As we celebrate National Dairy Month, my thoughts are with Jack & Frances Watt, my old neighbors (when you live in the country, a “neighbor” can reside within at least 5 miles of you) who were dairy farmers. They were among the hardest working, kindest people I’ve ever known. Vacations
How many kernel rows, or rounds, will an ear of corn have? That’s being determined right now in my cornfield. My corn has hit the critical V6 growth stage (in just 31 days, no less). Next to emergence and pollination, V6 is one of the most significant times of the plant’s
Last week, I had the honor of helping my Native American friends from the Zia Pueblo in New Mexico plant corn on their tribal land. Every farm has its limiting factors, and for the Zia Pueblo the most prevalent is water. While I’m doing furrow irrigation on my Tennessee farm
When asked if he was finished with planting, dad would frequently respond by saying, “the first time.” His cynicism aside, replant decisions can be difficult. This year, too many growers are faced with that decision. If you plant when the soil is cold and wet, you’re inviting problems. But even if you
“Anticipation” is a famous song from Carly Simon (which also became the advertising anthem for Heinz ketchup). But it could also be the theme for how farmers feel from the moment they drop their planter. My first year of farming on my own, I waited over three nail-biting weeks for my
My #Plant24 corn went in the ground on May 1, and it was up in just five days. We planted in ideal conditions: soil temperature was 76 degrees, and while the surface was dry, the seeds were placed two inches deep in moist soil. We’ve had nearly 1.5” of rain since. Preplant
“Plants sure know the difference between rainwater and hose water.” That was my wife’s observation Saturday morning, after seeing the rapid overnight growth, beautiful green color, and new blooms from our garden plants, following a thunderstorm that brought a half-inch of rain.
No matter how small the acts, or how small the actors, everything in our natural world connects, and everything makes a difference. I spend a lot of time reading to my granddaughters, and I’ve found that there are now many kid books about how to help the Earth (I’ve selected
Last week my wife and I frequented a rather posh coffee shop in Gilbert, AZ. I was wearing my “God Made a Farmer” t-shirt, likely not common attire for such a place. Yet the number of compliments I received about it was astounding. The well-to-do clientele ranged from fancy-iced-coffee-drinking twenty somethings to
“Free seed can cost a lot of money.” That was dad’s less-than-tactful response to a seed salesman hoping to woo him with a special offer. Was dad exaggerating (as he was notoriously known to do)? Not in this case. Even using today’s financial standards – where seed costs have more than
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