Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Although this afternoon is predicted to be 70ºF (21C), the trend of the daily high temperature has been declining. This week, we’ve seen low 60s, and this weekend the highs will be in the 40s with lows predicted to be in the 20s! Brrr! That will certainly stop the volunteer corn and soybeans that have been growing abundantly across the region. We are adjusting to the cooler temperatures, and it’s rare that I can wear shorts to work these days.
If you’ve been following this website in recent weeks, you’re aware that we have had Dustin Hatton and his crew busy for several days, re-working and building a few new WASCoBs, repairing tile holes, clearing away small trees from ditches, and smoothing some erosion ruts. He has completed that work. One of the projects involved cleaning a ditch at the Holscher farm. In that operation, the banks are scraped, and the bottom of the ditch lowered a little bit, giving the ditch more capacity and allowing the tile that flow into it space to do their job. Yesterday and today, the guys are spreading fescue seed on the freshly-disturbed soil of the ditch’s banks, to establish a grass sod cover to protect the banks. We use a little over-the-shoulder crank-type seeder, reminiscent of the primitive technology of decades ago. The seeder’s canvas bag hang on your right shoulder and sits on a base that has an adjustable slot in the bottom, and the hand-powered crank spreads the seed as you walk along. No GPS required for this operation! Yes, it’s a little late to get a solid grass cover established, but this will be a decent start. (Rain tomorrow night will help). If the stand of grass is thinner than we’d prefer and it requires more seed, we can add that in February, when the daily freeze-thaw sort of “pulls” the seed into the soil. By April, it will look green and gorgeous.
With the completion of Dustin’s fall conservation and repair field work, the fall fertilizer and lime applications have also been completed by Nutrien. In fields that were DCB, John has run the JD 2660VT machine over those acres to incorporate the nutrients and manage the wheat/soybean crop residue. It looks really great after. Today, he’s cleaning up the VT tool, and preparing it for winter storage. It probably won’t come out again until it’s time to plant wheat in September 2027.
John is washing off the frame of the VT, and he will scrub the wheels to make this machine look like new again.
Speaking of wheat planting, the wheat planted this fall looks very beautiful… never better I’d say. The past few years, dry fall weather made establishment of a good stand of wheat more difficult. This year, it was also dry again, but the few rains we did receive were timely, and got the wheat off to one of the best starts ever. It is a happy thing to drive by those fields of healthy green wheat. It’s easy to say a little “thank you, Lord” when we see ’em.
The office work is moving along toward the FYE 11/30. I’ll be reconciling the books for October today. Most of the information we need to complete the task has been defined and gathered. We will meet with our accountant team on the 23rd to finalize the plan. It’s always a sigh of relief when that is finished.
It’s time to mow the yard for what is likely the final time of 2026. Yard mowing always starts in March, and it ends with one or two mows in November. I’ll have the mower, a JD Z545R, get its annual servicing after we get done for the season. It’ll be ready to spring to life in March of 2027!
Have you been thinking about your Thanksgiving celebration? It seems like Thanksgiving has sort of disappeared in between Halloween and Christmas, becoming a less and less visible event. But for me, it is my favorite American holiday… not just for the wonderful food, but mostly for the spirit of gratitude it encourages. We need to be more intentional in our thankfulness. So, the old hymn, “Count Your Blessings” is something we need to consider more often than just on the 4th Thursday of November!
Have a great week. The South Knox girls’ basketball team has their first game of the season tonight at the Hatchet House in Washington. Go, Spartans!
