Friday, July 22, 2016

I was awakened at 630 this morning by the sharp crack of thunder.  The rain was welcome, but it had a downside today.  It was the time arranged to meet with our crop insurance adjuster to visit and view and document the 55.11 acres that were prevented planted.  Water along the White River kept us from getting those acres planted.  Well, the road to get back to that field was pretty soft from today’s rain, and once we arrived, it was uncertain that we would be able to get back outta there!  But with 4wd and some persistence, we slipped around and managed to return to the paved road.  My poor pickup had to be washed when we returned.   This adjuster is a nice lady, a good person with whom to work, but it was too bad it had to be today to make this trip.

I guess it could have been worse.

Once again, we are grateful for the rain.  There is no sign of (lack of) moisture stress in our corn or soybeans.  They seem to be tolerating these 90º+ days quite well.  We will soon use the drone to perform a closer, aerial inspection of the crops’ progress.

We learned recently that we will have another foreign visitor!   A young farmer from Australia is traveling across North America as part of his training in an Aussie-based agricultural leadership program.  He will be in SWIN in early August, and we are looking forward to his visit.  We hope his schedule will permit him to spend a full day with us.  It is always an interesting time to visit with farmers from other parts of the globe.  One thing I have learned from these interactions is that we are more alike than we are different.  It is a great blessing to make these connections, and I hope this visitor finds value in his time with us.

Have a great weekend.