education

Good judgment comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad judgment. 

consistent?

I notice our new representative Tim Miller signed on enthusiastically with the local school district (MACCRAY) in its battle with Governor Mark Dayton over Dayton's desire to see it return to a five day week.  Local control is always best, said the representative.  I agree, mostly, even to the extent of supporting local control for schools which operate mostly by spending state money.  But it would be difficult, if not impossible for one who believes in local control for schools to speak against it when it comes to counties and townships who merely desire the same authority to zone and regulate that every municipality in the state assumes it already has.  Such an effort is gaining steam at the legislature this year.  Big Ag, as usual, wants no government interference with anything except when it benefits their attempts to roll over what others want. 

We will see how Miller votes.  There are a few of us yet that have not succumbed to the national state of political Alzheimers;  that think and notice and remember well enough to require a certain basic consistency in our representation.  We will no doubt be revisiting this issue here in a few weeks.

Jim    

conferences

The alternative agriculture conferences this year are very much about cover crops.  The practice of using a cover crop after or with the main crop and then harvesting, grazing it or letting it go back to the soil is understood to promote soil health, making it less susceptible to erosion, compaction, weediness and so forth.  Many of the cover crops farmers are planting are complex mixtures of grasses, grains, legumes, beans, including both warm season and cool season plants.  The beneficial aspects of the cover crops in addition to the reduced primary tillage and exposure to sun and wind for the soil appears to center around the maintenance of living roots in the ground, even in winter.  Perennial plants overwinter, of course, and those roots continue to live, benefiting the soil life twelve months every year, as opposed to annual cropping, done extensively in conventional agriculture, which leaves the soil microbes to starve during the non growing season.  It is, if you think about it, how nature "farms".

Jim    

respiration

Today I went to hear a report on the results of a cover crop demonstration grant the farm was a part of.  For the first time ever in my four decades of farming I saw soil test results reported out partly in terms of the respiration measured coming from the sample of soil.  This, of course, is an attempt to assess the microbial activity in the soil, with the understanding that the more the soil teems with life, the more fertile it will be, the less it will compact and erode and the easier it will be to work with.  In the larger sense, it is an attempt to apply wisdom as well as science and experience to the farming of the land.  There is hope for us yet!

Jim

snow

It is below zero again as I write this on Thursday morning, a week before Thanksgiving.  We have already had more than a foot of snow on the ground for more than a week.  And about half our corn crop is still out there, standing in it.  This week, we will try to get it in.  Due to a week of pretty hard work right after the snow came, we have the livestock pretty well situated for the winter.  But farming is a challenge when winter begins soon after the first of November.  I don't know yet if this winter will be the hardest in my memory, but it is already the earliest.

Jim

clean food

A dozen or more gmo labeling efforts are gaining steam in cities and states across the nation a week before the election.  Huge amounts of corporate cash are being used against them, as the food giants who have been piggybacking on the farmers' good name are fearful of losing their gravy train.  From the farmer angle there is news:  Our seed dealer tells us to get corn seed early for next year because a certain number of more conventional farms are buying up the supply, seeing no reason to pay exorbitant prices for "patented" seed that will result in a corn crop that sells for just three dollars.  And,  a well established local concern selling meat to those careful of what they eat is seeking funds to build a gmo free feed mill.  It seems as if some "voting" is happening ahead of the election!

Jim

corn

Once again we are midway through fall wondering about the maturity of the corn.  Part of the difficulty is that we have given up corn drying on the grounds that the equipment is too expensive, so is the fuel and it is hard on the environment.  But when the heating degree days are short in number as this year, we sometimes hold our breath hoping the crop matures enough to keep.

On the plus side, the pastures have been ahead of the cattle all season due to the frequent rains and the reduced cattle numbers.  Also, the hay is in surplus and high in quality.  We will have a chance to push the sow herd on forages and see how far we can back up on their grain ration.

All this is about bringing the farm and its production into line with a changing climate.

Jim