by that point a second supervisor had shown up and the two of us cut up the tree. It was a limb from an oak tree and a lot bigger than it looked in the picture.

Objects may appear smaller than they actuallly are.

But we got it off the road, and we have a real good tree service the township works with. I told them they could come out the next day to pick up the mess.
The inch of rain that we got came pretty hard, pretty fast, and there was a little bit of erosion in my new waterway. The wind was so intense I saw some corn really bent over. It was about knee high and it should come back yet, but still, it is traumatic to the plant.
I thought maybe the new tile and the springs would be running again but nope, hardly anything there. We’re gonna need more rain than this I guess to cure the drought.

Rebuilt a little bit of fence in the area we call the swamp. The neighbors said they’re gonna bring their cattle out this weekend. I redid one corner of the fence where I planted the Tamarac trees and one little area that we mow and I needed a little more room for the lawnmower. It gave me an opportunity to dig out some bags of electric fence insulators that I still have but typically wouldn’t need to use anymore. I had some barb wire left on an old roll that I’m pretty sure I got from Kelly’s dad 25 years ago. (Not having cattle myself, I happily quit making fence.) It probably would’ve rusted away except it got a bunch of oil spilled on it once and that’s kept it from rusting. Which is good cause I needed about 30 feet of that.

I finally got the dog wash in the garage hooked up and operating. We had hot and cold water added in the garage a couple years ago, and that’s been very helpful, and we had a drain line put in at the same time. I built the walls and base and while I don’t have it tiled yet, I connected the drain and Luna and Humphrey both got baths.
Neither of them appreciated it as much as I did. But Humphrey did submit and stood quietly. He’s a good dog that way.

A niece and her husband came to visit along with their two girls. They have done a real good job convincing the oldest one how cool Uncle Ben and Aunt Kelly are. And when they come to Minnesota, going to visit Uncle Ben on the farm is a pretty big deal.
She throws out corn to the chickens, we collect eggs, we ride in the tractor and the gator.
She’s 5 1/2 years old. I might have a couple years yet that we are still cool.
Her little sister is about 2 1/2. She’s very busy. She’s figuring out we’re the cool aunt and uncle.

I think next week I’m gonna buy a couple bundles of shingles and re-shingle one side of the little building where we store bags of feed. The one side of the roof that needs work is only about 12′ x 8′. I shingled the south side several years ago but the North side desperately needs it.
I’ll get one of my summer kids to help shingle. A skill everyone should have.

Ever washed a cat?

Describe something graceful.

2026, crops, Farming Update, Uncategorized

GETTING BY

June 6, 2026 xdfben 21 Comments

This week’s Farming Update from Ben

You know, if he was gonna leave the excavator here for a week, the least he could’ve done was leave the key in it. He even locked the door. It’s like he doesn’t trust me. Or maybe just that he knows people like me….

Graduation season and the local newspapers have been highlighting the top graduates at the four High Schools in Rochester and you read about the achievements of these kids and where they’re going to college and what they’ve been involved with and double majors and even one triple major and pre-med and you look at their pictures, (We were all that young once!) plus I’m struck by how senior photos have changed. Nothing formal in the studios anymore; they’re sitting in the grass or leaning on a railing or holding a basketball, anything they want. One kid in shorts that I thought to myself I could hear my mother‘s voice “you can’t have your picture taken in shorts!”

Here’s a sub question, what do you think of that, good or bad they get to do what they feel like in the photos?

And how about those kids working two jobs? Supporting their families? Working a job, going to school, raising kids or supporting their parents, and just trying to survive? Too bad they don’t get celebrated in the papers more often.

I realized the other day we didn’t get any lilacs this spring. We have a row of lilac bushes 75 feet long and there was one branch on one end that got a few blossoms and nothing on the rest. I expected them to be coming and all the ones in town blossomed and ours are always a week later than that and then the other day I realize we never got any. They must’ve frozen off at some point. And then we have that one tree that does it in the fall and I don’t know what’s up with that either. But I miss the lilacs.

Let’s see, on the farm, the Oats was sprayed with fungicide, it looks really good this year and it should be heading out I’d say in a week.

Corn was sprayed last week with herbicide, the weeds are starting to get bad in places. Over on some of the rental ground there’s a neighbor that is not a fan of the spraying so the Co-op can only spray there when the wind is out of the north, or there’s no wind so there’s no drift around their place. Plus I asked the Co-op to leave an extra buffer around their place. And that’s not a problem, I completely understand where they’re coming from, it’s just tough to find the right weather conditions. It got sprayed Friday morning.

Last week I took the back off the chicken coop and have the fan going in there.

On Tuesday I had a contractor fill in a gully and dig in a tile line out in the pasture. This one area is what started all of this work I’m having done with SWCD this year. Soil & Water.

“Before” – The “S” line is the gully. It was too big to drive over even with a tractor.

img_6433-1 — Luna inspecting the new tile inlet

img_6435-1 — Padawan in his natural habitat. On his phone. Notice the spring water at his feet, the tile inlet in front of him, and the dozer finishing up in the background.

I was just gonna put a culvert there in the gully and fill it all back in but they said we should really get to the root of the problem which was a much better idea. There’ll still be some work to do on the upper end of this, building a small dam once the oats is off (because some of the dirt they’ll need will come from a field where the oats is). It’s sort of two problems: Some erosion at the top end, and springs on the bottom end where they put in the tile, which will take the spring water underground down to a swampy area, and then the other work up top will prevent further erosion. The excavator mentioned above was used to dig in the tile line. The work was inspected and approved Wednesday morning and I got it seeded down Wednesday afternoon. Just needs a little more rain than the .2” we’ve been getting. I also seeded down another area. It’s a long slope and I’m having a grass headland area created, with two small berms to help direct the water off to the side. Hard to get a good picture of the work done, but Humprhey approves.

Wednesday night Padawan and I went to the opera movie. I can’t tell you what it was called because I can’t pronounce it because it was all in Spanish. But it was about the day of the dead and the artist Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera. I was gonna go with Kelly and then she ended up with a work thing, so Padawan said he’d come with me. I let him leave at intermission. Which was longer than I expected him to last.

Thursday I spent a chunk of the day navigating one of the chloride trucks applying chloride oil as dust control on the township roads. It’s an annual thing.

Refilling. I was riding shotgun in the smaller truck.

Friday Padawan and I returned some left over seed, picked up some parts, and got a ton of egg layer ration. At the feed store, I saw a 50 pound bag of ‘Garlic Salt’. For cattle. They say it helps deter biting insects. It’s a natural way of stopping horn flies or face flies. HUH!

We also stopped at DQ.

Then when home, we went out in a corn field and measured out 175’, which is 1/100^th of an acre. Other years I’ve talked about measuring 17.5’ , 1/1000^th of an acre, and counting the plants, which gives us a ‘final stand’ count. A colleague told me yesterday, measuring 175’ is a much more accurate count. As I was riding around the township in the chloride truck, doing 2 mph up the road, I was looking at the corn “singulation”. That’s how well the planter does placing ONE kernel of corn EXACTLY where it should be. Not TWO kernels, or not SKIPPING a kernel, but ONE KERNEL ONLY EXACTLY THERE. My corn planter does a lousy job of singulation and it shows up in the rows now that it has emerged. They look terrible; lots of skips and doubles. Newer planters do better. But even at 99% singulation, when you look at a seed every six inches, and moving at ten MPH, it’s still gonna miss one every now and then. So I planted at a rate of 32,000 seeds / acre. Final stand count is between 28,200 and 30,500. Obviously, the better final stand count, the better crop.

I put some of the new purple LED lamps in the planter monitor.

It won’t make it plant better, but it makes me happy.

I replaced some bearings in the corn planter gauge wheels. The bearing presses into a hub. I put the bearings in the freezer in the shop, to shrink them a bit, then press them into the hub.

I heard a YouTube farmer say, “You can fill one hole with two gates, but you can’t fill two holes with one gate.” And as obvious as that sounds, anyone who has dealt with cattle knew exactly what he meant. We’ve probably all been in that situation.

I was sweeping out the feed shed before putting in the new pallet of egg layer. I have this broom in there.

I had to laugh. I must have a handle I could put on this. But the building is only 8’ x 12’. And I only sweep it out once or twice a year.

Are you ‘Making Do’?

2026, animals, chickens, crops, Farming Update, Technology, Theatre, Uncategorized

TICK’ED OFF

May 30, 2026 xdfben 30 Comments

This weeks farming update from Ben

Yeah, I know. When I was planting crops I commented on how nice it was to have good lights on the tractors and lights outside the shop so I could keep working after dark. But now that the crops are in, and I’m on the rest of my ‘to-do’ list, it’s a good thing it gets dark so I know enough to quit and come in the house.

Sometimes that happens because I’m still at the college so I don’t get home and doing anything until 5:00, or the last few days it was so hot I didn’t go out until late in the afternoon, I worked in the office and did bookwork and fought with websites and dealt with government bureaucracy in the morning, and then I went out and fixed the hole in the bottom of the feed room door and finally got half of the larch trees planted, and weed barrier around them one night, and then the next night rounded up the weed barrier that had blown away, got them all stapled down and found some hoses and gave the trees a good watering. I gotta find a good place to put about 10 more larch trees.

Kelly and I worked one night, finishing the mulch around the seedlings, and building the deer fence over the windbreak seedlings. The deer sure like the Ninebark. They aren’t bothering the gray dogwood, but they’re peeling the bark right off the Ninebark. Stupid deer. When we finished that night Kelly had 6, SIX ticks on her! And she had applied tick repelant! No one hates Hates HATES ticks more than Kelly. She still shivers when we talk about it. I said it’s because she’s irresistible.

I got a 12Volt pump hooked on the large water tote and that’s working pretty slick. Now one person can water the trees from the cab of the gator.

The dairy guys are working on that first cutting of alfalfa. Good weather for that. Some guys are making hay from cover crops they planted last fall, and will get soybeans in after they take that off.

I’ve got a contractor out and he’s gonna fill in a gully and construct a couple berms to help control erosion. And then fill in another gully, and get a tile inlet and perforated tile installed to prevent a gully from returning in a place that has springs. As dry as it is, the springs are pretty well stopped for now. It’s all part of the Soil & Water projects that I’ve got going this year.

I’ve got the last of my college rentals on Saturday, and then Tuesday is officially my last day for the year, but there is an ongoing project that I’ll stop and work on throughout the summer. It’s no big deal, doesn’t need to be done until fall. It’s sound baffling for the music department.

Padawan had a minor hiccup with his job so he’s still helping me out for a while. At least that’s what he says, that there was a minor hiccup. We believe 98% of what he tells us. “Trust but verify“

Soybeans are finally up enough we can see the rows.

They need some rain. I was talking with one of the agronomists from the Co-op the other day and she said everyone is in the same situation. Just waiting for rain.

Growing Degree Units: to Date 631, Normal is 370. 261 above normal… jeepers. Need some rain. The corn is looking real good, it’s about a foot tall. The co-op was out and sprayed for weeds on Thursday.

The chicks are enjoying being outside. They’re about half full size. They’re big enough to get OUT of the fence, but can’t figure out how to get back IN the fence. Unless Luna is “following” them, I’ve seen them freak out enough they fly over.

Chickens always look so ticked off.

Stop taking pictures and put me back in the pen!

Last week I worked a GOP debate at one of the local high schools. They brought in 3 candidates for governor. Three that “agreed to abide by the Republican Convention endorsement and support the candidate who the convention endorses”. Well, that left out a few.

Wasn’t much of a crowd to be honest.

I just turned on the lights and let the local TV station crew and the schools IT guys sort it all out. The technology of live broadcasting has really changed from the days of the Van with the big tower coming out the top. So that was kind of interesting.

In the past I have mentioned the monitor that works with the corn planter to alert me if a row stops planting seed. It’s a box with 6 light bulbs and orange covers over them. This is 1980’s technology and they’re like old flashlight bulbs. Well, one burned out on row six, and I really hoped it wasn’t row six that ran out of seed first. I was almost done planting and I didn’t have a spare. So I figured I’d get LED versions of those bulbs. And then trying to get a bulb out of the unit, I dropped the bulb in the tractor cab and it vanished. I thought for sure I saw it in a tote I carry in the tractor and I took out the paper towels to get the bulb and it still wasn’t there. Don’t you hate that? Where could it go?? Well, no matter, I took out another one. And then I found out I can get PURPLE replacement bulbs. Well, yes, Please and Thank you! Now I’m looking forward to planting crops next spring with my purple light bulbs. I hope they work. Sometimes, because LED’s take so much less power, it messes up the circuitry and things don’t work right… In theater lighting, sometimes we have to put a ‘dummy load’ backstage, just something like a 15 watt incandescent bulb to pull enough current to make the LED dim properly. New technology has mostly solved that, but it’s not unheard of to need a dummy load in addition to the LED. In regard to the planter box. I may need to leave one row as an old bulb. We’ll see.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD ‘TRUST BUT VERIFY’ ISSUES?

ANYONE TICKED YOU OFF THIS WEEK?

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