It’s a sunny, chilly 46 degrees, but it will warm up later this morning. It’s Wednesday, October 8, and this year is fast disappearing...just like the crops in the fields.
You may have noticed long, white bags in a harvested field. They could be filled with soybeans or corn depending which stubble is left in the field. It’s a way to store a crop when folks run out of bin space on the farm, or space at an elevator. Last week Cargill shut down taking corn at one terminal, and beans at another (Havana and Beardstown). I don’t know if they’re accepting grain again or not, and I don’t know if the raccoons and deer will be a threat to the big bags, or if they will leave them alone.
China has stopped buying soybeans from the U.S,. and are buying from South America. It is ironic that we buy so much from China (look at the product labels), but it isn’t a two way street.
Another problem is going to be shipping crops on a low river. We did get 3/10 of an inch a couple nights ago, and it soaked into the ground so fast that farmers were back in the field at a fast pace. For one thing that little bit of moisture would have raised the low moisture content of harvest beans and corn. Beans are ideally13% moisture for weight, but they were being harvested at 8%.
Well, the government shutdown also stopped any USDA reports that were to be published. So, that could be a two edged sword by keeping traders in the dark about yields and carryover. Who needs to buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas?
I have been peeling apples from the Golden Delicious tree and baking apple crisp or a pie often. I think the family is afraid to answer the phone for fear I’m going to deliver something. It reminds me of a story my niece told years ago about why she locked her vehicle when she went to church. It was because there was a bumper crop of zucchini squash and people would put them in her car if it was unlocked.
I’m confused by the wooly worms predicting winter weather. Some are all black, some are brown in the middle and black on the ends, and I even saw one that was all brown.
A little bit of humor and a little bit of wisdom. A tourist wasn’t sure where he was and asked an old timer for directions, “Do you live around here?”
“Yep.” “Have you lived here all your life?” “Not yit!”
Now the wisdom...”You haven’t had all that you wanted in life, now, have you?” asked the pessimist. The optimist answered, “but I haven’t had all that I didn’t want, either.”
Sharon Chenoweth is a resident and farmer of McDonough County. Her column focuses on rural life and will be featured every other week in the Community News Brief Friday Edition.
