The scurs got the cool-down they wished for and more. Will this week continue the trend? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a good chance of showers from about midday on. Highs of 70 and lows of 55. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain in the morning becoming partly cloudy by afternoon. Highs of 65 – 70 and lows of 45. Mostly clear on Friday with a high near 70 and lows of 45. Mostly clear for Saturday and Sunday with highs of 70 and lows of 50. Monday, partly cloudy with a modest chance of a shower. Highs of 70 and lows dropping to 45. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of showers. Highs around 65 with lows near 40. The normal high for September 15th is 73 and the normal low is 48, about the same as we experience on May 21st . The scurs will be up for another weekend of football based on last week’s performances.
Harvest progress has moved at an unbelievable pace for the calendar date. Widespread corn harvest does not generally happen in MN during the first full week in September, so this is a first. Yields have been outstanding with some fields toying with the magic 200 bu/acre mark. A few soybeans have also been harvested with pleasant surprises when the crop has been hauled over a scale. Yields have been running in the low to mid 50s on the early maturing soybeans. Some would argue that is how our soybean crop started out last year too and ended up with disappointing yields. If you recall we also had a killing frost in mid-September that took a toll on the later maturing varieties as well as some extreme heat that dried them from 12% down to 8% in a matter of a couple days. Time will tell but odds are this will be a better soybean crop than last year and probably better than we feared just a few short weeks ago.
We received some generous rainfall last week and while it was generally too late, it should help with the fall tillage especially in the greater Bugtussle area and points east. At the ranch we garnered 1.47” and in Bugtussle proper 1.3” fell. It was a godsend for pastures if only temporarily. More rain will be needed to allow them carry livestock later into the fall. The fly in the ointment with the rain was the wind that was associated with it. Waseca recorded gusts around 45 mph and Rochester had gusts up to 75 mph. Because of the weak stalks in the corn, the result has been stalk lodging below the ear in some fields. This warning shot is largely responsible for a lot of the corn harvest in the area along with the memories of last year’s corn in this year’s soybeans.
The wind had less to do with it perhaps than the warm temperatures and insects, but it suddenly became time to harvest the garden on Sunday. The cucumber beetles that were the scourge of the squash and pumpkins most of the season began chewing the skin some of them thus hastening the picking schedule. It was time however as the vines had little foliage left even though the vines themselves were still green. The worst part of the damage these insects cause is not necessarily the lack of keeping so much as it is the flat flavor it imparts to the squash. If not consumed or processed quickly, the bright flavor becomes flat in matter of a few weeks, so guess what we’ve been eating? The insect and bird damage on the Indian corn has also prompted us to harvest much of that as well. The large colorful piles of corn with the husks pulled back along with orange, yellow and green of the squash, pumpkins and gourds serve as a reminder that fall is here, and we have to be grateful for the bounty we’ve been blessed with.
Around the yard at the ranch, the air has suddenly gone quiet. It appears the orioles are at long last gone. Haven’t seen any since last Wednesday’s rain and the jelly consumption is about nil. The nectar consumption continues however as the hummingbirds keep pulling on it daily. They’ve really it the flowers hard as well, which is no surprise. There are so many to choose from especially in the mornings when the 4 o’clocks and morning glories are open fully. The impatiens are inviting and the salvia has made a dramatic comeback since the rain. Their fire engine red blooms are sure to satisfy any finicky hummer. The barn swallows are still moving through but the numbers seen daily are dwindling. The locals must be long gone, as they no longer occupy the outbuildings overnight. The fall birds are steadily asserting their presence at the feeders once again. The blue jays are raucous, the chickadees scold, and the nuthatches are constantly picking sunflower seeds to wedge in the tree bark where they crack them open with their sharp little beaks.
The time to turn the rams in with the ewes is upon us. Last week saw the departure of a couple of rams to new owners and hopefully for greener pastures. Producing a decent ram is not the easiest thing in the world and finding someone who likes one you’ve raised can be even tougher. Like people, every ram has a different personality. Even Sausage and Tube Steak, the two panel jumping experts from last fall turned out about as different as night and day. Both of them liked to be scratched, and Sausage always seemed pretty tame. Get in the pen to catch them however and Sausage wanted nothing to do with human contact. Tube Steak wanted to take me on which played right into my hands, making him that much easier to grab. It also cemented what we had warned the guy getting him about: Watch your back or you might get pancaked when it is turned.
See you next week…real good then.