The scurs were predicting the rain fine, but the paltry amounts made it seem more like heavy dews. Will we fare any better this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a chance of rain during the day with a good chance of showers and possibly a thunderstorm overnight. Highs 70 – 75 and lows around 50. Cloudy on Thursday with a good chance of chilly rain. Highs of 40 – 45 and lows around 30. Mostly cloudy and cooler for Friday with highs of 45 and lows of 25 – 30. Partly cloudy for Saturday and Sunday with highs of 40 – 45 and lows in the mid-20’s. Monday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 40 - 45 and lows around 30. Tuesday, partly cloudy with highs of 40 - 45 and lows of 20 - 25. The normal high for October 31st is 52 and the normal low is 32. The scurs will be scouring their closets for the perfect Halloween costume to collect the optimum number of treats.
The Full Moon for the month happens on the 29th and is generally known as the Full Hunters Moon. It was at this time of year that the pioneers and Native Americans alike were stocking their larders for the long, cold days ahead. One has to marvel given the food preservation methods of the day and without cell phones, Play Stations and confusers, how anyone managed to survive. This moon was known as the Falling Leaves Moon by the Ojibwe and the Moon of Falling Leaves by the Sioux. At the ranch, it goes by the Moon When We Grind up the Leaves with the Lawnmower.
The calendar date and temperature should reach a point soon at which it’s considered safe to apply fall anhydrous ammonia here in South Central Minnesota. Soil temperatures at the 6” depth should remain at 50 degrees or less and the calendar date at which this typically occurs is generally sometime during the last week in October. It is a best management practice to use a nitrification inhibitor for fall anhydrous. It is a common misconception however that use of a nitrification inhibitor allows the application to be made earlier than what is considered to be safe. Something that also needs to be considered is the soil moisture. As one goes west in particular, less rain fell in September so there isn’t as much soil moisture to hold anhydrous ammonia. This may result in loss to the atmosphere. If you can see it gassing out and smell it as you’re going across the field, you probably shouldn’t be out there.
Rainfall or lack thereof continues to be an issue across most of the area. At the ranch we actually tallied .18” in the past week. However, measurable rain was recorded on 6 of the 7 days, translating to an average of .03” per rain. The trend where we receive measured amounts a thimbleful at a time continues. Some insist a change is coming. If they said it was going to get colder and even drier I might believe it. The preliminary outlook from NOAA for the 30-day outlook gives us even chances of being above or below normal for temperature but better than even odds for below normal precipitation. The same applies to the 90-day outlook. About this time last year, they also came out with a prediction for a colder and wetter than normal winter as well and we all know what happened. We were one of the driest places in the Corn Belt at the time with some real concerns about our potential to recharge the soil moisture. Somehow we managed to pull off one of the most astonishing crops most have ever seen. Can lightning strike twice? It can, but the question remains: will it?
Harvest continues at the ranch. On Sunday the carrots were dug, processed and refrigerated. There was a two-bushel basket and a washtub full of carrots after digging. All told, we placed a dozen gallon bags of carrots in the refrigerator and gave away a shopping bag full as well. The sheep were glad to see all the tops make their way over the fence. Some of the tomatoes were also frozen for later use. Have not tried this method of preservation before but am told it works well if they are to be used for stewed tomatoes, sauce or even juice. Just seems a little odd to see bags of red billiard balls in the freezer. Some ask if we’re done harvesting garden. Not by a long shot. The winter radish experiment exceeded my wildest expectations; they continue to grow sweeter and crisper. Trouble is there are a lot of them so digging them will take some time.
Apparently the leftovers from the garden have had some impact on the condition of the ewe flock despite the short pasture due to the drought. While we generally have been viewing them in the dark at chore time, daylight hours revealed them to actually be rather plump. Aside from the fallen leaves, the pasture apparently continues to sustain them. Supplemented with tomatoes, radish and carrot tops, sweet corn husks, cucumbers, melons and more recently a dab of corn screenings, the ewes are doing rather nicely. Cheviots are indeed thrifty little beasts as advertised.
The fall birds continue increasing in number and variety. There are several chickadees taking up residence near the feeders. On Sunday there was a flicker on the sunflower feeder actually consuming some, a rare occurrence here at the ranch. During a break from carrot harvest, numerous cedar waxwings were spotted downing crabapples from the Indian Magic tree. Several red-bellied woodpeckers are using the suet put out last week as are the hairies, downies and of course nuthatches. The blue jays are gluttonous and have confounded my previously mentioned waxy corn research with the squirrels. The jays are more likely to fill their pouch up quickly with whatever they can get their beaks on so the corn disappears without a preference being shown. The goldfinches are showing up in greater numbers as of late On Saturday there was one lone goldfinch. By Monday morning there were 4 and chances are they will bring their friends. It’s always good to see them return even though they sure can blow through a lot of sunflower and thistle seed.
See you next week…real good then.