The scurs had the Weather Eye back at peak performance last week. Is summer here to stay or is it just a fleeting glimpse? Starting Wednesday, sunny with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the low 60’s. Thursday, mostly sunny with an increasing chance for rain by evening. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the low 60’s. Mostly sunny Friday with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the low 80’s and lows in the upper 50’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with a fair chance of rain by evening. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 60’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with a modest chance of rain. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly sunny for Tuesday with a modest chance of rain. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the low 60’s. The Full Moon for the month falls on June 5th. The normal high for June 5th is 76 and the normal low is 55. The scurs will be laying in a large supply of ice cream in anticipation of the Full Moon.
Why you ask? Because this Full Moon goes by the Full Strawberry Moon of course! Given the recent warmup and abundant rainfall, we should be seeing ever increasing supplies of one of Mother Nature’s true delicacies. Topping ice cream, made into malts, topped with whipped cream or just by themselves few things say June better than the strawberry. Both the Ojibwe and the Sioux were in agreement as this was also their Strawberry Moon. It’s been many moons since we had a patch at the ranch, but as we move along in years, hopefully more free time will allow us to reestablish one. Then it will feel more official.
Crops have been loving the heat. This past week at the SROC showed us gaining ground in the GDU department, only 8% behind normal after a dismal couple first weeks in May. After a dry first half of May we made up for lost time in the second half. We finished the month ahead of what would be considered normal at the SROC with 4.78” at the ranch and 4.25” in Bugtussle. 4.27” was recorded at the SROC. Normal rainfall is 3.93”. Thanks to that rain, the pre-emerge chemistry has once again proven its worth. Those fields tend to be very clean yet, buying growers some time for postemerge herbicide applications.
The corn has really jumped and has been desperately looking for more sunshine. Some of what appears to be weather induced potassium deficiency is apparent in some fields, especially on lighter soil. It’s not present in fields where potassium was included as part of starter fertilizer in a 2” x 2” placement. That’s a clue. This past week corn was V3-V4 with some reaching V5 in sheltered areas. Soybeans are coming along with the earliest planted fields showing a fully expanded trifoliate. Of course some plantings are still emerging, so to say all are a certain stage wouldn’t be correct.
At the ranch we continue to enjoy the fruits of the early garden. The rhubarb, after appearing to struggle during the early May cool dry spell, took off thanks to some heat and rainfall. Some additional supplemental nitrogen probably didn’t hurt matters. It’s back to what we’d expect it to produce. The radishes have also come a long way since being planted the day before Easter then getting snowed on. It took some of them only two months, but they’re finally ready. We shared some rhubarb and radishes with Auntie Mar Mar and Unkie Gregory. We were treated to a large bag of homemade cookies in return. Gotta love it when a plan comes together.
The lawn has become a force to be reckoned with. Rainfall and heat without a lot of free time makes it difficult to stay on top, as many of you know. That’s why I decided after abandoning mowing the windbreak last fall, the fence will be removed around it and the sheep will be allowed to graze it. It should help keep the volunteer trees down as well as keeping the grass at a more respectable level. Of course the hazelnut bushes will need to be protected first. I learned at a young age with sheep or any other livestock: If you don’t want them to eat it, that’ll be the very first thing they’ll destroy.
I did manage an albeit short cruise in the Studebaker Sunday night. It had been a long time and was long overdue. It was a nice way to forget about all the negativity on TV and any other media source. Fortunately the radio doesn’t work in the Silver Hawk. There’s no clock either. It’s better that way. There’s no reason to be looking or listening to those artificial distractions anyway. Looking at the scenery, seeing who was doing what in the field and how the crops were progressing rather than viewing riots, burning buildings and repetitive COVID-19 briefings. Just listening to the machine communicate as I wind on down the road. It’s enough for me right now.
Looks like final weaning time is looming at the ranch. When this reaches print the cull ewes will finally be down the road so we can turn everything aside from this year’s lamb crop loose on the pasture. Thanks to plentiful rains the last half of May, the grass is also bountiful. A few of the yearlings will be destined for the kindly neighbors’ so they’ll have to learn how to fend for themselves after being pampered for the past year. No livestock shows for them but the silver lining is there will, be less expense. Coming home after work, fewer chores are always a bonus.
See you next week…real good then.