The scurs’ frustrations with the Weather Eye diminished last week, at least in the temperature department. Warm days have been at a premium it seems. Will June bring more seasonal temps or will we get another April? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy becoming sunny with a good chance of forenoon rain. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the low 50’s. Thursday, partly sunny becoming cloudy with a slight chance of forenoon showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a moderate chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a good possibility of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. The normal high for June 1st is 75 and the normal low is 54. The scurs will be keeping an umbrella handy.
With continued rains, more was accomplished looking at the fields from the road than in the fields. Corn finally started to perk up after a little sun earlier in the week. Some welcome sun and warm temperatures were just what the doctor ordered. Planting was observed in some areas on Sunday in a desperate attempt to finish. Some of the April 24th planted corn reached V2 as of Sunday with corn planted the first week in May right on its heels at V1. Weed control in most fields where a pre was applied is holding up well. Soybeans are beginning to emerge so any visions of applying pre-emerge chemicals have gone out the window if it wasn’t done. Getting on the fields to make the applications has been like Mission Impossible.
A trip to Southeast Minnesota Monday illustrated again how fortunate we are in this area. While fields were evidently planted, there was very little crop emerged on my route. To top it off, it rained steadily all the way to Chatfield and most of the way back. Ponded water in fields was the norm. Further comments from readers in places like Illnions where very little has been done make one wonder what kind of a corn crop nationally will be available. Until recently, markets really haven’t reacted much. The potential for an adequate supply of corn locally looks good for now. The potential for an adequate supply of hay? Don’t even go there.
The wet weather has also put a serious damper on gardening at the ranch. The small break in the weather over the weekend allowed Mrs. Cheviot to get most of the flowering pots planted. They look inviting to whatever might be in search of nectar. Planting anything in the garden has been challenging. The soil surface Sunday morning was still damp. Tilling the ground then would’ve resulted in mud balls.
Trying to be patient, by Sunday afternoon the small garden dried enough so that it was at least marginal rather than just plain muddy to plant into. The canna bulbs I’d carefully tucked away last fall kept remarkably well packed in shredded paper and stored in the unheated crawlspace. After manuring their garden spot well the cannas went in the trench and were covered up quickly under Ruby’s close supervision. We were debating what to plant by the well so since there was an abundance of canna bulbs left over, another couple short rows went in there. Along with that, a couple rows of four o’clocks were planted in the small garden. The hummingbirds ought to be about covered.
The flowering crabs were pretty and the cooler temps seemed to allow them to maintain their blooms longer than some years. Right on their heels at the ranch are the aronia berries or chokeberries. Then we have the nannyberries to finish up. Not only do they provide food for migrating birds, but they also provide plenty of opportunity for pollinators of many types. And for our olfactory senses few things are better than the lilacs of course.
The orioles and catbirds were going through about 16 ounces of grape jelly per day. Fortunately within the past week their consumption has slowed somewhat as nest-building seems to have taken precedence. There have been pieces that look suspiciously like oriole nest building material in the jelly bowls. They’ve definitely claimed the jelly feeder as their own though. If a house sparrow gets on it for longer than a few seconds at a time, an oriole or catbird comes out of nowhere to remind them.
The aforementioned trip to Southeast Minnesota brought back memories. I took Hwy. 30 all the way to Chatfield. On that route I went by several landmarks from my youth: the unique electrical substation to the north of where I was born, the brick Flather’s house to the north of 30, my grandparents’ building site which is no longer and my uncle Loren’s place where the cracker box house was replaced with a new, more spacious model. Farther down the road outside of Chatfield is the old Bernard School where my uncle Harvey had his art gallery. He moved it off the original site by my grandparents’ farmstead. It’s the original building where I believe my dad and his siblings went to school.
On the return trip I varied my route coming back on Fillmore Co. 2 to eventually get back to Hwy. 30. Again, there were memorable places along the way, like the turnoff to my uncle Bob’s where we spent many days in his off-the-beaten-path farmstead above the Root River. My mom grew up there. The farmstead where we’d gotten a sweet little puppy we named Boots whose short life later came to a tragic end. And lastly the brick Dog Town country schoolhouse south of our farm at Stewartville. I’d missed going to country school by just a few years. As it was I attended kindergarten in Chatfield. In those days kindergarten was only for a few months in the spring and classes in the forenoon. They didn’t have enough room for all of us in the school so a small group of us were taught in the basement of the Post Office. Story of my life. Born in a basement and never brought up.
See you next week…real good then.