Fencelines (269)
The scurs were on the edge of their seats as the rains fell last Wednesday night and Thursday morning. They’ll be focusing their efforts for the upcoming week to see if we get weather to allow us to finish a storybook season. Starting Wednesday and Thursday, partly cloudy with highs of 50 – 55 and lows of 35. Partly cloudy for Friday with a slight chance of showers. Highs again in the low to mid-50’s and lows near 40. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 45 and lows of 35. Mostly cloudy for Sunday with a slight chance of rain. Highs again near 45 and lows dropping to near 30.Parttly cloudy and cooler for Monday with a chance of rain with highs of 45 - 50 and lows around 30. For Election Day, partly cloudy with highs around 50 and lows falling to the mid-20s. The normal high for November 6th is 48 and the normal low is 29. We will also experience 10 hours of daylight on the 6th, the same as we typically saw February 4th. We also will see the sun set at 6:01 p.m. on the 3rd, yet it will set at 5 p.m. on the 4th due to the end of that ultimate in government meddling known as Daylight Saving Time. The scurs will be riding to the polls on Tuesday, sitting in the backseat bitterly clinging to their guns and religion.
The rains that fell on the 24th and 25th were just what the doctor ordered. Not only did it allow farmers to feel more comfortable about anhydrous ammonia applications, it also allowed the graders to take out the washboards that had overtaken many of the area gravel roads. It also marks the largest rainfall event since September 5th. Altogether we managed 1.07” at the ranch and in town where no one actually farms a tad over 1.3”. The effect in the fields and area pastures was almost immediately apparent. In the fields some of the large hunks of soil were already beginning to break apart as of Friday and the pasture at the ranch had a nice green hue to it, something not seen for many weeks. After a cloudy cool weekend forecast, the Monday sun will likely be a welcome sight.
Not a lot new in the bird department other than I saw a Harris’s sparrow on its journey back through to their overwintering territory which is primarily in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. They’re a little less showy in the fall but they’re still unmistakable. Something that has my dander up is the suet I put out while attracting the desired woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees, has also been attracting starlings (expected) and house sparrows. Since they’re being persistent, I may employ one of my long awaited plans to hang the suet cake feeders from the bottom side of a board. Woodpeckers and the like are used to crawling around and hanging upside down whereas the starlings and sparrows reputedly lack that ability. Anything to make their lives less pleasant would be worth it.
Saturday at the ranch it was time to trim some of the lower limbs off the trees that had been slapping me in the face all summer in addition to deciding what trees to water first. As luck would have it, examining one poor little oak I’d been nurturing for years I discovered the rabbits were already in midwinter form, having chewed off all the impressive new growth it had put on over the summer. It wasn’t even the end of October yet, I thought to myself. So I strung the hose down to one of the pear trees and proceeded to get out the spiral tree wrap. Good thing I did too. Checking on the 15 Freeman maples planted in the windbreak, a couple of them showed signs that Peter Cottontail had been chewing the bark. Back in the yard not far from the aforementioned oak, one of the small Red Splendor crabapples was also barked up. This means war and a scorched earth policy literally when the wind is in the right direction. All the brush piles are prime targets now we’ve had some rain, given the proper wind conditions and an okey-dokey from the brush fire police.
The cooler weather has meant a renewed enthusiasm in the Studebaker Lark project. The early harvest has meant that field operations will soon cease and there should be more time to work inside. Picking up where we left off last spring had me searching for a water pump, a fuel pump, a heater core and a heater control valve. It’s not as simple as going to the local parts store. Finding the right part involves looking it up in the body and chassis parts catalog, yourself, and learning how to cross reference to know which parts are interchangeable on other models. They can be found, sometimes for a price, from several vendors so it’s best to shop around as well as checking the swap pages. It’s amazing through the network of the Studebaker Driver’s Club how many parts are still readily available, much of it NOS (new old stock). After all, the car is 52 going on 53 years old and Studebaker has been out of business since 1966. The deeper I get into the project, the more enamored I find myself becoming with the company which was often ahead of its time.
Have I always had an interest in Studebakers? Sometimes seems like it. It probably started early on. As a wee lad of 4, I remember Alfred and Cora Meinke who lived across the road from us at the Stewartville farm, had a bullet-nose, probably an early ‘50s model Champion. It was a dull blue as many of them were. Paint seemed to oxidize more readily in those days especially since many cars had to sleep outside. When we moved to the Spring Valley farm, the neighbors on the corner also had one. Marzolf Implement in town was the local Studebaker dealer. Then there were the old car magazines we got from Cousin Phil, an avid car collector himself. Poring over those pages in our makeshift playhouse we were introduced to the likes of the Golden Hawk, the Packard Hawk and the Avanti, cars that commanded respect not only for their rakish styling but for their performance. The Lark VI itself was noted for neither but it was a tough, practical, reliable little car that became a member of our family. At only 38,000 miles, it deserves a chance to relive some of its previous glory. Probably a good thing it can’t talk though. Besides, I’ve owned Fords, Chevys, Dodges, Buicks, Pontiacs and even an orange AMC Gremlin. Not many can say they’ve actually owned a Studebaker.
See you next week…real good then.
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.
Copied and pasted from last week’s column, changed to 10 font and the scurs are ready for battle once more. They were right about the showers and thunderstorms for Saturday, but did you notice how those crafty scurs didn’t predict any rainfall amounts? How about this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 60 and lows close to 40. Mostly cloudy for Thursday with another good chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 50 and lows of 35 – 40. Cloudy again for Friday with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 50 – 55 and lows around 40. Partly cloudy for Saturday and Sunday with highs of 50 – 55 and lows near 40. Cloudy for Monday and Tuesday with a chance of shower and thunderstorms. Highs around 60 and lows of 35 – 40. The normal high for October 20th is 59 and the normal low is 35. The scurs will be dumping their purple umbrella and cap after the drubbing the Vikings received at the hands of the Redskins. Go Gophers hockey!
Not much going on in the fields this past week, save for some primary tillage on corn ground, and with good reason. Harvest is for the most part over and the soils remain very dry. It remains too early yet for anhydrous ammonia applications and some are wondering if there is enough moisture, especially as we head west, to hold the nitrogen in place once it’s applied. Spring application of anhydrous ammonia or using urea or 32% as alternative nitrogen sources remain viable options should that be the case. The latter two forms are more expensive generally per pound of nitrogen but are better alternatives than fall applying nitrogen and losing it. Some have been advocating the use of fall 2’ nitrogen tests on the premise that we have some nitrogen left in the soil profile that may be usable for the next year’s crop. That may be but past experience with this test followed by warm temperatures and heavy rainfall in April, May and June has rendered the practice questionable at best especially east of Hwy 71 in Minnesota.
So, what is our weather up to? If you listen to several of the pundits, they are claiming a change is coming for the latter half of October. This is where I turn into the original man from Missouri: Show me. So far the predictions for a change other than for cooler temperatures have missed the mark by a mile. If anything it has become even drier, something not even I, the eternal optimist, believed possible. Last year in October at the ranch I recorded .37” of precip for the month. This year thus far I have recorded only .22”. Ah, but the month is still young you say. Looking back, that’s what we were saying last year at mid-month too. And we had, .33” at that time. I’m not trying to be a wet blanket coming off a tremendous crop, but we’re in serious trouble if things don’t change. While the old adage that this is a good time to have a drought as far as crops applies, this pattern has entrenched itself for the second year in a row. It has become very difficult to make it rain anymore. Washing cars or windows and leaving wagons full of corn or hay out doesn’t matter. Tuesday morning that point was driven home when a surprise shower made me wonder if I should back a wagon containing a few screenings into the shed. I decided it was perhaps warranted but by the time I got it under cover, the rain stopped. Imagine that.
It has been another strange fall. Ladybugs haven’t been the issue they have been in the recent past, although as predicted the boxelder bugs have more than made up for them. Eating my lunch at an abandoned farmstead Monday, I quickly rolled the pickup windows up as I had uninvited guests crawling all over inside. By no coincidence, the old grove contained dozens of boxelder trees. Leaves came off the trees in a hurry even though the colors for a brief moment were spectacular. There still are some pockets of color but the woods look more like the end of October than mid-month. The 10-man dryer at the elevator ceased operation quite some time ago and even the neighbor David’s bin dryer only ran a day or so before it fell suddenly silent. That particular dryer is pretty loud but it creates the perfect white noise to sleep by. How do I know? When its run is over, I don’t sleep as well for a while. The constant howl is soothing and reassuring should I awaken from my slumber, as only a farm boy can appreciate.
It was finally time to take down the hummingbird feeders, clean them up and put them away. There comes a time when the chance of a straggler at our location is almost nil. And besides, there were still a few salvia that somehow managed to escape the freezing temperatures. The nectar feeders were replaced with suet feeder. To see if the migrating bluebirds would enjoy some mealworms, the jelly feeder was pressed into service. The squirrels have become part of an experiment with waxy corn versus regular dent. In our survey, it appears that squirrels chewing corn prefer waxy by a margin of 3 to 1.
The show sheep have returned from their travels on the show circuit. The brood ewes at home in the meantime have been getting by on short pasture, some corn screenings and the vegetable peelings and garden leftovers that come their way almost daily. It doesn’t take long for them to appear on a dead run anytime one approaches the fence especially with a bucket in hand. They are a lot like people however and that may explain some of the biblical references to them. They certainly have individual preferences about what they’ll eat. For example, one night we looked over the fence in horror as a few of them looked to be bleeding from the mouth. Turns out these were the ewes that had developed a taste for the out of code tomatoes we’d been tossing from the garden. On a white-faced sheep like a Cheviot, that’s gonna leave a mark.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs had another week of telling it like it is. While the lows came in a little lower than forecast, the rain showed exactly as scripted. What’s this week’s script? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs of 55 – 60 and lows of 40. Clear on Thursday and Friday becoming cloudy Friday afternoon with a good chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs of 55 on Thursday with lows of 25. High Friday of 55 and not as cool overnight with lows of 45. Showers and thunderstorms likely on Saturday under cloudy skies. Highs near 60 and lows around 45. Sunday, partly cloudy and pleasant with highs around 60 and lows near 45. Partly cloudy Monday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs of 65 and lows of 45. Partly sunny on Tuesday with highs of 65 and lows near 45. The normal high for October 15th is 61 and the normal low is 37. We will experience 11 hours of daylight on the 15th the same as we normally see on February 26th. The scurs will have their purple Vikings umbrella and refreshments at the ready just in case rain really materializes over the weekend.
Rains would be welcome around most of greater Bugtussle and environs. Crops are generally harvested and it comes as no surprise. With the kind of weather we had in September and so far in October, one would’ve been procrastinating pretty severely to forego the opportunity we had. Tillage has been coming along too although the wear on points and lays keeps the parts men smiling at local implement dealerships. Rain would definitely help cut down on some of that wear and tear as well as giving the soil a little more moisture with which to bind fall anhydrous ammonia. It is still too early for that however, so best keep at the honeydew projects a few more weeks yet.
A few snow pellets hit the ground last Saturday morning and seemed to bring with it a whole host of juncos in the yard at the ranch. The recent cold snap has seen more activity at the birdfeeders once again. Lots of downies, hairies and one immature red-bellied woodpecker. The nuthatches and house finches keep things hopping too along with the reappearance of the leghorn-sized blue jays. The goldfinches are still around but not using the feeders much, tending to feast in the CRP yet as well as checking out the maturity of the sunflowers in the garden.
Speaking of the garden, we finally gave up on covering the tomatoes. The 24-degree Saturday night/Sunday morning low was just a little more than our ragtag assortment of blankets and tarps would handle. It’s still amazing how many appear to be in good enough condition to eat yet. This after we brought in four 5-gallon buckets before the freeze. The vegetables planted back in late July also withstood the freezing temperatures well. The winter radish crop shows little sign it was that cold and ditto with the snap peas and leaf lettuce. The experiment shows every sign of being a success. There are plenty of winter radishes to share, although they really pack a wallop. The leaf lettuce is very crisp and sweet as are the snap peas. It’s time to dig the carrots soon though. Something else has been digging around them and after sharing the rest of the garden with several varmints over the course of the season, I’m not feeling very generous anymore.
It’s been cold. How cold has it been? Cold enough so that after a several-year hiatus, I’ve dug into my outdoor wardrobe and let my face grow long in an attempt to stay warm. This has not been without its drawbacks however. Last week when it cooled down I bundled up well before heading into work. I stopped at the post office and while outside visiting with another gentleman, spied our new pastor coming in. I greeted him warmly and while he acknowledged me with a smile and polite conversation, it wasn’t quite the response I expected. Later that day I was soil sampling in a customer’s field when I spied him and his wife removing some velvetleaf out of the fenceline. It was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to fade somewhat. I got off the 4-wheeler to talk to him and the conversation was very short and really not as friendly as I’d anticipated. Had I done something to tick him off? I mean, I showered that morning, brushed my teeth, used deodorant and everything. I got back on the 4-wheeler and finished sampling the field. I was still somewhat bewildered as I loaded the machine onto the trailer and headed back in for the day.
On Saturday I went into the office to get motivated to brave the elements once again. I was having coffee and chit chatting when suddenly the customer showed up. He wanted to talk to me about something so, after bidding the fellow adieu I’d been talking to, I wondered what was up. When he told me that he hadn’t seen me for s while and when he saw me all bundled up with a face full of whiskers, he simply hadn’t recognized me! I was relieved and actually got a great laugh out of it. On Sunday at church, after ushering, I ventured downstairs and had a chance to quickly chat with our pastor before he left to preach to the Swedes. He confided that while he should’ve remembered the smile, he hadn’t recognized me at first either! Understandable. He’s still a relative newcomer and has probably only seen me when I’m cleaned up. Here I am all bundled up, hat on and a little grubby looking. Of course it probably wouldn’t hurt if I attended church services a little more regularly. All of this has given me a great idea though. If I decide to go out trick or treating this year, I’m just going to dress up as myself. No one will ever know who I am!
See you next week…real good then!
After seeing no showers amounting to anything, the scurs have set their sights on getting this week right. Will they predict any rain? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of a shower. Highs of 75 – 80 and lows of 45. Thursday, much cooler with a slight chance of a shower in the forenoon. Highs of 55 and lows around 35. Partly cloudy and cooler on Friday with high temps of only 50 and lows falling to 30. Saturday and Sunday, mostly clear with highs of 50 – 55 and lows of 30. Slightly warmer on Monday and Tuesday with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 55- 60 and lows of 35. The normal high for October 8th is 66 and the normal low is 40. The scurs will be making hobo stew down by the rusty railroad tracks on Columbus Day.
The Harvest Moon lived up to its billing with the brightness allowing one to walk around without a flashlight outside just about anywhere you wanted. And farmers were hard at it. The warm temperatures and dry conditions have meant farmers can harvest at will for the most part. One can get too much of a good thing, however. With corn as dry as it is, there has become more loss at the head when ears strike the stripper plates and butt kernels go flying. Soybeans haven’t been immune to the overly dry conditions, either. In addition to being 7% - 8% moisture, some pods are popping open easily sometimes before the combine even gets there, to say nothing of sickle shatter when it does. Not unusual to find 5 – 6 bu./acre on the ground in places on recently harvested fields. Another week though should bring us pretty close to the end of harvest and it’ll only be the 8th of October. That means there will suddenly be a lot of free time on some people’s hands. Hopefully that doesn’t include a lot of recreational tillage on fields that have already been tilled. The soils are extremely dry and have worked up very fine. They are set up for a lot of wind erosion already and additional tillage will only make that potential for erosion worse.
Just how dry is it? At the SROC in Waseca, soil moisture is at the lowest level since they started recording that information back in 1977 at1.5” of available water in the top 5’. That said, most of that moisture right now is in the top foot in this area. We were fortunate to receive 1.95” of rainfall at the ranch in September but most did not receive that much. In town the amount was more like 1.7”. Soil sampling these fields has revealed that soils are getting drier too. This has necessitated using probes designed for use in dry soils. Sloughs, wetlands and streams are all as dry as anyone can remember. Water levels in lakes are also very low. Long term forecasts are not positive and some are indicating that droughts have a tendency to move from east to west. In our case, it already has. Between now and anhydrous ammonia application, it should allow time to trim trees in fence lines, clean up messes around the yard or heaven forbid, take some time off and go somewhere to enjoy yourself.
In the meantime the color peak should be sometime this week. If it works like it usually does, one good windy day and if you blink, you’ve missed it. The colors have changed rapidly though, likely in response to the dry late summer and warm dry fall. The colors have been intense however with some of the ash around the yard being particularly bright yellow. The nannyberries and chokeberries have both been a very intense red. The bur oaks are just starting to turn and they also appear to be more colorful than the dull brown they are some years. The red oak and pin oak in our yard should be fun to watch every day.
It appears our little hummingbird friends are gone for the season after leaving the nectar feeders out with no takers since September 21st. Juncos were first spotted here on the 26th. At the ranch and at the kindly neighbors pasture, groups of bluebirds are moving through. Oddly enough they seem attracted to some of the bluebird houses. Are they scoping out the housing market for next spring? We shall see. The robins have been busy devouring nannyberries, chokeberries and crabapples. With the dry soils there are very few earthworms and night crawlers near the surface so they have to make do. In the fields there seem to be an inordinate number of killdeers moving through. Are they trying to tell us something? Yes, they’re letting us know it will get colder and they’re leaving the area for warmer climes.
Ruby had a big weekend keeping up with several activities. It was time to get the last of the Pontiac and Norkotah potatoes dug so off to the small garden we went, potato fork in hand. Ruby is just fascinated by the soil moving when the fork is used to pry it loose. Her intensity increases when several potatoes are unearthed, just waiting for them to make a false move. Maybe Ruby thinks this is where the play balls come from but she takes her spuds very seriously. Probably one of her favorite fall pastimes though is chasing the water coming out of the hose. Mrs. Cheviot decided it was time to wash the siding on Sunday so spraying the house meant literally hours of entertainment for a small red and white Border Collie. It also meant one muddy mess of a small critter by the time it was all done so time for a timeout in the kennel where she fell fast asleep after her exercise time. After lunch it was time for naps all around anyway. Strange how that works this time of year.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs hung in there last week and did manage to correctly predict the light showers that temporarily decreased the fire danger. What’s on tap this week? Starting Wednesday, clear with highs of 65 and lows around 40. Clear again for Thursday with highs of 65 and lows near 45. Clear on Friday and Saturday with highs near 70 and lows of 45. Partly cloudy on Sunday with a modest chance of a shower. Highs once again near 70 and lows around 50. Monday and Tuesday, warmer and partly sunny to mostly cloudy with some possible showers both days. Highs of 75 and lows near 50. Sunset will occur on the 28th at 6:59 p.m. The normal high for September 30th is 68 and the normal low is 42. The scurs will be gathering sticks and twigs for a small recreational fire to celebrate the onset of cooler evenings.
The Full Moon for the month occurs on the 29th and is known as the Full Harvest Moon. The light from the moon allowed farmers to work long into the night bringing in the harvest. Of course nowadays, nighttime field operations tend to be lit up like small cities so the moonlight becomes somewhat irrelevant. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Rice Moon as this was the time at which the wild rice, an important part of their diet, was being harvested. The Sioux knew this as the Moon of Drying Grass, likely as we’ve seen this fall, the native prairie grasses take on their dry, brown color. At the ranch, we know this as the Moon Where We Do Chores in the Dark.
More rapid field progress this week as showers slowed operations ever so slightly on the 21st. Farmers have to be pinching themselves when looking at the calendar and the corn moisture. Recent reports are seeing 105-day waxy corn dry enough to bin without artificial drying, unheard of for September 24th. Good news in the yield department for both corn and soybeans as well. Soybean yields were feared earlier to be back to where they were last year. That hasn’t been the case in general wit most coming in between 50 and 60 bu./acre. Corn yields continue to impress and few are complaining. No reason they should. With fields to the south of here in IA running below 100 bu./acre, we have a lot to be thankful for.
The frost pretty well ended the growing season for most things if you didn’t get them covered anyway. The low of 30 at the ranch marked the first time we’ve had freezing temperatures since April 17th. Still, it didn’t kill everything. The 4 o’clocks, which are usually relatively sensitive, escaped relatively unscathed while impatiens in pots near the house were pretty well scorched. The impatiens in a pot near the road ditch where it is lower were hardly even touched while a volunteer gourd was absolutely cooked on a higher spot on the end of the driveway. I’ve never been able to figure out why some places freeze hard when they shouldn’t and vice-versa. We did cover the tomatoes all up but it still managed to singe the upper portions of the plants. Again, no rhyme nor reason to it.
Have we seen the last of the hummingbirds at the ranch? Maybe. The last documented one we saw was on the 21st. However, looking back at last year, we thought they had left only to see them return for a brief encore appearance when temperatures warmed back up. At the feeders now it’s mostly blue jays, a hairy or two and some house finches. There are still lots of goldfinches feeding in the CRP as seed production there apparently keeps them satisfied. An immature red-bellied woodpecker has been hitting the ear corn feeder apparently, voicing his displeasure when finding the cobs bare.
Boxelder bugs have made their return. The last time they were really bad in our house was during the drought in the fall of 1988. After installing a new furnace since then that moved more air through the ductwork, most of them made a posthumous reappearance. The good news is there don’t appear to be as many Asian ladybeetles this year to annoy us. Just the boxelder bugs will probably have to suffice.
Saturday morning before leaving for my Aunt’s 90th birthday party, I decided to build a quick corn shock as we’ve done in the past. This year was no different although cutting the Indian corn stalks with the loppers made for more bending and less fun than it could’ve been. So instead, I fired up the weedeater with the brush cutter attachment and voila! Hundreds of Julienne fries! In a matter of minutes all six rows of stalks were on the ground. I loaded the stover onto the Gator and hauled it back to the house to tie it into bundles. In order to get the shock to stay put I cheated just as in the past and pounded a steel post first before strategically setting the bundles against it. After it was completed I marveled at my new masterpiece thinking to myself, yup, just like the pioneers used to do.
The panel jumping champion ram nicknamed Sausage was put into service on Sunday afternoon. His jumping days likely behind him after spending most of the summer get fat in a pen, we managed to get him to bound into the trailer with Ruby looking on. Sausage’s weight probably hovers around 220 so he’s not exactly easy to maneuver. We got him flipped on his behind though in the confined space of the trailer to trim his feet as they tend to grow long on penned animals. Off to the kindly neighbor’s pasture where he was immediately smitten by his newly found harem and kicking up his newly trimmed heels in delight. Could there be love in the air on this Harvest Moon?
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs got it to cool down finally, but not before it reached 95 degrees first. Have we seen the last of the 90s for this year? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain. Highs around 70 and lows near 45. Thursday, partly cloudy and a little cooler with a modest chance of an overnight shower. Highs of 65 and lows of 45. Partly cloudy Friday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs near 60 and lows around 40. Saturday and Sunday, partly cloudy to mostly sunny, highs of 65 and lows of 40 – 45. Monday, mostly sunny, highs of 70 and lows of 40 – 45. Partly cloudy with a chance of a shower. Highs 65 – 70 and lows of 40 – 45. The normal high for the first day of autumn on September 22nd is 71 and the normal low is 45. Sunrise on the 21st will be at 7:01 a.m. and on the 25th, we will be back to 12 hours of daylight. We are losing daylight at the rate of approximately 3 minutes per day. The scurs will be trying to figure where all the lost daylight went and how to get it back.
Another week of scant precipitation meant harvest progress continued largely unabated. This is one for the record books as most would tend to agree. To have as much corn out of the fields as we have is unheard of. Yields have been far above expectations and the quality is part of the reason. Much of the wet corn coming out of the fields at 20% moisture is above 56-lb. test weight. It should pick up another point or two making it some extremely heavy corn. I know the screenings picked up at the kindly neighbor’s so far are very heavy, nearly the same weight as ground corn. The only holdup on soybeans has been the number of green beans yet in the sample. The soybeans have been testing 8 – 10% moisture, but the green material collecting on the outside of a bin is sure to cause headaches down the road for those who have to store them.
It has been tinder dry in the field and the shallow wetlands that provide resting areas for migrating waterfowl are almost all dried up. The pond here has a growth of smartweed in the main part of the basin. It makes excellent forage for ducks and geese but they need some water in order to get at it. Even the deeper pond at the neighbor’s to the north is drier than I ever recall seeing it, with areas where the bottom is no longer covered with water. The LeSueur River around the golf course is just about where it was last year at this time. There are a few shallow pools and puddles in places, but it isn’t running much.
Around the yard at the ranch, signs that fall is here continue to mount. White-lined sphinx moths have taken the evening shift on the impatiens while the hummingbirds have continued their daytime duty. It likely won’t be too much longer although they were still here on the morning of the 18th. We’ll be counting the days we still have them as a blessing. Most of the goldfinches have become occasional visitors once again. I often wondered where they went, but a visit to the CRP gave me a clue as to where some are anyway. There are plenty of native prairie plants in the aster family there making for some fresh, new food for them.
One such plant as pointed out by E.G. was prairie dock, sometimes known as prairie rosinweed. This perennial plant starts out with some large basal rosette leaves that remind one of a scrawny burdock. The leaves are scratchy however and before you know, it has shot some tall flower spikes skyward, sometimes 6’ – 8’ in height. The flowers are yellow and when mature, they have seeds that are very similar to a sunflower around the inside of the outer portion of the flower head. Another plant he identified was called rattlesnake master. This carrot-family plant isn’t of great importance for wildlife other than certain bees, but it does have a distinctive spikey white inflorescence. Interesting to note how the plant got its name. While the heads, when dried, were used by American Indians as rattles, the name came from the pioneers who believed the root of the plant was an effective antidote for the treatment of rattlesnake bites. Turns out they were mistaken.
Had occasion to travel to Preston over the past weekend to attend the retirement party of my brother-in-law. The trip brought back many memories of my youth and probably more than I would’ve imagined when we left home. Motoring down MN Hwy 16, recalled many a trip to the Fillmore Co. Fair over the years. The Branding Iron was our destination and that too brought back many memories of gatherings there over the years. I wondered whether some of my old Preston acquaintances ever ate there, but figured the chances of seeing them were slim and none. When we got there the establishment was just as I remembered. Very open and with a spectacular view of the countryside from its perch atop the hill overlooking Preston. We were greeted by the party and the festivities began, with Jim pointing out that a black bear had been spotted not all that long ago on the football field below.
The party was relaxing and the food was delicious. As attendees began leaving for home I spotted some folks just coming in who looked familiar. I couldn’t place where I’d seen them, but it really wasn’t important. After we’d visited a little more I glanced over at the table where the people were seated and suddenly it dawned on me that one of them was the wife of an old high school friend and classmate. She was also the sister of a friend I’d known in college. Sure enough, he appeared from the salad bar along with his wife, as did my old high school classmate, who also happens to be the state representative from Preston. We couldn’t believe that we’d all suddenly run into each other like that. It had been 30 odd years since I’d seen my old college friend and 6 or 7 years since I’d seen my high school buddy. What were the odds? We talked a while and then their food came so we had to cut it short. It was probably a good thing. We were starting to delve into the sordid past of our Bailey Hall days. This included tales of death defying feats such as shoe polishing north wing toilet seats, frying squirrels in the dorm room and trips to visit Dr. Shnoxel. We were just trying to have us some fun. Honest.
See you next week…real good then.
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.
After a hot end to August, the scurs have their heart set on a cool down. Will it happen this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of a shower of thunderstorm. Highs 75 – 80 and lows near 50. Mostly sunny on Thursday becoming partly cloudy with a modest chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 75 and lows around 55. Partly cloudy and cooler on Friday with a modest chance of a shower. Highs close to 70 and lows near 50. Mostly sunny and continued cooler conditions. Highs around 70 and lows near 50. Sunday and Monday, mostly clear and slightly warmer with highs of 75 and lows of 55 – 60. Warmer on Tuesday under clear skies. Highs of 75 – 80 and lows around 60. The normal high for September 10th is 75 and the normal low is 50. On the 5th we slip below 13 hours of daylight, about the same as we were back on April 5th. The scurs will be tuning to watch the Vikings, knowing full well a nap will probably break out.
The blast furnace like heat and wind last week moved the crop maturity along at a breakneck pace. Most April planted corn as of Friday had reached physiological maturity and soybeans were turning rapidly. Some corn has been harvested and the results are variable. On some of the lighter soils to the southeast rumors of sub-100 bu./acre corn have been heard. Closer to Bugtussle, the corn has been a pleasant surprise with moisture running in the low 20% range and in the 160 – 180 bu./acre range. Some recent sweet corn yields have gone over 8 ton per acre for the first time so there has definitely been some encouraging news. Unfortunately the cavalry never came in the form of significant precip during the last 3 weeks for most of the soybeans. They may turn out to be the crop that could’ve been once again. We’ll know once the combines roll and if things don’t change they could roll all night long just like last year.
In the garden, winds and high temperatures blew the sweet corn over the cliff maturity-wise in matter of two days. Corn that had been excellent to eat on Tuesday was done for by Thursday. Even the raccoons were apparently not impressed that it was sticking in their teeth. The melon crop has exploded as anticipated and the quality has been superb. Some years like last year, they were disappointing but in years like this one everything clicked. The cucumber beetles however have been doing their level best to make things miserable in the rest of the vine crops however. There is an exceptionally high level of spotted cucumber beetles this year not only in the garden but also in the fields. It makes one wonder if given the warm winter, we aren’t seeing some localized overwintering and what kind of diseases they might be vectoring. The cucumbers have about given up the ghost after their feeding and it appears they may have cucumber mosaic virus. The tomatoes also are showing up with some whitefly infestations but as of yet, they haven’t caused appreciable damage.
On almost any given plant around our yard, one can find aphids of one sort or another. Dry, warm weather conditions seem to favor aphid populations. For instance I’ve located them on the oak trees, muskmelons, Indian corn and cucumbers. It is interesting to watch the beneficial insects hone in on the heavy infestations however. At any given time one can see ladybugs, lacewing nymphs, pirate bugs, syrphid flies and tiny parasitic wasps vying for their prey. It's apparently been an especially good year for the parasitic wasps as there are more aphid mummies in evidence than I ever recall seeing. Aphid mummies result from the wasps poking their ovipositor into the aphid, depositing an egg and the wasp larva consuming the aphid from the inside out. They emerge from the puffed up, typically tan-colored shell of the aphid body once their life cycle is complete.
Overall, it is shaping up to be an early fall on just about every front. The heat and lack of precipitation has hastened the process. As mentioned, harvest has already begun in places and given the forecast, it won’t take long for fields to be bare. Trees have shed many of their unnecessary lower leaves due to stressful conditions. Some prime examples around the yard include poplar, ash, silver maple and black walnut trees. The dry leaves seem to have more of a typical October smell to them and when the wind blows, they have formed a mulch around some of the garden plants. The nannyberries have begun to blush as have the sumac. The nannyberries themselves are ripe which about 2 – 3 weeks ahead of schedule is. They were a tasty snack however as I made one last dirty, dusty trip around the backyard on the lawnmower. The weeds were just a little more than I could stomach and some of the grass on the west side of the house was long and still surprisingly green.
Mrs. Cheviot made a triumphant return to the ranch after a week at the Great MN Get Together, and then promptly fell victim to this year’s version of the State Fair Sheep Barn Crud, complete with chills and thrills. Of course it probably has something to do with the diet she consumes while there in addition to the hours she keeps. The air quality and ventilation in that building has always left something to be desired. After about 4 days, the ammonia and dust in the place doesn’t do anyone’s lung tissue any favors. Stay in the Cheviot Sheraton or Hampshire Hilton for 7 or 8 days and it’s amazing anyone lives to tell about it.
Ruby doesn’t care. She’s just glad to see us upon our return, regardless of condition. While we’ve been away, she’s been busy cementing her position as Most Spoiled Border Collie on the Planet. Staying at some friends’ house on Beaver Lake while we were gone, it’s a little like being at Club Med for her. I have a sneaking suspicion she might’ve tried to sleep on a bed or couch if she got the chance. Of course, we’d never allow that kind of behavior here. No sireee!
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs were overoptimistic about rainfall, but at least we got some. Will we get any more this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs near 95 and lows around 65. Slightly warmer (okay, hotter than Hades) on Thursday with highs nearing the century mark and lows around 65. Mostly clear on Friday and Saturday with highs dropping down to 90 and lows of 60-65. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs around 85 and lows of 60-65. Mostly sunny and cooler on Labor Day with highs of 80 and lows of 60. Partly cloudy with a chance of showers on Tuesday. Highs of 85 and lows of 55. The normal high for August 31st is 78 and the normal low is 54. The scurs will be resting their weary carcasses on Labor Day after a grueling hot summer.
August 31st will provide us with one of those somewhat rare occurrences, namely a Blue Moon. Originally a Blue Moon was defined as the 4th Full Moon in a season, although today’s generally accepted definition calls a Blue Moon the second Full Moon in a month. It can also be called a Blue Moon if the moon itself appears blue due to dust particles suspended in the atmosphere. Actually the frequency with which a Blue Moon occurs is about once every 19 months although it is not a given and there may be several years in which it does not occur. Since this Full Moon has essentially no name, a la Clint Eastwood in the Spaghetti Westerns, some have dubbed it a Full Fruit Moon and others since the September Full Moon will be the Harvest Moon, are calling this one the Full Corn Moon. Oddly enough, since Native Americans used the moons as one of their methods of measuring time, it doesn’t always mesh with our monthly format. At the ranch however we have no such problem, it’s known as the Moon When the Garden Overwhelms Us.
The grueling hot summer decides to come back in late August for an encore performance. Thought maybe we were done with 90-degree heat, didn’t you? Coupled with the continued sparse rainfall, that heat has pretty well cooked the goose of any chance we had at adding additional soybean yield on later-maturing soybeans. For the most part corn has reached physiological maturity and the heat will hasten the dry down. No doubt about it, there will be plenty of corn harvested in September here as stalk quality and weak ear shanks could become an issue. Everyone got a reminder of how costly that dry corn could be this past spring when all the volunteer corn showed up. Ten to 20 bushel per acre on the ground would’ve paid for a lot of dryer gas.
The garden has been ultra-productive this year, although due to some miscommunication, it seems we’ve made more promises than we can keep. When I’ve wanted something to eat or promised someone something, suddenly the cupboard is bare. Oh well, the snap peas are up and the winter radishes continue to look impressive as we approach the fall season. They should after the watering they’ve had. Certainly hasn’t hurt to supplement the scant rains they’ve received. Thanks to some additional timely watering muskmelon crop has started out as good as it looked with some of the sweetest cantaloupes we’ve raised in many moons. The tomatoes should throttle up this next week. Watering has also helped the posies. The 4 o’clocks and the morning glories have become an explosion of blooms the hummingbird population can’t seem to resist. The morning glories are approaching the halfway point on the yard light pole. It appears only a hard freeze stands between them reaching the top.
The sheep have ground their pasture down pretty well and look forward to all the vegetable peelings and leftovers sent their direction over the fence. Sweet corn husks and cobs are among their favorites although the melon rinds and cucumber peelings disappear quickly. There are no apples for them this year at the ranch after a banner year last season. The last SnoSweet apple was destroyed by a bird so we’ll need to wait at least another year to sample any from our own tree. That said with the dry weather conditions it’s probably not a bad idea to water the fruit trees this fall. The last update from the SROC in Waseca indicates lower available soil moisture in the top 5’ than we had at any time last year. We certainly didn’t make any miraculous recovery this past week.
The birds are in a transition stage around our yard right now. Thinking there still might be an oriole or two around yet after my week long absence, I put a couple dollops of jelly in their feeder and refilled their nectar feeder. Checking the feeders the next morning, it appeared there had been some activity. The scolding from the trees above confirmed my suspicions: They’re still here!
Another Pro Farmer Crop Tour is in the books and best of all I lived to tell about it. Never have I witnessed so much poor crop over such a vast area. One of the interesting things though was the low amount of destroyed and harvested crop relative to what I’d seen the network media report in early July. While there were some corn fields where the yield was essentially zero, most had at least some corn in them that would still make them worth harvesting. And, in some areas where rains fell a few weeks ago, the soybeans actually looked respectable all things considered. Not saying it isn’t a disaster but sometimes it seems especially at the national network level, the media would rather the facts didn’t get in the way of a good story. On my level, I’m just glad for the opportunity to participate in this event and call it as I see it yet another year. Like everything else I do though, it seems when I reached the ripe old age of 50, it takes more time to recover. Most importantly though, as I’ve said in years past, Oh Auntie Em, there’s no place like home!
See you next week…real good then.
More...
The scurs were right again about rain and also right about not guaranteeing an amount. With .02” measured at the ranch, there was barely enough for a mosquito’s bath. Will we see enough for two mosquitoes this week?
Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with a high of 80 – 85 and a low of 65. Thursday, partly cloudy with an increasing chance for a shower or thunderstorm by evening. Highs near 85 and lows near 65. Partly cloudy and slightly cooler on Friday with a moderate chance of rain. High near 80 and lows around 65.
Saturday and Sunday, partly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Highs of 80 and lows near 60. Monday and Tuesday, mostly cloudy with a chance of shows and thunderstorms. Highs of 80 – 85 and lows of 55 – 60.
On August 26th, we will see the sun set at 8 p.m. The normal high for the 26th is 79. The normal low is 56. The scurs will be sharpening their Crayolas in all 64 colors.
Crops largely went without rain this past week, but maturity was slowed by cooler temperatures. Most soybeans are now R6 or very close to it. Some corn will have reached black layer by the time this reaches print.
The threat of soybean aphids and spider mites has largely been put to rest as the maturity of both crops is simply too advanced with some minor exceptions. Soybean aphids will likely still build enough of a presence.
So, they will move back to buckthorn as the soybeans reach maturity. But, as the Boy Entomologist points out, the aphid days necessary for them to cause economic damage is higher than they are capable of.
This somewhat abridged version of Fencelines is coming to you from the road while I’m on the Midwest Pro Farmer Crop Tour. For those receiving this column via e-mail, follow us on Ag Web and on Twitter, #pftour12.
This trip has become my annual departure from the land of road kill sweet corn and raccoons. It’s my ninth tour of duty and the worst of it is, I think I’m beginning to get the hang of it.
Maybe it’s because I’m starting to know what to expect and maybe it’s because of all the familiar faces, as we gather for the first night in Columbus OH. It is a long and arduous week however and with State Fair in Minnesota right on its heels, there’s not much left of me by the time Sunday rolls around. Thank goodness Byron Jones’ wife bakes all those cookies so I can maintain my stamina.
How does the crop look? From the road, some of it doesn’t look as bad as advertised. However, a windshield survey is very frequently deceiving.
That’s why getting out in the fields and looking at the crop is so important. We had an opportunity to look at some graphic examples of this from some Iowa fields.
And, if the results there are any indication, we’ll be in for a long week of looking at some pretty disappointing crops relative to what we’re used to seeing. We have the distinction in Minnesota of being in a garden spot.
While things aren’t perfect, they are far from the ugliness we’ve seen up to this point. We have much to be thankful for, even though we seem to enjoy complaining about what could’ve been. Some need to be reminded that as bad as they think they have it, someone usually has it much, much worse.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to look forward to however. Fortunately, we have kind friends and neighbors who look after things while we’re gone, doing chores and keeping the garden produce harvested.
Speaking of looking forward to things, the lettuce and additional winter radishes were emerging already when I left. The snap peas had sprouted, but as of Saturday morning, hadn’t made the soil surface.
The light watering I gave them may have helped so I’m curious to see their progress. The cucumbers registered their complaint about the dry conditions by wilting under some warmer temps. They were also rewarded with another drink of well water.
The bird feeders were filled too, but it’s likely that they will have emptied everything out by the time I return home. That’s okay.
There are plenty of flowering plants to keep the hummingbirds occupied and, the number of thistle patches around the countryside will no doubt have the goldfinch’s attention. Even the orioles who have been on a tear lately consuming jelly like no tomorrow are likely getting about ready to move on.
It’s always sad to see them go, but it’s the natural order of things. That and some other dummy can buy them jelly as they make their way south for the winter.
The lawn is definitely up for a shave when I return. It looks like some teenage boy’s patchy attempt at growing a beard.
The weeds have done rather nicely on the sparse rainfall, although some of the bluegrass appears to have received enough so that it needs to be evened up. Even though it will be dusty and dirty, waiting for a rain is not an option. One is only able to look at something that ugly and weedy about so long.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs kept it coming last week with another dose of cooler temperatures, making July a more distant memory. Can they deliver more of the same? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance of showers during the day and a good chance of rain in the evening. Highs of 85 and lows of 60. Thursday, partly cloudy and cooler with a slight chance of shower. Highs near 70 and lows around 50. Friday and Saturday, mostly clear with highs near 70 with lows near 50. Mostly clear on Sunday and Monday with highs of 75 and lows of 55. Partly cloudy on Tuesday with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 75 and lows near 65. The normal high for August 20th is 75 and the normal low is 65. The scurs have some last-minute school shopping to finish up, but that won’t keep them from lounging for a few last lazy hours as they await the return of the yellow livestock haulers.
Crop progress continues to amaze for the calendar date and a little rain hasn’t hurt. Rainfall has already surpassed the inch we got in the month of July at the ranch and is close in the gauge in town. 98-day corn planted April 11th was half milk line late last week meaning it is about 7-10 days from physiological maturity. Some of the early planted soybeans in the 1.8 maturity range are a bona fide R6 stage meaning they have at least one pod at a node on the main stem with a fully expanded trifoliate where the seed fills the pod cavity. Recent rains probably won’t do much to benefit the corn but will certainly help the soybeans fill some of the pods that have been set late in the season. The question still remains however how many will be set, what will the moisture and temperature conditions be from here on out and how much time do we have left before a killing frost. The recent cooler temperatures have reminded us that Mother Nature still has a mind of her own and is capable of changing it whenever she feels like it.
A little more of the garden at the ranch continues to come online with each passing week. Both yellow and green beans are reaching full capacity along with the zucchini and cukes. More melons and squash are showing up and they are huge. One visitor noted the nice pumpkins and I had to point out that they were actually Mooregold squash. The tomatoes have been slow to ripen with just a few of the small yellow pear tomatoes. Luckily I stopped in to visit someone I had been meaning to meet for quite some time who happens to be a tomato aficionado extraordinaire. After getting a tour of his garden he gave me a generous bag with a sampler of 4 or 5 different heirloom tomatoes. They were absolutely fantastic and am hoping we can reciprocate with some melons as they get ripe. I’ve done some more planting here as well. July 31st the winter radish crop was seeded and within a week they were up. They are starting to thicken up so that one can easily tell there is another radish crop on the way. The winter radishes are unique in that they are fairly large and sliced like a kohlrabi they remind one of that. The initial texture and taste is similar but usually about 5 seconds later the similarity ends when they unleash their firepower on your taste buds. Over the past weekend, more snap peas were planted along with some lettuce and another row or radishes-this time some usually designed for spring seeding but mentioned the option for fall/late summer seeding so thought I’d give it a try.
The pasture welcomed the recent rains as well and has greened up in response. The sheep have dipped into the native prairie pasture at the ranch already so it would help if the rains continued to recharge the batteries of the cool season grasses in the remainder. In our home pasture and the pasture at the kindly neighbors weeds have been relatively well controlled for this season anyway. However looking closely one can see there are some bull thistle and musk thistle rosettes appearing, apparently also benefitting from some of the recent rains. These are true biennials so they will either need to be dealt with this fall if time allows or early in the spring when they’re still vulnerable. They can be controlled when they get larger but it takes more chemical to accomplish the job. It still bothers me to see a thistle or two sticking up where I can see it so I always carry my trusty bean hook in the truck just in case. Have bean hook, will travel.
At the kindly neighbor’s pasture the young bluebirds have fledged and they are hanging around the oak trees. It appears the last of the barn swallows has taken wing at the ranch. The interesting thing is they continue to come back and roost in their nest. The hummers have continued to increase in number and activity, keeping the feeders and flower pots worked over daily. The orioles we nearly gave up on a few weeks ago have made a rapid resurgence. There are still some young orchard orioles but most now are young Baltimore types with an occasional brightly colored male in the mix. At times there are up to a half dozen at the feeders or in the tree where they hang so the jelly and sugar water consumption rivals that we experienced earlier in the season once again. Some young goldfinches are appearing now very drab in color and smaller in size than the rest of the crew. They are all hungry it seems and keeping the feeders full has been a full time job. As mentioned last week, there are few acorns. Checking at the kindly neighbors pasture, there is evidence a few must have fallen from up high in the trees where temperatures were warmer and the flowers on the oak trees were not frozen. All that’s left though are the cups that held the acorns, making one wonder if the squirrels have put them away for safekeeping or squandered them while eyeing the birdfeeders.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs were on target for some much needed rainfall and a welcome cool down. Will our good fortunes continue? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a good chance of a shower during the day and a modest chance of a shower overnight. Highs of 80 - 85 and lows around 65. Partly cloudy on Thursday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs of 80 and lows close to 55. Mostly clear and cooler on Friday with highs of 75 and lows near 55. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs near 75 and lows of 55 - 60. Partly cloudy and slightly warmer on Sunday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs around 80 and lows of 60. Mostly sunny on Monday with highs of 80 and lows near 65. Partly cloudy on Tuesday and warmer with a chance of showers. Highs of 85 and lows near 65. The normal high for August 14th is 82 and the normal low is 59. On the 14th we will have 14 hours and one minute of daylight, having lost 1 hour and 27 minutes of daylight since the summer solstice. The scurs will be breaking out the sweaters while roasting weenies and marshmallows to celebrate our cooler evening temps.
Crops continue to thunder along following what was a lifesaving rain on Saturday morning and a kinder, gentler temperature regime. July was not kind to us at all with 1 inch of precipitation total being recorded at the ranch. Trouble was that inch of rain fell in 9 separate rainfall events. High temperatures for the month did not fall below 80 degrees at Waseca until the 28th and there were 10 days when the highs were 90 degrees or more and eight overnight lows where the temperature was 70 degrees or higher. Corn has definitely lost some top-end yield as a result of the heat and lack of rain, but relative to other places in the country we have very little to complain about and everything to be thankful for. Soybeans have really benefitted from the recent change in conditions and given another rain or too could be the Cinderella story once again. Crop health has been excellent and odds of a pest outbreak catching them before they’re out of the woods become a little slimmer each day.
The Olympics have brought something to watch on TV the past couple weeks. We’ve watched as the athletic events are showcased with competition conducted under a peaceful and cooperative atmosphere. Even Ruby has been interested and sometimes so much so that we’ve had to let her outside to cool off. The equestrian events get her so worked up that the growling, barking and running at the TV set is more than we can stand after laughing about at first. The reaction is the same as she has when Bonanza comes on with Hoss, Ben, Little Joe and Adam riding up to the screen. Apparently Ruby is not a horse fan.
The swallows have been congregating on the wires around the ranch in recent days and soon they’ll be heading back south. Most appear to be tree swallows, but they are joined by the resident barn swallows as they feed on the flying insect population. Some evenings the dragonflies have done much the same only to a lesser degree. The last batch of baby bluebirds at the kindly neighbor’s should fledge this week or next. Opening the observation door revealed three nearly fully feathered nestlings hunkered down. The orioles continue to show up after leading us to believe they’re gone. Sunday there was another brightly colored Baltimore male among some younger models. For the birds moving through this fall, there will be very few acorns in the yard at the ranch. Just as we suspected, the freeze this spring put a real hit on their flowering. The chokeberries, however, are loaded with purple berries. The berries from this aronia species are noted for their antioxidants, so popping in a handful of the juicy-but-mouth-puckering fruit is a special treat when mowing the windbreak this time of year. They last on into winter if they’re not all eaten first so I tend not to borrow too many from my feathered friends. Could be a long tough winter for them.
Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer made another visit to make me aware of the Perseid meteor showers that occur during mid-August. The meteors occur when the earth passes through the dust left over from a comet. The clear nights should make for some good viewing. August 11th from 11 p.m. until an hour or so before sunrise should be the prime observation hours. If one desires to take their sweetie out on a blanket to watch in the yard, the noted astronomer’s suggestion is to remain fully clothed even though the mosquitoes aren’t too bad. It could be cold out.
The garden continues to produce in abundance. Crisper drawers are full in the fridges and it’s beyond our capability to eat it all so we’ve been distributing it to those without. Made a journey eastward to Mom’s last Saturday with string beans, potatoes, carrots, onions, cucumbers and zucchini in tow. Made a stop at the neighborhood sheep shearer while I was at it to take along some sweet corn as the patch at the ranch is a week or so away yet. Once at Mom’s, the produce and lamb chops I’d brought along provided us with the raw material for a feast. It was a relaxing afternoon finally, one devoid of people calling and asking questions that could’ve waited until Monday. It was also one of those times when I was able to learn about all kinds of people I’d only heard about when growing up but had never met, primarily because they were already dead and gone by the time I arrived on the scene. These were days before Twitter, e-mail and Facebook when people actually talked and really communicated. The time always passes too quickly however and before I knew it, it was time to head back home. I was glad I’d taken the time though. Some of what I learned helped put things into perspective not only in my life but in the perspective of humanity. Those good ol’ days weren’t any bowl of cherries and were truly times when people pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and helped each other out. Sometimes it appears this is a lesson we need to learn all over again.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs were relatively certain we’d get a respite from the heat and indeed we did. We didn’t however receive much rain as July continued to be miserly in that department. Will August treat us better? Starting Wednesday and Thursday, partly cloudy with a modest chance of a shower or a thunderstorm Wednesday. Highs near 85 and low around 65- 70. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of daytime showers with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Highs of 85 and lows of 65. Partly cloudy and cooler on Saturday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 80 and lows near 60. Mostly sunny and cooler on Sunday with highs of 80 and lows near 60. Mostly sunny Monday and Tuesday with highs of 85and lows of 65. The normal high for August 7th is 81 and the normal low is 61. We’re also losing over two minutes of daylight each day now. The scurs need all the daylight they can get to stockpile wood, thinking we’ll pay the price for the hot dry summer we’ve had.
There are actually two Full Moons in the month of August, the first one occurring here on August 1st and the second one, a Blue Moon on August 31st. We’ll focus our efforts on the first one at this point however. The Full Moon on August 1st goes by several names, with the most common name being the Full Sturgeon Moon, as this was the month when the tribes of the Northeast were catching sturgeon in the Great Lakes region. It also goes by the Full Red Moon due to the reddish color it frequently takes on due to dust in the air this time of year and by the Full Green Corn Moon and the Full Grain Moon. The Ojibwe called this the Full Berry Moon, presumably for the abundant blueberries in season during August. The Sioux called it the Moon When Geese Shed Their Feathers as well as the Moon When the Cherries Turn Black. At the ranch it is known as the Moon When No Vacations Are Possible.
Crops continue to move rapidly towards the finish line. With GDU’s running a good 10 days to two weeks ahead of normal, one suspects harvest will start early this year. The little dribbles of rain most have received in July have been disappointing and the heat has taken its toll on the corn. Looking in just about any corn field, one can find ears that are tipped back and not filled to the end. There is corn denting already so in roughly three weeks we should see some reaching physiological maturity. The soybeans at this point appear to be taking the hot dry conditions more in stride with some early maturing fields already approaching the R5 stage. There have been some increases in pest pressure and both corn and soybean fields bear watching. Some who sprayed insecticides early banking on residual claims should pay particular attention as knocking the beneficial insect populations out of fields can make them prime targets for infestation.
The garden has kicked it into gear producing abundant zucchini, yellow beans, cucumbers, onions and some new potatoes. Taste testing those first potatoes is always a treat and even zucchini is tolerable after not having any fresh for a year. Watering has become a necessity to help tide things over however until we can garner a decent rain. It helps, but it’s still tough to beat Mother Nature on these rich prairie soils.
Around the ranch the evenings are hallmarked by the sound of happily singing crickets, katydids and toads. The toads should be singing happily as fat as they are. Several are about tennis ball size and shape, apparently having dined well on the large insect population most of the summer. Much of the daytime singing by the birds is over with the exception of one wren that apparently still has young in a nesting box near the garden. Shouldn’t be long though and they’ll be on the wing. Another hummingbird has shown up although between the two of them, they really haven’t been competing for feeder space. The orioles have slowed down finally with primarily the orchard oriole group consuming sugar water and jelly. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
There have been all sorts of questions about those pesky biting flies; first and foremost what are they other than names we can’t print. They are known as stable flies and they have been a real nuisance this summer. They love to bite exposed flesh and the bite from their sharp proboscis feels about like someone sticking a pin into your skin. Old farmer tales claim that these flies are merely house flies that bite when they are in fact a separate, distinct species. They are slightly smaller whereas the common house fly is larger and has sponging mouth parts. The habitat they inhabit is much the same although they generally don’t survive well in a fresh manure pack situation. They prefer a more mixed bag of damp, loose bedding and manure mixed in, grass clippings, wet straw, etc. Both males and females bite and suck blood. Like mosquitoes, the female must consume blood to produce viable eggs. The warm winter we had was probably a boon for their survival. They tend to overwinter as pupae in an environment that doesn’t freeze such as a manure pile that generates heat. That’s why after hauling manure before fall freeze-up, I spend all winter worrying about them freezing their poor little hineys to death. ;-)
See you next week…real good then.