Category Archives: Farming Update

2024, Farming Update, Nature, Uncategorized, work

The Busy Busy Week

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben

It’s been a busy week. I’ve gotten a lot done and multiple things checked off my ‘to do’ list. A couple things I even had to add so I could cross them off.

Crops are looking good, it’s a little cooler than it should be, (I sure like the temps), and plenty of moisture, borderline too much, but we’re not gonna talk about that. The corn is already knee-high and there’s some weeds coming.

It was sprayed Tuesday. Counting the plants in 17’6” (1/1000th of an acre on 30” rows) gives me an estimate of the number of plants / acre. It’s also a good way to check singulation and spacing of the seeds. I planted at a rate of 36,000 / acre. I counted 30 plants in the 17’6”. More double plants than I should have – we want them all 6” apart. I have blank spaces, then two plants. That’s an issue of the planter meter that I had overhauled this past winter. Next year I should order large flat seeds, rather than medium mixed, as the meter’s seem to handle those better.

I read an article saying that when corn isn’t actively growing, (dense soil, too wet too long) it’s not making the energy to stay green, which explains the yellow spots in fields.

Oats is knee-high and I can feel the kernels half way up the stalk. They’ll be out shortly. The wet weather has already caused some fungal growth in the oats, called rust, and I had the co-op spray for that on Monday. (left untreated, the stalk gets brittle and break off before harvest and it’s really dusty come harvest. Everything turns orange). There are a few short spots and a little bit of lighter green color in places – different soil types might hold a little more moisture and oats doesn’t like wet soil and it’s showing that.

The soybeans are coming along nicely. They have some pre-emergence herbicide applied with fertilizer so they’re pretty clean yet at this point, except for the thistles, I have a lot of thistles.

I got the corn planter and grain drill cleaned up and put away last Saturday and then I got the haybine ready to go and cut the road sides.

 Monday I raked the Roadsides, meaning turned it over so the bottom could dry.

I was able to bale about 4:00 Monday.

I have added an idler wheel to the pick up on the baler. It’s something I’ve had for about two years and have been meaning to do it, and it was one of those jobs that I put off, and then it only took five minutes to do. 

I have my camera on the baler so I could see the strings on the bales.

I spent time thinking about how haying has changed over the years: from dad cutting with a 6 foot sickle mower and pulling a crimper behind it, (which is all combined in this one machine now) And the different haybines that I’ve had over the years. This machine was one of the first things I bought on my own under my name. I’ve mentioned before how good mom was at getting my credit established and getting machinery in my name. 

I had a new summer helper out. He’ll be a senior in high school, he’s a friend of a friend, lives in an apartment in Rochester, neither of his parents grew up in the country, he really doesn’t know anything about mechanics or farming, but he is a good worker, and he’s willing to try anything, and he doesn’t seem to stop. Plus, he’s just plain INTERERESTED in learning! He was only here on Tuesday, because we got rained out on Wednesday, but I think he’ll do real good.

With his help Tuesday, we got the four bolts replaced on the gearbox of the brush mower, and took the blades off and sharpened them. Then I was able to mow a path for the new fence, and we dug a hole for the first post. You want to set your fence posts about 2 1/2 to 3 feet deep. Easier said than done when it’s rock and clay in the bottom 2 feet. 

But we got the first post set. On Thursday, I tore out a short section of fence, dug two more holes, and never hit any rock! It was clay and sticky and slow going, but not all that hard with My two-handed manual post digger.


It looks brand new because my friend Paul painted it after he borrowed it. I used it making fence with my dad so it’s been around a long time.
I was today years old when I learned they make longer handles for post hole diggers.

Mind. Blown!
This has 48 inch wood handles, and the metal part is about a foot, so it’s 5 feet tall but when you’re digging a hole 2 feet deep the handles are down at your waist and it’s hard on a body. And then I saw a video with a guy using one with 6 foot handles. Meaning it’s still at chest level when you’re digging the hole and I thought that was the most amazing thing! Why has that not dawned on me before?? I’ve always said, I am not the idea man, I’m the one that makes it happen. So I don’t often think of things like that.  I can order some on Amazon, but of course I would like them today, not next week, so they’re on my wish list. 



Anyway, I dug a couple holes at the ends of the fence, and ran a string line and I am renting one of those hydraulic “dingo” post hole diggers on Saturday. Need to dig about 10 more holes. Today’s job is laying out the posts and marking the post locations.



I went to Fleet Farm on Thursday and picked up two rolls of Barbwire, at $104 per roll, I don’t know what I paid for barbwire 25 years ago, the last time I built a fence, but it wasn’t that much. And 50 steel posts, called T posts, and 10 wood posts and that was about $800. Jeepers, sure glad I don’t have miles of fence to build, this is doing about 500 feet. 

It will be real nice to have done. I also will have to tear out the old fence. I went up Thursday night to mow along the old fence, until I wrapped barbwire around one of the blades. Came back home, took the mower deck off, took the old blades off and remove the jumble of wire, put new blades on, put the deck back on, and will mow again another day. 

Got in the house at 9:30 PM.

Got the carburetor off the Kawasaki 4 wheeler and ordered a new one off Amazon. Hope to have that running soon.

FENCING: DISCUSS

2024, Farming Update, Gatherings, home, Nature, Uncategorized

Playing Catch Up

38 Comments

Today’s farming update comes from Ben.

We’ve had 5.5″ of rain since May 1. They’ve all been pretty decent, gentle rains I thought. And then I was out picking up some rocks and there are some wash-outs in the fields. It doesn’t take much slope, and especially right now with so much bare ground, a hard rain for few minutes will wash. 

Farmers do so many things to try and prevent it. Obviously we don’t want to lose the top soil; it’s how we make our living too, and it really hurts my soul to see a field wash like this. Thanks goodness they’re not deep ruts. On the rolling hills like our farm, they’re hard to avoid.

I had picked up rocks before planting too, but there’s always more. 

I finished at the college on Tuesday. 

I finished lighting the play at the Rep on Tuesday, and Wednesday evening I cut some grass. Got rained on, which led to a beautiful double rainbow. 

Still trying to catch up on mowing. 

We let the little chicks out. They’re not so little anymore. Luna was very interested in them. She never bothered them, she just had to investigate really really closely. 

Daughter had her 29th Birthday. Four girlfriends from PossAbilities took her out to eat. I sent them a note of appreciation; it seems like such a small thing, but for her, that’s a pretty big deal! She doesn’t have the opportunities for those little things, like lunch with girlfriends. These four are pretty cool and we’re all lucky for the people that come into our lives. 

I put away the last of the 2023 receipts that were in a pile hiding in a desk drawer. Seriously, I’m going to get going on 2024 bookwork soon. SOON! 

I really want to get going on the shed again. I also need to get the roadsides mowed in the forecasted week without rain, so that should be the priority. And there’s a fence along the road that I want to rebuild. It’s embarrassing to drive by and look at every day. It’s just wore out. Been there a lot of  years. I’ve fixed it a lot, but it’s time to be rebuilt. Which means mowing the grass in there first. And since it’s 3′ tall, I need the brush mower. Which needs four bolts holding the gear box on replaced before I use it again. Need to cut / grind them off and replace. And I should do that soon, so they guys can get the cattle in that pasture.

I’m a little hesitant to build a fence again. I figure I need to dig holes for 11wood posts, plus put in 100 steel posts. That was hard work when I was younger. And I know this a rocky area (because it’s all rocky on our farm) Digging a hole is hard work involving a 6’ iron breaker bar, and the manual post hole digger. I don’t know anyone with a tractor mounted one. Kelly said I should I go rent one of those ‘Dingo’, motorized post hole diggers. “Do it for me so I don’t need to listen to you moan and complain.” A pretty compelling argument. I’m working on a summer helper again. I’m not sure they’d come back after a day of this.

I cut down some dead trees, and planted 6 oak seedlings. They were given to school kids for Arbor day. A friend is an elementary school teacher, and she got a bag of seedlings, but many kids are in apartments, so I got 6 of the left overs. I could cross those couple things off my to-do list.

Spent Wednesday riding in big trucks and directing the drivers applying dust control on the township gravel roads.

You know, this happens every summer: more on the list than I can get done. This is:

WHAT EVENT WOULD YOU DO AT A RODEO? OR HAVE YOU ALREADY?

2024, Farming Update, Uncategorized, work

Lost And Found

34 Comments

Today’s Farming update comes from Ben.

So far, so good this year. Even the last planted crops are coming along. The soybeans are just coming out of the dirt. Most guys, or maybe it’s just the bigger farmers, ‘roll’ the soybeans, with a big steel roller, to push rocks down and make a good smooth seedbed (important at harvest), and also to create optimum seed-to-soil contact. I don’t have a roller, but the last few years I’ve run over the fields with a ‘drag / harrow’ to try smoothing it out. This year it kept raining right after I finished planting, so I didn’t get it done. Not the end of the world.

In the Header photo, the oats are on the left and looking good. Corn is the upper right and it’s coming along. The lower right is soybeans. Can’t quite see rows yet, but it’s coming.

Here’s a photo of my “Parts Shelf” at home.

Most of the boxes are filters for two tractors. Then there’s a new set of lawn mower blades, and a ‘throttle plate’ for the old 630 tractor, and some clips for the gas strut on the passenger door of the gator, and a new beacon to replace the one I broke off when I forgot it stuck up higher than the garage door is tall. There are also some wall brackets for tool storage, and brackets to attach the posts to the concrete when I get to building the fourth wall in my shed.

I am gainfully employed at the college through Tuesday June 4th, then off for the summer. Maybe then I can get the tractor unhooked from the drill, and clean up machinery, and return seed, and cut grass, and get back to working on my shed.

Right now, working on another play, ‘Clybourne Park’ is a sequel to ‘Raisin In the Sun’. Act 1 is 1950, and the black couple is about to move into the area. Act II is 2001, and the neighborhood residents are dealing with the changes to a lot of things. It’s a good cast and well written show. The lighting is pretty simple; just general interior lighting, with some specials for the ending, and a change from 1950’s look, to 2001 look. Think ‘sepia’ for 1950, and brighter, but the house is run down, in 2001. “Dingy” lighting. I’m having fun creating that.

I’m having a problem these days keeping track of my water bottles. I have three in the fridge door, and I take one with me to work or outside. By evening there’s only 1 in the door. I joke that at the college I need a workstudy to keep track of my clipboard and water bottle. And I need a phone case that comes with a guy to carry it for me. Generally, I find the water bottle the next day, out in the shop or in a tractor, or in the garage where I set it down to collect eggs.

Are you drinking too much or not enough?

2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Seasons, Uncategorized

Dun dun dun DONE! 

33 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben. 

Had a nice rain on Friday morning. We got about 4/10th of an inch. Tuesday evening there were some strong storms, with some real strong wind gusts. No issues at our place, but there were a lot of branches down in Rochester, and power out in places, and about 6:30 PM I got a call from a township resident that just north of Rochester, several trees were down across the road. As I’m a township supervisor, part of my job is dealing with issues like this. I called the other supervisors and three of us got to work. Thankfully the county came around with a skidloader and they could push it off the road once cut into chunks. We work with a tree service that has done EXEPTIONAL work for us, and they came around and picked up the pieces the next day.

I’ll leave out the part where I got my chainsaw stuck, then John got his stuck trying to get mine out, and Paul insisted he was NOT going to have three chainsaws stuck when the county boys arrived! We didn’t. Whew! 

I finished planting soybeans Thursday night about 10:00. Here’s my last pass. 

It wasn’t quite perfect soil conditions, it was a little bit sticky, but we are getting late enough in the growing season, and with rain predicted several times in the 10-day forecast, I was willing to push it.  

The University of Minnesota Extension Service says corn should be planted by May 5th to get 100% yield. By May 25th, we’re down to 92%.  

For soybeans, it’s May 1 for 100%, and 91% by May 25th.  

Of course there’s always extenuating circumstances, but those are the general guidelines. One year, due to a loan issue with my bank, I planted soybeans before corn, and it was one of the best crops I’d had. So why don’t we plant soybeans first? Good question. Soybeans are more sensitive to cold or wet soils. Corn can sit for 3 weeks and still germinate well. (As some did this year for the farmers who got going in April. My corn came up in a week because I planted later and had warmer weather). So, it’s always a game and you just never know. 

When Bailey, my tractor buddy and I, got home from planting and backed into the shed, I discovered my extension cords glow in the dark! HUH! Never knew that before.  

The chick’s have gotten their outdoor pen.

This group seems much more active and busy than other years, and, we knew they’d need a 6 foot tall pen rather than the 3’ tall pen. I’m looking at you, Luna.  

I’ve ordered ducklings. Thirty. Will be shipped June 18th. An assortment.  

My Mom turned 98 on Sunday. The immediate family had lunch with her, and then we invited a few close friends. She enjoyed the company and liked visiting. Some church friends, and some of her nieces and nephews and it was a fun visit for all of us.

I’m going to miss having my tractor time. Everything went really well this year, and the only issue was one broken hydraulic hose. I just enjoyed the whole process.  

Using Apple Music, it was fun to pick an artist that interested me that day, and listen to a selection of their music. Some worked better than others.  

Christina Aguilera didn’t last long. Neither did Rodney Crowell. Rush, The Million Dollar Quartet, Willie Nelson, Steve Goodman, Pete Townshend, Postmodern Jukebox, and last night, the Tower of Power. They were all really fun. Meant to try ‘The Wrecking Crew’ but didn’t get there.  

Memorial Day Weekend.  Let’s try to be grateful.  

MUSIC FREE FOR ALL THIS WEEKEND! WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TOO?  

animals, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Uncategorized

Lilacs & Farming & Parts, Oh My!

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Oh, the lilacs! What a wonderful smell. It’s one of my favorite things about springtime.  

The neighbors who got corn planted before the rains, that corn is up. My oats is up and looking good. 
 
Every week I say what a crazy busy week the previous week has been. Same again. Life. It’s just relentless…  

I mentioned how Saturday I got most of my corn planted.

It makes a huge difference having the coop spread fertilizer before I plant. I do pay a little more for them to apply it, and it’s broadcast over the entire field, rather than when using the planter, it’s applied right in the row, but it also saves me refilling the planter every 7 acres. Seed I can plant 26 acres before refilling.  
 
I hooked onto the chisel plow one day.  I had one field that was soybeans last year, and never got harvested because the soybean crop was so poor due to the drought, and this field had weed pressure, so it needed to be plowed up this spring. It’s interesting the different weed pressure two fields right next to each other can have. Here’s the one that was beans last year:

And next to it is this field covered in lambsquarter.

Down the road, there is a guy who has a food plot for deer and turkey hunting, and since it’s next to a field I plant anyway, I work that field for him. And because he wants it to stand over winter, I have to make an extra trip back in the spring to chop up the corn stalks or plow up the stubble. He covers my cost, and it’s just and extra hour or two.

 Both those fields worked up really nicely. I was afraid they’d be a little wet yet, but it worked exceptionally well.  Then I switch back to the soil finisher to level off all the chisel plowed corn stalks, so the coop can spread fertilizer for soybeans. The plowing leaves the fields rough, and if they applied fertilizer on that ground, it would get buried too deep after being worked smooth. Now that it’s smooth, I’ll just work it a couple inches deep to incorporate the fertilizer. I have two corn fields to plant yet. They were a little wet when I planted the others.  

 A hydraulic hose blew out while digging. That hose lifted one wing of the digger. I was able to keep going, and finish what I wanted to finish, there was just a sag on one end when I lifted it to turn on the ends.  I took the hose off, and also replaced a broken shank that night.

The shovel on the new shank is worn a bit. When new, they have a much sharper point. But this one is good enough for another season. Seems like lately it’s been 9PM before I get in the house at night. Kelly is stage managing a show and has rehearsal every night, so we have a late supper together. Wednesday morning, the dogs and I made a trip to Plainview for parts. It was busy at the parts counter. The guy helping me answered the phone: “Jack, swamped! Five deep at the counter. Call you back!”   

Hydraulic hose is expensive. This was 1/2″  hose and it’s almost $9 / foot. I needed 10′, they cut it to length and crimp on the needed ends, $120. I also picked up some bolts for the gear box on the brush mower, some extra clips for the shovels on the soil finisher shanks (for when I lose the next one), an oil filter for the lawn mower and gator, plus cab filters for both tractors, engine oil, fuel, and air for the tractors, and some grease, and it was $998. The air filters are $100 each. Good thing they last for 3 years. 

I added 104 gallons of diesel fuel to the tractor, added 2.5 gallons of hydraulic oil that was lost due to the broken hose, and finished working up the corn stalk stubble. Course I had my two tractor buddies.

Luna doesn’t whine in the tractor, and once in a while she sits on Bailey. But otherwise, she just stands the whole time.  

I appreciate my tractors so much. I think I wrote once about not wanting junk, and that’s part of what I appreciate about the tractors so much. I enjoy being out in the field and driving them and when I get home and get out, I pat them on the hood. They make me happy, and I feel lucky to have them. 
 
Thursday the coop applied fertilizer.

End of the school year and I’m trying to spend down my budget. I do a lot of scenic painting using a hand pump sprayer. This yellow one has been here since I started here in 2006. I’ve used a lot of cheap ones, and this year I bought two new ones. They’re German, and they’re $90 each, but they are good! Spezial-Druckspruher! “Special Pressure Sprayer” indeed!

I have the Rochester Montessori School bringing ‘Annie Jr’ into the college theater, so I’ll be working here a few days. 
 
Mom turns 98 Sunday. More on her next week.  

FAVORITE FOREIGN ITEM?  

2024, animals, education, Farming Update, Nature, Uncategorized

Randomness

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Well, as the monkey said when he got his tail caught in the screen door, it won’t be long now. It’s been raining enough in the last two weeks. I haven’t missed any fieldwork. And commencement was on Wednesday, so that’s over,

my writing class is done, (I got an ‘A’) and on Thursday I worked around home with a wonderful sense of free-time. I will still be employed at the college, going halftime until June 4, as I have three rental events coming through. And a lot of stuff to clean up, and the paycheck is always welcome. I’m leaving out a long uninteresting story of the 40 foot tall scissor lift, which is crucial to a few of us at commencement, and the problems it was having and why one department can’t seem to talk to another department, and how come it was the last day before anybody told us, there was another lift a quarter-mile down the road. But it’s over now, we all survived, and it’ll be a good story we can laugh about. I’ve picked up soybean seed so all the seed is home now and I can take the loader off the tractor.

I moved the snowblower out of the shed too. The co-op should be applying corn fertilizer on Friday, maybe Saturday I can start doing some corn planting. One of our guineas got under our deck somehow, and then she couldn’t figure out how to get back out. I had to remove a piece of lattice on the side for her escape. Propping it open and making a bigger hole, didn’t seem to work. I thought guineas were smarter than that. I refilled our birdfeeders in the yard, and it’s been fun to see Orioles eating suet, I didn’t know they did that, (I haven’t got the regular oriole feeders up yet), Grossbeaks are pretty, and today I’m looking at an eastern bluebird, which I didn’t know ate seeds. We even had a pileated woodpecker on an electric pole here in the yard.

The baby chicks are doing well, they are pigeon sized and they sure do eat a lot.

A 50 pound bag of feed last about five or six days. Remember a few months ago, I wrote about some of the college kids coming to the theater and helping me out. And I mentioned the ring leader, Jessica. This is me and her. She’ll be around one more year.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU FELT REALLY RELAXED?

2024, animals, education, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

Barn Swallows

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

The worms sure did come out after the all-day rain on Thursday. I even had some inside the doors at the theater. 

And the Barn Swallows are back! Kelly saw some on Tuesday and they immediately started hauling grass to the nest on top of the wind chimes by our front door. Pretty cool they come back and reuse the old nesting spots. We sure do enjoy hearing them chatter.

No fieldwork done in the last week since it’s been raining. I worked in the shop a bit, and I’ve been doing a lot of prep work for college Commencement next Wednesday. 

Here’s my ‘patch’ for the lighting; the document in the lighting controller that says how each light is addressed so the lighting console knows which light it’s talking to, and so I know which light is which.

 The number in the first column is how I refer to the light. The 5th column is the actual ‘patch’. Those first fixtures are 21 channels each. A channel is a parameter, for example pan, tilt, red, green, blue, intensity, zoom, strobe, ect. and a universe can handle 512 channels. Some lights are only 6 channels. Intensity, red, green, blue, white, amber. All the lights are in universe 1. The first light is address 1. (1:1) It uses 21 channels, so the next lights is also universe 1, address 22. (1:22) Repeat until all the lights are patched. If I have more than 512, I go to the next universe. This Hog console can do 4 universes. Bigger events might have dozens of universes of lighting.

Thursday I was over in the sports center hanging the lights over the stage (which I can’t get too once the stage is in place) and doing a little other prep work.

I meant to get a better picture of the lights, but the genie lift I was using wouldn’t go back up in the air. Huh. Thanks to the training I had back in Seattle in March, I knew enough to check the batteries. Three of the four were low on water. And I heard it’s had some other issues lately. Thank Goodness somebody in charge agreed we better rent another lift just in case. Both the video guys and I will be using lifts for commencement and not having one will be a problem. 

While working on lighting, I heard there was water coming into a back room. The sump pump was working, but water was coming through the floor or something. It wasn’t my concern. 

Friday, I picked up the other rental lights, and it was quiet in the sports center, the batteries have been topped up with water and recharged, and I was able to finish hanging my stuff. It should make Monday an easier day for me. I have more lights on the ground to install, but I can’t do that until the stage is set.

The overheard door to the sports Center has been broken and is scheduled to be replaced Monday. The same day EVERYTHING loads in for commencement; chairs, band equipment, food, staging, ramps, ect. And it all goes back out that door Wednesday night. 

Sounds pretty exciting doesn’t it. Or a cluster. One of the two… 

I sold some straw to the Rochester Fire Department. They add a bale to their practice fires because it makes a good amount of smoke.

Had a good talk as the two of us loaded the trailer. He said some of their ‘turn out’ gear (the typical fireman’s hat, coat, pants, and boots) need to be replaced as it’s nearing end of life. $8000 for one outfit. And the guys have a second pair to wear while the first outfit is being washed and dried after a fire. Takes 8 hours to dry, and they can’t wear if wet as they could get steam burns. The things you learn! 

Creative Writing at the college is almost over. I’ve submitted my poetry project and now the last thing dues is the final portfolio, which are revised versions of things we’ve submitted earlier in the year. When things get slow I’ll just recycle some of them here. 🙂

The chicks are doing good. They’re not afraid of an open door anymore so I have to pay attention while I’m in there filling their water and feed. The dogs are right at the door, so they’re paying attention for me.

I had 55 dozen eggs in April! Zoiks!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CONSTELLATION OR CELESTIAL EVENT?

2024, animals, Farming Update, pets, Seasons, Uncategorized

Fieldwork!

47 Comments

Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

It’s been another crazy busy week and all the farmers have been pushing hard planting corn in the neighborhood, trying to stay ahead of the weather. Not me, but everybody else. I have finished planting oats and I picked up corn seed. Considering last week I hadn’t even gotten out in the fields yet, things picked up fast and went pretty well.

I got the old tractor, the 630 running. That’s the one I rebuilt the carburetor on last fall, and while it’s not perfect yet, it does run, and I used it to re-arrange machinery to get the grain drill out.

I started planting with 48, 50lb bags of oats

I can tell I’m getting older as my fingers are getting stiffer as I lift them up to dump in the drill.

Meyer Seeds, where I’ve been getting seed for years, and where my dad even got seed, didn’t have oat seed this year, so they got it from another local place. There are not many places selling seed oats around here. The Albert Lea Seed House is a good source, but they’re an hour away from me and much more expensive that Meyers. Meyers have done such a good job cleaning seed over the years, on the rare occasion they don’t have any, other seed is dirty and dusty, and I even found a shriveled up, desiccated mouse carcass in a bag this year. I mean, what the heck?? Do better other people. 

I had planned to  finish planting oats late Wednesday night, and wouldn’t you know I ran out of seed with about half an hour left at 9:30 PM. Every year I tell myself, “order extra seed”. It’s not a problem to return it and it’s better to have extra than to run out with half an hour left, and I don’t know, next year comes and I forget. Thursday morning I picked up 8 more bags of oat seed, and got the corn seed, too.

I use the “Boating” app to track myself in the fields. I helps to find that corner I need to get back too, especially at night.

Everything in yellow is what I planted on Wednesday. I covered 12.9 miles, averaging 4.5 mph, and was out just over 4 hours. The time also includes stops and refilling.

The closer photo show every pass. Compare that to the actual tracks in the field.



It has been fun to be back in the tractors again. My brother usually helps do fieldwork, but he’s on vacation this year. My young helper is still in school, and the other helper has become gainfully employed. I don’t mind doing it myself, it just takes a little longer. My left arm gets tired because I run all the controls with my right arm, so the left arm is constantly steering. Building up my endurance I guess. I have acquired a second tractor buddy.

We don’t all fit into the cab so well.


Luna doesn’t look happy to be left home and she doesn’t look happy to be in the tractor. I don’t know what she wants. Bailey just lays on the floor, rests her head on the door, and sleeps. Luna moves back-and-forth and is in the way of either the clutch or the brake. And if I stop in the field and we all get out, she barks and barks to get back in. I think it’s still anxiety about being left behind.
I saw bald eagles, pheasants, turkey vultures, lots of deer, turkeys, and we’ve been hearing the sandhill cranes, I just haven’t seen them yet. Waiting on the first barn swallows. Should be a scout around any day now. They usually arrive about May 6.

Soil temperatures are in the 50s and GDU (Growing Degree Units) are at 177; 123 above normal at this point. The cereal rye that I planted as a cover crop last fall greened up but never got very tall. I had it sprayed this week to terminate it. It needed to be 12 inches high to get paid for planting it. However, because those fields are gonna be corn, having 12 inches of grass there was going to be a problem with residue, and I wanted it sprayed and terminated before it started to rain and I lost control of it. So it goes. It will still add organic matter to the soil.

Late next week I’ll start dealing with lighting for commencement on May 8th, so I’ll be busy with that for a few days. The experts says 100% of potential corn yield (in our area) comes from corn planted between April 22 and May 6th. I still got time!

FAVORITE FAMOUS LAST WORDS?

2024, Family, Farming Update, gardening, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Almost Farming

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

We’ve had some nice rainfall, and I’ve got the show open, and I’m trying to stay home and get ready to farm. Yet, every day seems to be interrupted by minutiae and farming has not become the priority it should be. Yet.

My brain cleared enough I found the three things I couldn’t find last week. Kelly pointed out to me the extra chicken waterers behind the house. Yep, that’s exactly where I put them last fall when that chicken hatched those eggs under the deck. And I found the rain gauge in the garage right where I thought it should have been last week. And it turns out the dog’s tick medication is good for 12 weeks, not four, so I had only bought one dose. And that’s why I couldn’t find more. There’s usually a rational explanation, isn’t there.

Over the weekend Kelly and I got 2/3 of the seed wagon cleaned off. (The “shed remodeling tool storage wagon”) so at least I have room for oats and corn seed and the oats will be gone before I pick up the soybean seed and then that can go on there. Daughter and all three dogs and I picked up oat seed on Monday. I also picked up another ton of the layer ration for the chickens. One ton, in 50 pound bags, equals 40 bags, so they are good for about eight months.

On Friday I got the tractor hooked to the soil finisher. If you park something in a field over winter, you need to put a board under the jackstand, otherwise it will sink into the dirt and the hitch of the implement will not line up with the tractor drawbar. I had a board under the jackstand when I unhooked it back in October, but the implement shifted and the jackstand slipped off the board. And then Friday it was 8” down in the dirt. I took a regular jack out to lift up the tongue to get it hooked to the tractor and that jack pushed down into the dirt as well. I had a board to put under the jack, but it was stuck under the hitch at first. Eventually I got that out and under the jack, and was able to raise it up, get the hydraulic lines hooked to the tractor, and attach the tractor and implement. See? I’m making progress!

I moved the chicks out of their first, smaller tank, and into the larger pen. They are about robin sized now.

The spring play at the college will close this Saturday afternoon and next week is a band and choir concert. We need to be out of the theater by about 5:30PM on Saturday, so we don’t have much time to dismantle the set. I hope to get things off the bookshelves on the set, and the small grand piano (it’s an electronic keyboard) off the stage. I’m hoping to get three or four strong young kids to carry it up the steps rather than tipping it on its side, taking off two legs, and trying to get it through a doorway sideways, like it came in. Goals.

I started delivering some straw this week.

Speaking of Straw, I was talking with a family friend about the hayrides that we used to do with 4-H or church groups. It used to be a very popular thing to take a tractor and wagon, make a pile of loose straw on the wagon, and then at night, in the dark, 15 or 20 kids would pile on the wagon and you’d go out in a field and drive around and push each other off, and by the time you got home again there was no straw left on the wagon. We don’t do that anymore. Can you imagine? What could go wrong?

I don’t know how come nobody got seriously hurt. My folks did it for the church youth groups for a lot of years. The only accident I remember is when one kid jumped off a wagon early and was going to cut across a corner of the driveway to catch a second wagon, and he ran into a barbwire fence. After that, the kids were told to stay on the wagon until they got to the field.

There is a story in my grandmother’s diaries of a 4-H hayride mid 1950’s, when the tractor slipped into a ditch. The wagon tipped over and several kids were hurt – none seriously by some miracle, but my uncle, who was driving the tractor, had several cracked ribs.

When our kids were young, the daycare would visit the farm and we used a hayrack with the tall sides, and they sat on bales, and we went in the daytime, and it was just a wagon ride. Not a hayride in my sense of the word.

I googled “hayride” to see if I could find examples of our type of hayride. Wikipedia says it’s a traditional activity consisting of a recreation ride which has been loaded with hay or straw for “comfortable seating”. They say it harkens back to farmhands or kids riding the load of hay back to the barn for unloading. And has since become a tourism gimmick to generate income for the farmer. I guess that’s one way to do it.

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2024, animals, Farming Update, Uncategorized, work

The Price Is Right

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

Got the latest show open at RCTC. The Curious Savage. It’s a nice group of kids.


The paint was even dry. I finished the set, oh… tens of minutes before the doors opened.

There are always last-minute things to do, and I even added some set dressing bits after I finished the last of my set notes. I used the ‘rollerwall’ painting stencil to make wallpaper. It takes some practice, but it’s pretty cool.

“Rollerwall.com” – there are hundreds of patterns available. I also used two different rollers to make a pattern on the carpet. (There are plot points in the script regarding following a pattern on the carpet. “If people walked around the outside of the carpet… it would save wearing out the middle.”)

I’m Behind on a weeks’ worth of newspapers and evening news, which isn’t really such a problem to be honest. 


The grass is turning green, we’ve gotten some nice rain, the temps are warming up, and it really does look like spring is here. Should be a really nice weekend here in Minnesota. I’m starting to think it might be OK to take the snowblade off the tractor and hook up some tillage equipment.

Last Sunday Kelly and I went to Tractor Supply and picked up another dozen chicks. Supposed to be girls. Pullets. The sign said “pullets”, but when we went to check out, 8 of the 12 were marked ‘straight run’, meaning boys and girls. Time will tell. All the chicks are doing really well. Sixty of them sure do eat a lot.

I went to Fleet Farm and picked up two new feeders, plus another small waterer for the chicks, and a large 7-gallon unit for outside once they get a little bigger.

I know I have / had more waterers around. Evidently, I’ve put them somewhere. They’re the same place I’ve put the dogs tick meds, and some other things from home I can’t find lately. Maybe next week my head will be clearer, and I’ll find them. Especially now that I’ve purchased replacements.

I bought a flat trailer at an online auction this week. This trailer has open sides so it’s easy to load and unload pallets.

This was a construction equipment auction, and it was astounding to see the prices some of the equipment brought.

The dogs had to come along on the drive to pick up the trailer. It’s Luna and Humphrey in the header photo. Luna is an anxious traveler. Bailey was in the passenger seat with her nose on my hand.


This trailer is one of those things not critical to daily operation, but it helps at certain times, to make life easier. And I’ve been thinking about that lately. I watch a YouTube channel of a young lady that works on a dairy farm in Maine. https://youtube.com/@tayfarms?si=lFN-zT3XcZzWxrM9

They run some older equipment, and it doesn’t appear they have a lot of money. This spring they were having trouble with the barn cleaner chain. That’s the mechanism that takes the manure out of the gutters and, in their case, pumps it too a lagoon. One morning she said the chain had come off 3 times. And they’re always fixing something with the pump, and it just makes me sad. Life is too short to spend so much time fighting with stuff like this. And yet, replacing costs money too, and it’s a tough situation when you don’t have the money for some needed repair or upgrade. 

We’ve probably all been there. I certainly remember being young and newly married and trying to get ahead. But at what cost? 

Dad was proud to leave me with decent equipment when he retired. He always said his dad had left him junk and he spent more time fixing than farming. And I guess he instilled that in me. I’ve kept up his habit of having decent equipment and not ‘junk’.

WHAT HAVE YOU PURCHASED THAT YOU REALLY COULDN’T AFFORD?