A Farmer’s Cure for Insomnia

I did a bit of research. According to the CDC 30-40% of people in the United States suffer from some sort of insomnia. I have a sleep cure AND a way to make your children want to do homework every night!

Rocks.

We live in Eastern Iowa, recipient of Canadian Glaciers between 2.6 million to 10,000 years ago.

A Cure for Insomnia

We have beautiful soil and flat land for raising crops because of these ancient glaciers. There is another crop from the glaciers. Rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Rocks have to be picked up by hand in the spring and removed from our fields before they could be picked up by our combine in the fall and cause expensive damage.

Every spring rocks come to the surface of the soil. These rocks have to be picked up before the crop gets bigger, as the plant canopy hides rocks that could stop our combine in seconds.

It is tedious and tiring work. Pick up some rocks every day after dinner and you will not have a problem with insomnia.

A Large Pile of Field Rocks
Here’s a photo of some of the rocks picked up in the past few years. We are considering making it into a fence structure reminiscent of Ireland!
Farm Field With Scattered Rocks
Oh look! Something to do before we go to bed tonight!

What about homework?

Before your children start kindergarten have them help you with rock picking. Make it fun. But over the years, no matter how much fun you make this experience, they will grow tired of the rock-picking game.

When they are in middle and high school and are fidgeting about homework, ask them if they would like to either help pick up rocks or do their homework. They will chose homework every time! This tactic worked so well all of our children are college graduates!

An Alternative to Goat Yoga and Cow Cuddling?

Farm Field Rocks
There are those who practice Goat Yoga and Cow Cuddling. Could I sell you on some Rock Picking? I logged in 11,200 steps and hundreds of rock picking repetitions in this 3 hour session.

Searching for Big Fish!

Rock picking is like fishing. You really want to try to snag as many “Big Fish” as you can find! “Big Fish” rocks can wreck a combine and stall a harvest for many days in a matter of minutes.

Large Field Rocks
We snagged some “Big Fish” here! A rock lodged in a combine can create thousands of dollars of damage!

What do you do with all of these rocks? We offer them to anyone who would like to take them! Some rocks have details that make you wonder what happened to this rock during its existence.

Rock Erosion Control

The rocks we picked up today will be used for erosion control in this creek we have on this part of the farm. Notice the large expanse of green on either side. This is paramount to create green space to limit soil erosion.

Farm Creek With Rocks for Erosion Control

Small rocks are used to create a cobblestone effect on this driveway on top of the creek. The tires of the tractor will push them into the surface to create  a more solid surface to drive over the farm creek culvert.

Rocks to Make a Path

Be Blessed!

Love to hear what you think!