Disappearing at a breakneck pace
Wed, 10/23/2024 - 11:00pm
The scurs were convinced by data provided from the Weather Eye that summer would hang on and Jack Frost would make a return engagement. That he did. Is he on hiatus or will he become a regular guest soon? Starting on Thursday, mostly sunny with a good chance of showers. There, I said it! Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Sunny on Friday with highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Sunny on Saturday with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Sunday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the mid-40’s. Mostly sunny on Monday with a fair chance of evening showers. Highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the low 50’s. Tuesday mostly cloudy with highs in the mid-60’s and lows in the mid-40’s. Mostly cloudy on Wednesday with highs in the low 60’s and lows in the low 40’s. We’ll slip below 10 hours and 30 minutes of daylight on the 26th and won’t see that much again until Valentine’s Day. The normal high for October 26th is 53 and the normal low is 33. The scurs are hoping their long winter gatkes are back from the cleaners soon.
Crop keeps disappearing from the fields at a breakneck pace. Dry corn and low yields remindful of the 80’s and 90’s, harvested with large modern equipment makes it go that much faster. Fall tillage still remains a conundrum for many, especially deep tillage. With the warm breezy conditions, soils have continued to dry out. Opening them up will only serve to dry them out that much faster. I don’t know that there’s a right answer here. In places there is good soil moisture below the top couple inches. Other places, it’s dry down to 6”, the depth we take our soil samples. The ground is extremely hard in places and in others, surprisingly mellow, all in the same field. It does make one wonder how fall anhydrous ammonia will go on. Where moisture is lacking, cracked, and the soil is hard, it may not attach or seal well either one. There is certainly no hurry at this point and soil temperatures haven’t reached the magical 50 degree mark yet. I know one thing: Most are ready to say good riddance and close the book on this season.
As mentioned, I still go out soil sampling and have almost daily this fall. It’s the best way to determine soil fertility levels, know the soil moisture levels and note what kind of harvest losses there are. There are other intangibles as well. Recently I soil sampled some fields around an older building site where the barn was still intact. I enjoy envisioning days gone by, the daily chores, including manure hauling and where animals might’ve been pastured or in a lot. Looking at the lay of the land one can about guess the areas where snow blew clear along it. There are sometimes clues revealed when the soil tests come back. For instance, if the phosphorus and particularly the zinc levels are unusually high, it’s entirely possible that’s where manure was hauled over a long timespan or there was a lot there at one time, as evidenced when I sampled around our building site. Comparing the soil test levels with old plat books or aerial photos, it all makes sense. If you really want to diddle around and waste time, check out this link to old aerial photos, some dating back to the 1920’s. Guaranteed to blow your mind.
Jack Frost pretty much closed the book on the garden last week. The frost brought an end to a bountiful tomato crop, but not before we could salvage as many nice ones as we could eat before they’d spoil. The warm temps haven’t helped. The bad spots appear more quickly, so we’ve been eating BLT’s, tomatoes with cottage cheese, tomatoes with coleslaw, tomatoes with potato salad, tomatoes with mac salad and the list goes on. The snacking tomatoes in the small garden closest to the house weren’t completely taken out. There have been lots of yellow pear and sungold tomatoes to snack on at lunchtime with Poppy. I taste tested the first winter radish of the season. The heat and dry September caused them to split, but scar tissue formed, keeping their integrity intact. The watermelon radish was amazingly sweet, for about the first 10 seconds anyway. Then the radish kicked in. It definitely had some horsepower, reminding me this ain’t no turnip.
About time to head north once again and assist my buddy Bill with some of the necessary chores at his family’s cabin in Canada. As they say, that wood won’t cut and split itself. As they also said, it warms you up three times. When you cut it, when you split it and when you burn it. It’s common where logging has been occurring for people to scrounge through the slash piles, the limbs and pieces that didn’t make it onto the logging truck. Many times there are nice hunks of birch and maple there for the taking. The loggers don’t mind as it’s less mess for them to contend with and helps keep the fire danger to a minimum. As dry as it’s been recently, that’s not all bad. Sure, it’s work, but it's rewarding as well. There are few things as enjoyable as coming in from the cold, smelling the wood burning stove and feeling that heat warm your bones. There’s a sense of satisfaction knowing that you were part of the process.
Poppy keeps the local animal population on their toes. Every morning she gives the kitties a workout at chore time then goes in the house to have her breakfast. After helping me fill the birdbath, it’s time for her to play a little, then nap a spell. Usually by the time she wakes up, one of the squirrels will be cleaning up under the bird feeders. Time to slowly open the sliding glass door and give them a thrill. Sunday, during the football game, Poppy was having an absolute hissy fit about something out the window. We couldn’t see it from where we were seated, but she was convinced it needed to be brought to our attention. I opened the front door to let her out and she took off on a dead run, growing with her hackles up. A large black object started slowly trotting ahead of her as she got closer. It was a wild turkey apparently having decided the ground fall apples were to his liking. Poppy got closer and it took a clumsy, lumbering flight to the top of the garage. He didn’t stay up there long, but long enough so I could get a picture of it. Was hoping he was gone for good. Monday morning I saw him in the neighbor’s dooryard. It’s nice to share.
See you next week…real good then.