The scurs were talking more seasonal temperatures and that’s exactly what we wound up with. More of the same or does winter make an encore performance? Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with highs near 60 and lows around 40. Mostly clear becoming partly cloudy on Thursday with highs of 55- 60. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of rain by evening. Highs again near 60 and lows around 45. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a chance of rain then clearing by evening. Highs of 60 and lows of 40. Partly cloudy on Sunday with highs again near 60 and lows in the 40 range. Partly cloudy on Monday with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 55 and lows dropping to near 30. Mostly cloudy and cooler on Tuesday with a good chance of rain. Highs around 50 and lows of 35 – 40. On April 6th we will see a Full Moon and will be above 13 hours of daylight for the first time since early last September. The normal high for April 8th is 53 and the normal low is 32. The scurs will have to wear their jackets when planting their potatoes on Good Friday.
The Full Moon for April 6th happens to occur on Good Friday. Traditionally it is known as the Full Pink Moon for the flowers that would bloom in the forest floor of the Northeast. It also goes by the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, The Full Egg Moon and the Full Fish Moon. The Ojibwe called this the Broken Snowshoe Moon and the Sioux knew it as the Moon of Greening Grass. This year there is no question the grass is greening and the ewes on pasture have been enjoying every sweet blade of it much to the chagrin of our hay supplier.
There has been some steady fieldwork but most are convinced there could be a price to be paid for corn planted much before mid-April. Such was the case in 2010 when the largest corn froze hard and made farmers scratch their heads for several weeks as it struggled to recover. Annual broadleaf weeds such as lambsquarters, giant and common ragweed are appearing on unworked ground so there will be an opportunity to remove them with the first tillage pass. Small grains are loving the weather conditions we’ve had and hopefully the early start will help the wheat get by the bacterial leaf streak that has hounded it the past two seasons. Alfalfa has also enjoyed the early start. If the weather stays warm and we get some beneficial rains, we could see some harvested by mid-May. Not that there is a hay shortage just yet but there could be by the time fall rolls around given the amount of hay ripped up in favor of planting corn. Every cutting counts. Rainfall continues to fall in small, measured amounts, a pattern that has been in place since late last summer. For the month of March at the ranch we recorded 1.33” and at the SROC in Waseca 1.93. In addition, temperature records were shattered although with four consecutive days at 79 degrees, we never did see an official 80 degree high there or at the ranch. It is still the warmest March on record though.
In the garden at the ranch, the radishes have grown but perhaps not as fast as one would’ve guessed. Windy, cooler cloudy weather this past week put a damper on their progress. The peas emerged very spotty although as was mentioned previously, there is still plenty of time to plant more. That’s the plan anyway as the seed order arrived Monday with plenty of snap peas for the early garden. The early potatoes will go in on Good Friday, weather permitting of course. Some new Yukon Gold and baby red Norland spuds sound mighty tasty come July. The rhubarb obviously has stolen the show. The green rhubarb plant is now about 3’ across and the juncos are using it as a place to hide. Combined with some stems from the red plants, there should be plenty to make a colorful Easter dinner dessert. On Monday, the first of the wild plums in the thicket bordering the yard began blooming as did the Patten pear. The Parker was right on its heels. Hopefully the smell of the plums in bloom should help the bees and flies to locate the pears.
The lawnmower was readied and just to say I’d done it, I mowed a patch in front of the house on March 31st. However, the fact it was only about 45 degrees and I could see my breath soon dampened my enthusiasm so I put the mower back in the garage. I mowed the rest of it the next day as Ruby picked up her favorite empty plastic bottle before I ran over it. I was almost done but not before TB and his band of merry men showed up out of nowhere to burn off the CRP. I’d known they were coming sometime this spring and they had tried to call, but I left the cell phone inside as I typically do when I’m trying to get something done outside. Off they went with me in tow to renew and restore what we had originally sown back in 2003. It was breezy on Sunday but not to the point where it would carry sparks long distances. They very carefully yet efficiently set the fire while protecting things like the fiberglass electric fence posts and the neighbor’s fenceline. Within a half hour, they had completely burned off the seven acres leaving it blackened and looking barren. Luckily it was pretty early for pheasants to be nesting and the teal made a beeline for the water again once the flames subsided. Little Jerry’s grandson has been camped in the yard most of the spring anyway, scaring the bejeezus out of us when we stumble across him crowing within yards of the house or barn. Checking on the burn after chores for hotspots, the wood duck house is occupied. A female kestrel flew out of the hole like a feathered missile then landed a safe distance away in a tree. The fire didn’t seem to bother her one bit. Between the kestrel, the geese and ducks, all was well with their world again as I pointed the Gator into the sun and headed towards home.
See you next week…real good then.