The scurs breathed a sigh of relief after coming through with some much needed rain on Friday and Saturday. They went into hiding once again after predicting rain on Tuesday. What are the odds we’ll see more rainfall this time around? Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with highs of 70 – 75 and lows around 50. Thursday through Saturday, mostly clear with highs of 75 – 80 and lows near 55. Partly cloudy on Sunday with highs of 75 – 80 and lows of 55 -60. Mostly sunny again on Monday with highs around 80 and lows near 60. Partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs near 75 with lows of 50 – 55. The normal high for September 10th is 75 and the normal low is 50. The sun begins setting before 7:30 p.m. on the 13th. The scurs will be glad as it is safer for them to operate wit the windows open under the cover of darkness.
The 12th ushers in the Full Moon and since it is the Full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox it is known as the Harvest Moon. Even though relatively little will be harvested by that day the period between this and the next will likely see harvest activity. This moon is called such as it allowed those early settlers to work into the evening under the moonlight. The Ojibwe called this the Rice Moon for the wild rice they were harvesting and the Sioux, concerned with the buffalo called this the Moon When Calves Grow Hair and the Moon When Plums are Scarlett. Not much different than today; it was all about food.
The benefit to the crops from this last rain were somewhat minimal depending on how much you received and what stage of growth they were in. Much of the corn was half milk line or more so the benefit was likely nonexistent in those cases. Some of the latest planted corn if one happened to receive and inch or so probably got some mileage out of it. Likewise with some of the soybeans. Some of the flat pods may have the potential to fill yet and there may be some seed size and/or weight gain as a result of the rain as well. Following the showers, there are finally some soybeans turning so we may well harvest some of them in September yet. The rain definitely showed promise in some of the pastures and hay fields.
The pasture at home greened up almost overnight following the rain as did the lawn. All told at the ranch we received a shade over ½”. The lawn will need attention again before the weekend. At Mom’s near Spring Valley, nearly 1.5” fell over the same period so the lawn there should be ready to bale by the weekend. The home pasture at the ranch has been getting shorter as the summer has progressed. However the sheep have been doing well on the native prairie portion, grazing on the warm season grasses such as yellow Indiangrass and big bluestem. With any luck we will see some fall recharge before too much longer and the cool season grasses will be more to their liking.
There are still some indications it’s not quite autumn just yet. On September 1st, there was a lone firefly still flashing us and after one of the rain showers, there was a little green tree frog glued on the outside of the living room window. Neither will likely be the case in another couple months. The barn swallows are still hanging on at the ranch although given the large flocks of swallows congregating on the wires, one of these days our little bug eating friends will fly the coop for warmer climes. The orioles have remained another week as well. There have been several mature Baltimore males this past week, some juveniles and a few female orchard orioles. They’re relatively quiet though and it’s beginning to sound more like fall with chickadee, nuthatch and blue jay calls dominating the crisp, cool air.
Ruby is in training camp for fall. The only way to get good at anything is to practice and that’s what we’ve been trying to do every night we can. At the kindly neighbors pasture we’ve been working at putting the ewes in the barn, something that needs to happen before they can be trailered back home for another season. The first night she did well after I walked with her to the north end of the pasture where the sheep like squabbling over the apples that fall out of the old tree there. Upon spotting Ruby they took off on a dead run and the chase was on. She cut them off and after a few “stop” commands, they decided she was too quick and went in the barn. The second night, she was excited when I let her out of the truck and wanted to get out on the pasture. I opened the gate for her and she took off on her own to the north end of the pasture. Within seconds the sheep were coming at me and went in the barn with minimal effort. I love it when a plan comes together.
The garden has definitely come together as there are string beans coming out of our ears right now and the carrots are as sweet as sugar. The horseradish is tempting me to dig it this fall and rightfully so. It’s great with most red meat and is a major contributor to other condiments like cocktail sauce. One of my little fat buddies and I had lunch one noon at the local eatery and the waitress there was extolling the virtues of horseradish with the special that day. “It’ll put hair on your chest!” she proudly proclaimed. Hmmm, I thought to myself, this might explain a few things about some of the girls I used to go out with.
See you next week…real good then.