Tuesday, December 30, 2025

The year is winding down.  There’s not much activity here today. Yesterday, the two Brandons were busy hauling out corn.  The Tony truck and the Volvo were occupied.  But they are quiet today.

After this fall’s harvest, the farmer adjoining our Nellie farm wanted to rebuild the levee that protects both our farms along White River.  They moved in their dozer and track-hoe, and hired another earth-moving contractor.  They finished that work a couple weeks ago.  This morning, since the ground is frozen, I took the Gator down there to have a look at the finished product.  It is certainly an upgrade.  Plus several hundred feet of the levee had to be relocated away from the river.   These particular fields are on the ‘outside of the curve’ of the river.   As time marches on, the river ‘eats away’ at the river bank, eroding away farther and farther into our field.  Dad bought this place back in middle 60s when I was just a kid.  Since that time, that 145-acre patch of ground is now down to about 100 acres!   That is a significant loss over that 60-or-so years that I’ve watched White River do its thing.  We’ve had the property taxes adjusted a few times to account for this decrease.  Yes, there are structures that can be put into the river to stop this erosion.  Big structures called ‘bendway weirs’ will direct the current away from the outer bank.  But those structures would be extremely expensive.  I know they’ve used them in the Mississippi River to maintain channels for the commerce ships, but it is not a feasible solution for us at this location.  By the way, the Nellie farm got its name because my Aunt Nellie, one of mom’s older sisters, lived on this place with her husband Uncle Wib in the 1920s.

Approaching the levee from Nellie field.  

View from up on top of the levee

I also took today’s trip out in the Gator to look over a few of our wheat fields.   I was pleased with the ones that I viewed today.  The Huey farm, the Waldo farm, and the Roberson farm look pretty good today.  Next month, we will have the first pass of nitrogen fertilizer applied.  It will be a solution called Nex Blu-S, a liquid blend of ammonium nitrate and sulfur and biocatalysts.  Nutrien will do this application for us.

Waldo farm, big field

Roberson farm, main field

We had a wonderful Christmas together on Friday evening.  It was really special, and to see the 4 granddaughters enjoy one another was special.

Dennis, Ben, Kate, Pat, Ella, Molly Emmy, John, Kierstin, and Ashley say Merry Christmas to you!

The new year is almost upon us.  Have you made any resolutions?  May 2026 be good to you.

James 4:8a

Happy New Year!