“I’d rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.” ― George Washington
We have to clean out the grain bins that hold some of last year’s corn and beans to make room for this year’s crop. Usually, the prices are a bit higher at this time than the rest of the year. Not this time. Our little commodity price gamble didn’t work as well as we planned.
Continue reading “Grain Bin Workout and Chocolate Honey Sauce”
Tiresome. That’s what this year’s growing season has become. You would think with such a wet spring, things would level off and rainfall would be timely for the rest of the growing season. Nah.
Continue reading “Extreme Midwest Weather and Grandma’s Cucumbers”
One of the worst nightmares a farmer can experience is having a flat tire on their combine in the middle of harvest. We noticed a flat tire on one of the combine tires yesterday. Dang it! But at least we can fix it before disaster strikes.
Continue reading “Changing Tires on Farm Machinery and Zucchini Casserole”
According to Bloomberg News, farmers are seeing the wettest weather in 124 years! Holy cats! That’s epic and NOT in a good way!
Continue reading “Field Bald Spots and Banana & Blueberry Muffins”
The abysmal weather affecting the effectiveness of herbicide and nitrogen applications and commodity prices have caused us to make a decision to go to Semi-Old School Farming this year.
I’ll just say it. If a farmer doesn’t care enough about the land they are entrusted to care for to create waterways to carry water properly off their land, they shouldn’t be farming.
What the heck! When it rains, it pours! The weather has not worked with us and it has been extremely wet and cool this spring. Usually, the crop (both corn and beans) is planted before the end of May. Not this year.
Continue reading “From Dawn ‘till Dusk and Sour Cream Yeast Rolls”
May is the time we all think about graduation. Maybe you have someone near and dear to your heart graduating from pre-school, high school or college. It’s such an exciting time for all! As a high school teacher I attended many graduation party venues congratulating many seniors. Here’s a speech I gave at the school I taught the year I retired. I made sure it was only 90 seconds.
Who wants to listen to a long speech at graduation? I don’t see any hands up!
Continue reading “It’s Your Graduation and Iced Coffee Pudding”
It’s time to plant corn. This is an important event on our farm.
This year’s planting season is not ideal. We’ve had a lot of rain and the weather is cool. The truth is, we have two choices to plant; corn or beans. The deep dark soil of Iowa and the humid nights and days of summer are well suited to growing bumper crops of corn and beans. Twenty years ago we also planted oats that also made straw for farrowing hogs. Those days are long gone.