Monday, January 23, 2017

Wow… the beginning of another week.  The days are zipping by.  Can you believe it’s the beginning of the 4th week of the new year already?  Whether you’ve dreaded or eagerly anticipated the new President, he is on-the-job.   The girls’ HS basketball season is winding down, with the tournament beginning this week.  The boys’ season is moving apace, with our local SK Spartans standing at 11-3, HM in the 2A Indiana rankings.   The weather has been unusually warm, with 65º, t-shirt style temps over the weekend.  By next weekend, average temperatures are predicted… highs in the 30s and nights in the 20s.   The march toward spring continues.  The corn planter is serviced and ready.  Seed will be arriving soon.   We anticipate the delivery of the new soybean planter.   The anhydrous ammonia application bar is stored down at our Huey farm location, in the quonset there.  It will come home next month to be prepped for the preplant nitrogen season– one of the first passes across our 2017 corn fields.

Before you know it, we will be returning to the fields to plant another crop.   This will be Ross’s 56th crop, and for me the 42nd.   With that many years behind us, you’d think we’d be supremely confident about our abilities to make this a successful year.  But, we know that there are so many factors outside our control… each year has a different twist, a new lesson to be learned.  So, we will use our base of knowledge of agronomics and economics to plant this next crop.  We will adapt as the day-to-day changes move along.  And we will trust our Maker.

More corn is going to market today.  The recent market rally helped us to get some more of our 2016-crop corn inventory sold.  I hope we can be MT of grain by the time we plant the next crop, but we will have to wait to see how the market shakes out.

I’ll close today with a couple pictures from the weekend that made me very happy.

I was pleased to see agriculture have a presence in the Inauguration Parade. It was a good thing for the new President to see, and good for the country, too.

Also, at the close of the Vincennes Lincoln @ SK game Friday night.

After Lincoln defeated our Spartans, the two rival teams gathered together for prayer. Pretty touching for this old guy.  And, perhaps, an example for the country, too.

Have a good week, everyone!