Category Archives: Farming Update

2023, animals, Farming Update, Food, Kids, Nature, pets

Knock Knock

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

I used to have dad stories, and I am disappointed in myself that I don’t remember as many of them as there really are.

These days I have mom stories. Mom is 97 1/2 years old and in pretty good health, and while not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she’s 97 1/2 years old, and she forgets things, and she’s blind, and she gets anxious. I cut her some slack when she calls me for the sixth time to ask if she should get out of bed yet. Might be 9 AM, might be 10 PM, might be 2 AM.  I’m also very lucky there’s five kids; four of which live around here (one of whom was a geriatric nurse practitioner) and we all share daily texts on how mom is doing. Mom’s Alexa has been a lifesaver; it’s what allows her to make those phone calls. But mom mumbles and Alexa hears all sorts of random things. And she turns the music up and down, up and down, up and down, and then it’s so quiet she can’t hear it when she calls us. Mom started using it a few years ago when she was still in her apartment, so it kind of got ingrained. Social workers and nursing staff have complimented us on how helpful Alexa is to her. And my mom, true to form, has become a bit of a trendsetter because other residents in her senior place have gotten Alexa’s of their own. Attaway Mom! Makes me think of one of my favorite jokes. “Mom says, ‘If everybody else was jumping off a bridge, would you jump too?’ ‘Mom, you taught me to be a leader, not a follower.’ ” 

Typically I do a rough draft of the blog on Thursday, then proof-read (which clearly doesn’t always work) and clean it up on Friday. My computer ate Thursday’s draft, but the second draft is always better anyway. As I was writing Thursday night, daughter was making a couple of fried eggs. Time management is not her strong suit. She will set the burner to low medium heat, put a couple eggs in, and then go back to her room. I was writing, I got distracted, at some point 20+ minutes later, I said, “have you checked your eggs“. (She says she likes them crunchy)  And I hear her door, and hear her in the kitchen, from where she will yell, “I got it, Dad“ Yep, she’s always got it.

I haven’t talked about the chickens lately. They are just hanging in there. Egg production is down a bit, which is to be expected this time of year. These layer hens were born in April 2022, so they are past peak production. This year’s chicks, which I got in June 2023, may start laying about January or so, and will hit peak production along about March or April. 

Crops are still standing, ten-day forecast looks good, so I’m trying not to stress about that either. I did get the outside of the shop windows trimmed and sealed. Then I walked into the shed and saw the box with the foam sealer strips that I bought specifically for that project.

Sigh.

I did some more work on the inside getting two by fours on the wall so I can finish the interior steel.

Took the carburetor off my old 630 tractor, I’ve watched a few videos of how to rebuild it and I’ve ordered the overhaul kit. (Got a hat for $0.99!) Fixing that carburetor has been on my list all summer, so I look forward to getting that checked off.

I’ve dragged up some scrap iron. I need to get some of that cut up so it fits on the trailer, and while it isn’t the end of the scrap, (because do we ever really get an end?), it is the last of the piles right around the shed that I wanted to get done. I will be able to cross that off my list shortly. 

Luna the dog really has settled in. She and Humphrey have a good time wrestling and playing tug-of-war.

Friday afternoon, we took all the dogs out for a run/walk/ride,

way out in the East pasture where we don’t often go. So many new smells for Luna! And that’s when we lost her. Thankfully she had gone home, but we drove a long way looking for her, calling her, and met some neighbors, and saw a lot of pasture (header photo by Kelly) looking for her. And Kelly and I were both stressing. I don’t know if we got out of her sight, or earshot, or what. But thank Goodness she knew enough to go home.

Sigh.

ANY DEVICES LISTENING TO YOU AT YOUR HOUSE?

2023, animals, Family, Farming Update, Kids, Theatre

See My House

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

I can see my house from here! *

Not much happening on the crop front this week, other than it was 17° one morning, and the weeds are finally dead. Still a few Boxelder bugs around.

I got everything put away that shouldn’t be frozen. Except for one hose that was kind of in an out-of-the-way location, and when I pulled it down the hill to let it drain,  I had a flashback to how many times I did that when I was feeding and watering calves. Depending how much water they needed, sometimes I would just use 5-gallon buckets, and sometimes I would use the hose. When finished, I would pull the hose down this hill so it could drain as I coiled it back up and hung it on the inside door of the feed room. The door closed into the dairy barn and it was always warm in there in the winter time. In fact, we needed exhaust fans because it would get too humid from the cow’s breath. But we didn’t need heaters. I have mentioned before what a cozy place the barn could be on a winter night.

All that from draining a hose.

The college kids put on 12 performances of our play this week, two per day for elementary school kids plus two Saturday shows. 

It was fun to have that energy back in the theater, fun to see the kids and hear their reactions: everything from being impressed with the stairway up to the second floor, the candy machines in the hallway, to the art departments drawings of bodies.

Wasn’t anything lewd, but they sure did gawk. I took to standing right there just ahead of the drawings, talking to the kids, and trying to keep them moving. As long as the line ahead of them didn’t get bogged down, it wasn’t a problem. Thursday morning, I noticed the art teacher changing the display. Just a routine change, not complaints or anything. 😊

I finally got back to working on my shed. I got some of the steel on the east wall, 10-foot-tall pieces below a beam. I hope to have a balcony on that end so there will be more steel above the beam. I cut a bunch of sheets at 5 foot and them on the north wall, Then I put a 2 x 6 on the wall above them so I have a place to hang tools if want, and then will have more steel above that. I also need the outside of my windows trimmed. I thought I had a guy that was going to do it,  but he stopped returning my phone calls, so I’m doing it myself. I have a plan for some of it, and the rest I’m making it up as I go.

The other day, as I took daughter into town, we heard the song “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas. I mentioned the band Boston, and wondered how many other band names there are based on places. Other than the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Chicago, I didn’t come up with any. The next day she mentioned a song called “The Final Countdown” by the band Europe. I was impressed with her! She’s perfecting her sense of sarcasm too. We couldn’t be more proud.  

The dogs are doing really well together. Luna doesn’t seem to like the snow or cold. Kelly sent me this picture with the caption, “Luna watching and waiting for the snow to melt”.

*Header photo from Gonda 14 at Mayo Clinic. On the horizon are two towers. They’re along our driveway.

BANDS  NAMED FOR PLACES?
Whatta ya got?

2023, Art, Farming Update, home, Theatre, Uncategorized, work

Don’t Forget Your Jacket

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

This week has all been about the theater. Well, Covid and Theatre, I guess. Wait, Covid was last week. It’s all a blur. I’m over the symptoms, but still testing positive. Good thing I work alone most of the time. And by now I shouldn’t be contagious anymore.

It’s rained a lot lately. And now it’s getting cold. We’ve had more than six inches of rain since the end of September. Oh well.

We open a show Saturday, and then next week will be two shows a day for all five days. Kids are bused in from the local area elementary schools. This kid show has always been a big hit for us, and of course we haven’t been able to do one since 2019. We were afraid we had lost a lot of the contacts at the schools and weren’t really sure what kind of reception we’d get this year. We feel really lucky to have an audience for all 10 shows, including three that are sold out. The play is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth night’ called “Lions in Illyria” by Robert Kauzlaric. Very cartoony and big and goofy and the kids should enjoy it. And short at 65 minutes. The three days I missed with Covid would have been helpful about now. I’m sure the paint will be dry by Saturday afternoon. Things will be ‘good enough’. I did take a few shortcuts, I called in some favors. The show must go on. As long as we can keep cast healthy.

I have a can full of stir sticks at the college. I’m pretty sure some of them were here when I started the job 17 years ago. I do know that I threw out a bunch a few years ago and for this show I decided to put all the ones that I’ve used a different container, because I feel like the sticks at the back of the first can were being neglected. Kelly was in to help paint one day and her goal was to use up all the stir sticks. She made a good dent in it. The can on the left is the unused sticks for the show, and the can on the right are the ones that I have used.


I learned how to paint marble for the show. The white and pink one I painted using a ripped T-shirt. My friend Paul came in and painted the green one. He makes it look so easy. And he enjoyed having an easy project like this.


I’ve talked with Crop Insurance about my soybeans. We started some preliminary claims just so the paperwork is out there. I’ve got until December 10 to get them harvested. After that we just write it off and let them go to insurance. This week of 20° temps at night will certainly freeze everything, but honestly, I’m not sure if the beans will ever dry down enough to harvest. We would need a good week of clear sunny, warmish temperatures and that’s really pushing it this time of the year. But with these weather patterns, who knows. I get home about 10:00 PM these nights (after rehearsal) and I was out picking up hoses and taking the outside faucet off the wellhouse. I need to pick up the pressure washer and hand sprayer yet.

Luna has moved right in and made herself at home. Our bed is her favorite place to be now. She loves to play catch and Tug-O-War. She’s shredded a few toys. And we’ve left her home alone and she’s just fine. Doesn’t like it, but at least she’s not chewing up the furniture.

THINGS THAT NEVER WEAR OUT?

2023, animals, Family, Farming Update, Health, home, pets, Uncategorized

Appreciate it

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Today’s Farming Update is from Ben

It’s been a rough week.

My mom was diagnosed with Covid Sunday. Nothing serious, (well, for a 97 yr old, anything is serious) but she just had cold symptoms. I visited her Sunday afternoon to help with supper and see how she was doing. I used extra precautions. And by Thursday she was pretty much back to her normal.

Monday morning, we learned of the death of one of Kelly’s coworkers. A woman who was the party planner and team cheerleader at work, and usually Kelly’s confidant and meeting co-giggler and chief conspirator. “DD” had become a good friend of the family and she was the first to bring cookies and lemonade when I had shoulder surgery and back surgery. She’d been fighting cancer for 8 years and nothing was working. She started some last-ditch efforts this fall, while being told all the side effects, and the possibility of having about 6 months left. Her son is in 11th grade, and her plan was to be here through his graduation. And then, well, the plan changed. She’d been in the hospital for a few weeks and breathing had become an issue. Then she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She never could get a break. Kelly and I always said she just needed a ‘do over’. Her son is the young padawan who worked with me over the summers. There’s a lot of support and family around and we all hope he realizes that and overcomes all the forthcoming obstacles. Mom and son had talked about this possibility and things are set up well for him.

Tuesday evening, I tested positive for Covid. Made it through 3 years! Just cold symptoms; stuffy nose, a bit of a cough. Tired, with some body aches Wednesday. Right after I told Kelly I shouldn’t be running heavy machinery, I went out and used the tractor and loader and ripped out some stumps and moved some junk, leveled some gravel, and hauled more in, and scraped up some dirt and filled in a hole in the yard that had been there since July. Sometimes we just need to do it, right?  It didn’t involve physical labor, and I needed a nap afterward. By Friday I’m feeling pretty good, still testing positive, and I can tell I have covid brain.

Wednesday, I got word of another death. A fellow theater technician in Rochester. Janet was a lighting designer and technical director at the civic theater for years. She had told me her cancer was back and she had started treatments. She said it was terminal, but she might last 10 years, and she laughed. Two weeks later, she had died. I don’t know details, but it’s another reminder we need to be grateful for each day.

Do the thing! Say I Love You! Make the call! Get past the bitterness!

DD and Janet were just such great people. And it sucks so much they’ve left us too early.

——————————————————————————————-

Nothing harvested yet. I’ve said the soybeans should be OK. “There will at least be a crop there” is what I said last week. That’s still true, but they need to actually be harvested and sold before I can count them. Mine still have some green in them. While we had 27 degrees last week, that was only in the low spots and many plants and weeds are still green. And with the damp, cool weather we’re having, harvest of soybeans isn’t happening. According to the USDA production report and statistics, as of 10/15, 76% of soybeans had been harvested. About average. Soybeans are very susceptible to moisture, so these cool days makes them hard to get dry enough to combine, and the more we get into November, the more cool days we get. So, we keep our fingers crossed.  The corn won’t be an issue getting harvested. Barring windstorms knock-on-wood. I’d like it before the ground freezes so I can do tillage work.

The puppy. We’ve named her Luna. She’s pretty much decided to stay here.

She’s very food oriented and will do anything we want if there’s a treat offered.

The last few days we haven’t had her on a leash. Humphrey has decided she’s not much of a threat. They don’t interact a lot, and he’s got his pillows, which she doesn’t use, and he just kind of accepts this is what it is now. We give him a lot of extra attention. Bailey and Luna play a lot together. I think Bailey is more annoyed that even Luna gets to go in the house! Luna doesn’t pay much attention to the chickens. She can run 25 MPH! We’re in the gator timing her. She’s crazy fast!

I’ve been working out in the shop the last few days getting the door put on the gator. It’s getting colder out, and we want doors. Our first gator had doors, but it was a lemon. This gator showed up without hard doors; it had the net half doors. I ordered the door kit, which showed up in a box 4’ wide and 6’ long on a pallet just as big. While I worked on them, the dogs either hung out inside with me or outside where Luna chewed up a bunch of sticks.

The gator turned over 100 miles. And at 17.7 hours, that’s only 5.6 MPH, which seems kinda slow. With Luna, I’m sure the average will creep up.

I’ve said before how I take the dogs outside before bed and I spend a few minutes out there watching the stars. My buddy Orion is back if I stay up late enough. Jupiter has been a bright light all year. I am grateful.

HOW ARE YOU DOING ON YOUR BUCKET LIST?

2023, animals, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, pets, Theatre, Uncategorized

Nice Things

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

We finally had a hard freeze, 27° at our house Tuesday night. It finally killed off that wild tomato plant that was taking over the driveway. There was still a ton of green tomatoes on there. That was some plant.

The soybeans had pretty much reached maturity; they had lost about 50% of their leaves, so there will at least be a crop there. They’re short and the beans will probably be small, but it won’t be a total loss. The people who do my harvesting said they’re just about done with their beans, which is pretty impressive. It’s just the way this year will be: lower yields mean the combine can drive faster in the fields, lower yields mean fewer truckloads, which means it doesn’t take as long. 

I’ve been delivering some straw lately for mulch, or some to put around trailer homes, or to cover their garlic. Even some for ‘pumpkin bowling’ at a church.

The 40th anniversary for the Repertory Theatre went real well. A lot of good compliments and it was fun to see some people from when the theater first started, including one gentleman that I didn’t think would even remember me just because I didn’t have much to do with him. But he had some pretty good stories and once again, you never know the impact of your actions. I didn’t know Jeff had moved into Dave‘s apartment because Dave had moved in with Skip. I didn’t realize Kim, who was filling a sabbatical at WSU, had brought in Kris and Jeff because they were students.  Dare I say a nice time was had by all. There was a champagne reception and showing my age again, some of the people didn’t know how to open a champagne bottle. I knew. I was in a cast one that won a cast party battle of drinking more champagne / person than any other cast. 2+ bottles / person one night. I haven’t liked champagne since. Ah, to be young.

I talked about naming calves after people at the theater. The header photo is Michael, Thom, and Kim in the theater office about 1985.

The puppy. I guess we have a new dog. She does need to pass a few tests yet, Humphrey hasn’t totally accepted her and she needs to not eat chickens.

But she and Humphrey are getting acquainted, and I think Humphrey has relaxed a little. He’ll stress out again if she comes in the house. He’s the biggest dog, and he’s also the most sensitive.

This puppy, which we think looks like a German Shorthair Pointer Pitbull mix, (sometimes called Pointerbulls), has a lot of attitude. She’s only half Humphrey’s weight and size, but the attitude coupled with her puppy eagerness will be a lot for Humphrey to put up with. The vet discovered she does actually have a chip, but they said it was not registered. Then they talked to a place in Oklahoma that tracked her to someone in Oklahoma. That woman gave the puppy to her cousin, who moved to Rochester, and into an apartment building where she couldn’t keep the dog, and that woman gave puppy to someone else. The veterinarian’s office gave us this man’s name and phone number, and when we called there, a woman answered the phone who knew nothing about a dog and no person of that name. The cruelty of people dumping animals is just abhorrent. This puppy is so smart! She’s potty trained, she’s very good on a leash, she knows basic commands, she loves to fetch, and does she have a lot of energy! We’re still looking for a suitable name.

We got a truckload of dirt / mulch on Wednesday afternoon and filled in a space Kelly has been working on all summer. Wanted to get that in place before it rained. Any fresh laid dirt we have to cover with plastic snow fence to keep the chickens from rooting it up, and even the dogs from digging.

Chickens.

And this is why we can’t have nice things…

DID YOU HAVE A NICKNAME GROWING UP?

(Of course, we want to know what it was!)

2023, animals, Family, Farming Update, Nature, pets, Theatre, Uncategorized

Crisis

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben

“Any idiot can face a crisis; it’s day-to-day living that wears you out.” – Anton Chekhov

Sometimes near the end of the day, Kelly and I hug, and sigh, and comment on the plain, old, day to day living. And then we go do something else that needs to be done for the day.

This weekend the Rochester Repertory Theater opens their 40th Season. There’s a celebration planned. Preparations for that have kept us busy for a while. Of course, there’s a committee and some people handled food, some set up lobby displays, Kelly found and organized old photos of shows and people. I mounted a TV in the lobby and some other misc things. It’s been really fun to go back through these old photos. I started at the Rep when I was 20. It was 1984. Of the four founders: Thom, Kim, and Michael had gone to college together. They brought in Jeanne, whom Michael knew, and the Rep was off and running. I came along shortly after that when I worked a show with Michael at another theater, and he invited me to help out at the Rep. Thom was one of my mentors. I learned a lot from him. Kim is the philosophical one. I learned a lot from him too.

Especially at that age! Do you remember all the stuff you did then? With the whole wide world open in front of you?? We did some crazy stuff. From the banner over Broadway, to the all night cast parties, to the floats in parades, and the acquisition of lumber. They are great memories.

We’ve all been there; young and broke and you did what you had to do to survive. It’s where I ‘courted’ Kelly. I had met her at the Rochester Civic Theater, but I got her to work on a show at the Rep. That way I knew where she’d be every night. (Another fun fact; the Rep was performing at the college that summer, in Hill Theater, where I now work. We joke we courted in the parking lot.)

But that fact we made it forty years. Wow. It wasn’t always easy, and there was talk of closing the doors a few times. Our Treasurer, Mark, had more than a few sleepless nights. It will be fun to catch up with people and visit with people we haven’t seen in 30 years. I was in some shows, as well as working backstage. When the guys gave me a key to the building, little did they know what they were getting in me. But I thought I was pretty hot stuff to get a key! I named calves after everyone. In those days before photoshop, I would make two copies and would cut out the calf photo and stick it on a photo of their theater office.

This was me in the show “Loot!”

Some of the neighbor’s cows came to visit one day. Our regular rental cows are about ready to go back home, so the guys are letting them come into the barn yard and will haul them out one of these days. So, when I saw a cow there, I wasn’t too surprised. But Kelly said it was an unusual coloring. It was an Oreo cow and I know we don’t have one of them in the pasture. Been a while since I had to chase a cow. At least it wasn’t midnight in a cornfield and chasing cows by sound. Been there done that and it’s a miserable experience. These two cows were already in the yard, so we just had to lock them in the pole barn, and call the neighbor, and he showed up with his trailer and one went in easy while the other one had to make 3 trips around the pen and scatter us a few times before she went in. I told them I didn’t miss chasing cows.

One morning as I made a sandwich for work, the bread drawer became too much even for me. I keep a supply of twist ties in there; never know when you might need one. But the crumbs, the excessive supply of twist ties (seriously, when’s the last time I used one??) and the package of tortilla shells that expired in June. Sigh. Cleaned it all out, vacuumed it, And, it made me happy. Sometimes we just hit our limit. Sometimes it’s the little things.

Picked up a stray dog for the township. She’s a sweetheart. I don’t know if we’re keeping her yet. Our existing dogs aren’t sure yet. Especially the chickens aren’t sure. No collar and haven’t found any missing dogs matching her description. I’ve told the deputies we have her. We’ll see. You’ll know if she’s still here next week.

Oh. The Farm update. A lot of neighbors are going on soybeans. Mine are still turning color and starting to lose some leaves. The rye is growing, along with the oats left in the field, (header photo) but at least it looks pretty good. The corn. It’s odd how there will be green plants right next to dried out plants. I’m not sure what’s up with that. Different maturity seed in the bag?

Fall is here. We’ll be completing the circle soon.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF FROM YOUR YOUTH?

2023, animals, Automotive, Family, Farming Update, Travel

Road Trip

41 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

I took tires down to Millville MN last Saturday morning, then over to Plainview for parts.

A few days later, went back to Millville to pick up the tires.  Millville is the location of Appel Tire; they’ve been fixing our farm tires, and replacing car or truck tires, since I was a kid. I’m not sure why or when dad started using them, it’s one of those family-owned business we like to support, and we have always used them.

If you’re in a hurry, it’s a bit of a drive; about 25 minutes from our place. But all country roads and usually not much traffic. And there’s about 3 ways to get there so it satisfies my desire for a different route each way. 

One of the routes is a bit out of my way, but when it works, it’s worth the trip. Wabasha County Rd 11 goes off Hiway 63, through the village of Hammond,

where it picks up the Zumbro River,

and follows that to Millville.  I go in the shop doors of Appel Service, (the doors are always open unless it’s winter), I talk to the guys working on cars, and then into the office. Joe is working today. It’s his grandfather that started the business in 1948. 

Around the corner is Whiskey Dicks, and further on, the Stumble In, but that’s only open for breakfast and it used to be owned by a guy named Jim, who helped on the farm when my folks went to Europe for a three week vacation when I was 16 years old. They’d never been out of the country before–especially not for three weeks– and I’d never run the farm alone for 3 weeks!  Whisky Dicks used to be the Lucky 7 and they had grape pop, but not anymore. 

If you’re in a hurry, Appel’s will fix your tires while you wait. At least some of the of the lunch crowd have vehicles at Appel’s and the rest are locals. I was gonna just do a cheeseburger and fries, but the special was a chicken sandwich. Millville is way down in a valley along the river; looks like an offshoot of the driftless area. Cell service is non-existent, so that’s nice over lunch. A slice of butter toffee cake for the road and to share with Kelly. The sandwich and the fries were fresh out of the fryer and so hot I had to let them sit a while before eating. I admired the flour sacks and burlap seed bags stapled to the ceiling. A pool table took up the middle of the main room. I didn’t get over to the bar area. And the bathroom mirror made me look real good.

I made a loop around the cemetery on my way out of town, said Hello to some of the dead relatives and thought about them. Millville also has a gun shop that I’ve only been in once when I bought a shotgun at an auction. 

Forty years ago, when I was measuring grain bins and fields for the ASCS Office, I’d drive a few of these roads. Driving to Millville that day I went past Larry’s place. He sold Pioneer seed and he had the first Cellular phone I had seen. Hooked to his truck and the lights flashed and horn honked when it rang, and he’d run back to the truck to answer. He was a lot of fun to work with. I drove past another place where I measured the grain in some bins, mixed up the numbers on a measurement, and the boss had to go back out there and verify. That’s just up the road from the place dad bought a lousy snow blower, and across the road from the guy everyone knew was a lousy farmer and how junky his place was and still is. Not too far from the place where the ladder fell over after I got inside the grain bin. I was able to get out and jump down. Forty years younger remember.

Closer to home is Norms, where I watched him pull a tractor stuck in 18” of mud with his pickup truck. Norm taught me how to drive a grain truck, too. “Drive this to Viola, kid.”

Crops are maturing. Been raining most of the week it seems. Rye is growing. We got 9 guineas, which is a surprise because we’ve only had 7 for a long time. Two must have been on nests. No word on the other chicks this week. One of the June pullets we ordered turned out to be a rooster. I’ve said sexing male or female chicks isn’t a perfect science. And they all look the same for 4 months. And now they’re in puberty and his voice is changing and he’s still learning how to crow. Imagine trying to figure out HOW to crow and your voice cracking at the same time. That’s what he sounds like.

Kelly thinks she’s spotted him. I haven’t yet.

Whats the worst sound you’ve heard?  Best?

2023, animals, Automotive, Farming Update, gardening, Nature

The Path Less Traveled

44 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Going home the other day and I was thinking about the grassy strip down the middle of our driveway. I don’t remember that happening when I was a kid. And maybe it’s because back then several tractors had narrow front tires. Meaning the front wheels were right under the hood and ran down the middle of the road, so maybe that kept the grass down.

Dad bought a ‘wide’ front end for the 730 tractor at some point. It had to do with mowing hay and how you didn’t want to run over what you had just cut. It also gives the tractor more stability, but that wasn’t such a big deal back then. There were even some tractors that had single front tires. (Dad used to talk about getting new rear tires on the 630 tractor, then mowing in the calf pen where there is a pretty good hill and the tractor slid sideways down the hill because the lugs on the new tires were too straight.) After he arrived at the bottom, unscathed, after he got off and kissed the ground and thanked the Lord, he ordered different tires to be put on the tractor. Not that wide front tires would have helped that. All tractors have wide front ends now. And we have a grassy strip down the middle of the road.

Along the lines of ‘remember when’, I miss grocery stores loading your groceries. I know there are a few that will still. Was that a convenience or not? Seems like it would have been. The store employees wouldn’t have to go get carts and there wouldn’t be cart corrals taking up parking spaces. Let alone checking ourselves out in the store. Barlows, which was the ‘fancy’ grocery store when I was growing up, had an underground grocery delivery system. They had two lines of cars picking up groceries; the groceries were put in totes, which came up in an island between two lanes. Faster service, I guess. We never went there. It just sounds like a cool idea. Only once in my life do I remember going to a full-service gas station. It was prom night, and I was in a tux. I got full service that night. No inuendo intended.

I talked about all the acorns a couple weeks ago. Mixed in with the acorns is goose poop. Rochester is known for the Giant Canadian Goose. There are mixed opinions about those gooses. They used to be bragged about and families would travel from all over to see and feed the 5000+ geese at Silver Lake. The power plant discharged warm water into the lake, so it never froze over, which is why the geese liked it so well. As you can imagine, that is a lot of goose poop. I remember the city buying a ‘Mean Green Poop Machine’. The local Post Bulletin had a snipped about it.

“The Green Machine’s days were less bright. Ballyhooed on its arrival as the same equipment put to work around Buckingham Palace (a certain park department leader was heard to exclaim that if it was good enough for the queen of England, it was good enough for the city of Rochester), in the end all the machine delivered was a big, filthy smear to rival that of any political mudfight.”

The machine arrived in May of 1999. It sat in storage for a long time and was ultimately traded in on something else in roughly 2015. They tried hard to market them; there was goose poop art, and the goose is on the Rochester city flag.

There was talk of an updated city flag. I don’t know what became of that since the new design finalists in 2018.

Mother Clucker was down to 9 chicks last time we saw them. They’ve pretty much decided they don’t have to listen to Mom anymore and they spread out all over on their own. She seems to have abandoned them; or at least given up shepherding them. The last few days we just haven’t been down there or around enough to see them. Last night when they were all in the pen, I only found 5 MC Chicks. Four were on one side, one was all alone in mama’s old nesting spot, and all the spring chicks were jammed in behind the screen door. It’s possible there’s more chicks in there somewhere.

My soybeans have begun to turn yellow. You can see from the header photo, they’re not even Humphrey tall. Once they start turning yellow, within a few days the entire field will be yellow, then the leaves all off. Harvest could be a month out yet for me. Some guys will be going any day now.

Had my young friend Josh out last week to climb on the roof and do all those things I *shouldn’t* do anymore.

He made it look so easy! He made it look like I should be able to do that. And I’d climb to the top of the ladder…but that last step from ladder to roof, I just don’t feel comfortable, nor trust myself, doing it. And I didn’t. And he got it all taken care of. Over the new shop area, he replaced the old poly skylights with steel, and replaced a missing skylight down in the pole barn. I checked a couple more things off the list.

If you can’t beat them, join them. Discussion?

2023, animals, Business, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Seasons

There’s Always Hope?

29 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Maybe the crops won’t be as bad as I feared. I was looking at the soybeans this past week and there are a fair number of pods higher up the plant. The plants are about knee high, and it looks like the weather will hold for a few weeks yet. We’re at 2845 growing degree units. 368 above normal for Rochester. Mind you, I’m not saying great crops, but not as bad as I thought. Ha, probably just be good enough not to trigger a payment from crop insurance, which is based on 70% of expected (average) yields. I did get a $700 credit on the premium for hail damage. So, I only owe $600 rather than $1300. Which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp cornstalk.

I did plant some rye on Monday and more on Thursday evening. The rain predicted for Friday morning isn’t going to a mounted to much. We wait and see. I spotted a couple sandhill cranes while out planting on both days. They must like this field. It was interesting: On Monday I had gone around the field once, turned around at the end of the field and was coming back when I saw them in the middle of the field. Were they there on the first round? I was maybe 150’ from them and they didn’t pay me too much attention. But then as I came around the corner and got closer, they flew off. Sorry kids, you didn’t get much of a rest here. Thursday was the same thing; didn’t see them on the first pass and then there they were. I adjusted how I planted that field so they could hang out longer. When the time came and I had to go their way, they had flown off.

I was working at the college one day and I dropped a cable down a ventilation shaft. Course it wasn’t a plain old power cord, it was a special 4 pin data cable. I can see it down there and maybe with a long stick and a hook on the end, I’m thinking I can retrieve it. Stay tuned.

I’ve been scraping gravel from the machine shed approach.

Over the years I’ve added a lot of gravel to the road. Now with the cement pad being the same level as the shed interior, the driveway is 8” too high. I’ve mentioned before the water running in the shed door. So, I’ve been scraping. Man, it’s packed hard. Some rain would help that too. I’m not real good at being an excavator operator. And using the tractor loader isn’t ideal either, but it works. I can’t quite tell yet if there’s just dirt under there or still gravel. Dad must have had rock there when he built this shed in 1981. I may have to go an extra 4” deep and put gravel back on top. I’m using this rock to fill in some holes and the extra will go on the other end of the cement where it is more dirt.

Daughter likes to do her chores: whether it’s hauling out garbage, doing her laundry (I know, right??) collecting eggs, and last night she even threw out corn for the chickens and chicks. Mother-Clucker is down to 12, lost one. The kids are getting pretty independent, and mom is giving them their freedom too. It’s not unusual to see them running 20’ away from mom. They’re between robin and pigeon sized.

Ever had a cement pond at your house? How was that?

(Are you aware Irene Ryan ((Granny)) was a Tony nominated actress and has an acting scholarship in her name?)

2023, Farming Update, History, Nature, Seasons

Still Dry

53 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

No rain to speak of around here yet. We had some mist a couple different days, and at least it’s cooler now and I like that. 

I see some farmers chopping corn silage. I miss doing that; it was a fun job. It smelled good, it unloaded easy, and it was a very satisfying job. The loads were heavy and if it was muddy that made it harder with the small tractor I used to pull the wagons. For a lot of years, Dad ran the chopper and I pulled the wagons home to unload. There were a few years I did it myself because he was working or retired. Maybe that’s why I just feel like doing things myself so much these days. Yes, fall is coming; I have seen some corn crops really drying out and turning brown both because of reaching physical maturity or because they’re on lighter soils and it’s so dry, the crop is just done. (Especially noticeable in rocky ground; that dried out sooner). 

Soybeans are starting to turn yellow and will soon be losing leaves. Not mine, but most or the better-looking crops. My weeds are flourishing in the bean fields. My sister made the comment that she was glad to see some weeds because that meant I wasn’t “drowning the fields with herbicides”. Hmm, Well. All those weeds will be going to seed and making that many more weeds next year. And if the beans dry out but the weeds haven’t frozen yet, that makes harvesting more difficult. Plus the nutrients they’re using that the crop should be using. We can be pro or con to herbicides and chemicals, but we have to be sure we’re looking at both sides of the situation. Crop rotation helps with weed control too, so these fields being corn next year will stop next year’s weed, but those seeds…you know they just hide out and wait. 

A few weeks ago, I talked about planting winter rye as a cover crop. I haven’t planted yet because it won’t grow until it gets some moisture in the soil. It’s just hot, dry dirt right now. Chance of rain again Sunday, but that’s the only rain in the forecast. And if it gets too late in the season, is it worth planting? I don’t know yet. 

The barn swallows have moved on. It sure is quiet with them gone. We miss them a lot. 

Lots of acorns falling. And walnuts. We have one horse chestnut tree I planted from a seed that I picked up outside of our church when I was a kid. Mom says it’s a wonder it ever grew as I was always digging it up to see if it was growing yet. Well, boy, it has a lot of nuts on it now and it seems like 60% of them sprout in the spring. I’ve used the chestnuts for barnacles in plays. And I used to fill my Tonka dump truck with acorns. There are oak trees around the college theater and every morning as I walk in, I step on the acorns and have warm memories. 

Mother-clucker still has her 13 chicks!  

The John Deere Company stopped making moldboard plows this year. A moldboard plow is the traditional looking plow that you’d picture in your mind. The name ‘moldboard’ comes from the biggest metal curved piece that tips over the dirt. That fact it was metal is what made the man, John Deere, famous. From 1837 to 2023, the John Deere company made plows. It’s what started and made the company. It’s a big deal to let that go and there’s been some online debate over it. But that style of farming has changed. The benefit of the moldboard plow was how it could cut the plant roots and turn over that virgin soil. For a lot of years, that was the tool that was needed. These days, as we do more conservation tillage and have equipment that can plant into more plant residue, turning the soil over completely isn’t as critical. At the bottom of the moldboard was the ‘share’. The tip of that was the first piece to wear away from the soil contact. (Isaiah 2:4, “…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares…”)  

Here’s a website with more about plows and plowing than you knew you needed to know: 

Click to access The%20Moldboard%20Plow.pdf

I still have a 4 bottom plow at home. I used it when I took some Conservation Reserve ground out of the reserve program and put it back into cropland. Using a chisel plow on sod ground– (“sod” being alfalfa hay, grass, or pasture. Basically, any kind of grassland with the deep, tangled roots) — using a chisel plow, it takes about 2 years for the soil to really break down enough to be workable because it doesn’t turn it over completely or cut the roots so cleanly. I also use the moldboard plow when a neighbor wants part of his hayfield plowed up in order to reseed the next year. 

Plowing makes a ‘furrow’ after the last row. That furrow is a trench about 5” deep and 16” wide that you put the tractor tire in for the next round. (If everything is lined up right). At the last round of the field, you try not to make such a deep furrow. That last round is called the ‘dead furrow’. You want to remember how you plowed this year, so the next year you can go the other direction, therefore moving the dead furrow to the other side of the field. Clyde, what would you like to say about plowing? At the end of the field, how did you turn with that? Did you have to lift it or roll it on the side?

Any songs about nuts?