Farm Friday

This week on the farm we've started getting tractors and equipment ready for the fall.  We've also been doing a rain dance which gave us mixed results on Wednesday.  At our home place we got .10" of rain - needless to say, we would have like more!  But at the same time, we had some fields get 1" of rain, but with the rain came some wind damage.

Wind damaged corn

As you can see my "backyard" could still use some rain.

The corn is now at the dough stage, or R4.  As you can see, our drought conditions have stressed the corn kernels.  This ear has a poor kernel set at the tip.  Thankfully this ear has 18 rows, but the rows won't have as many kernels per row.

Now onto my hog's "backyard."  The soybeans continue to grow nicely.  The plants are now at my shoulders (keep in mind, I'm 5'2", but still that's tall!)

The soybean plants now have reached Full Pod (R4)

Look at all those soybeans!

and some plants are at R5 - Beginning Seed.

Lets hope we get some good rains so the soybeans can fill nicely and so the corn can maybe recover a little.

Did you get rain this week?  It seemed like a lot of rain fell across the United States but at the same time it seemed to be spotty.

Learning + Fun + Extra Cash = 4-H Judging

Yesterday I spent the day judging at the 4-H Exhibit Day at the Hancock County Fair in Britt, Iowa.  I judged several project areas including Visual Arts, Poster Art, Child Development, Consumer Management, Health, Leadership, Citizenship, and Self-Determined.

I've been judging 4-H communication contests and county fairs for the last eight years.  I love learning new things from the 4-Hers and coming home with fun ideas.  Another added perk is that it is a nice way to get some extra spending cash.

I feel like 4-H helped shape me to be the person I am today, and by judging, it is one way of giving back to the organization.  I hope I have encouraged 4-Hers I have evaluated to explore their interests and educate themselves more in those areas.  By doing those things I believe I have helped strengthen their life skills of leadership, communication and citizenship.

If you are from Iowa and are interested in becoming a 4-H judge, right now is the perfect time to start!  Starting in October, there will be Judges Trainings in Ames, Calmar, Marion, Storm Lake, Iowa City, Algona, Carson and Osceola, through March.  Judges Training builds knowledge and skills needed for a quality judging experience.  It also gives you an opportunity to practice before direct interaction with 4-Hers.  For experienced judges, the training provides revised and updated resources.

Are you a 4-H Judge - why do you enjoy judging?  Are you interested in becoming a 4-H Judge - what questions do you have about judging?

First Sweet Corn of the Season

Last night for supper we had our first pick of sweet corn and it was sooo good!  

What made it even better is that we had some friends over and had in my opinion a classic summer supper - pork chops from the grill, sweet corn, apple pie and ice cream!  Can't wait to have BLTs and more sweet corn tonight!

Fair Time Favorites

Last week my family and I kept busy because our local Franklin County Fair was being held.  There was only one day last week that between My Farmer and I, we didn't have to be at the fair - We joked around that we can only imagine what are fair schedule will be like when we have kids in 4-H!  Overall we had a great time and the weather was great for it.  Here is my Top Five Franklin County Fair Favorites:

• Promote Our Commodities - I've been lucky the last couple of years to have be asked to judge the 4-H Promote Our Commodities contest.  This is a cooking and baking contest where 4-Hers bring dishes that feature beef, pork, lamb, dairy or soy.  It is always fun to try all the fun recipes the 4-Hers bring and to talk to them about Iowa's top commodities.  I hope I continue to be asked to judge this event!

LP helping me judge 4-Her Abby's Oatmeal Cranberry Soy Cookies - very delicious!

• Farm Bureau Burger Feed - Every year the Franklin County Farm Bureau (which both My Farmer and I serve on) sponsors a day at the fair.  One thing the Farm Bureau does as a part of that sponsored day is that we have a burger feed.  We pass out 1,000 pork burger and hamburgers.  It is great way to promote pork, beef and Farm Bureau.

My Farmer on the left, with a couple other Farm Bureau board members grilling pork burgers
at the burger feed.  You can see part of the burger feed line behind them.

• Entertainment - Our County Fair does a great job with an Entertainment line-up every year.  This year we really enjoyed going to the Oak Ridge Boys concert, Rodney Atkins concert and the Monster Truck Rally.  My personal favorite was the Oak Ridge Boys concert.  My Farmer, LP and I brought my Mom and Grandma along with us to the concert.  My Grandma, who will be 80 at the end of the month, is a huge Oak Ridge Boys fan.  She had a great time at the concert which made me enjoy it that much more!  She stood up near the stage for the concert and got high-fives from the whole band at the end of the night.  They played for over an hour and a half and had the entire crowd on their feet.  Their final song was Amazing Grace which was dedicated to those in Aurora, Colorado.

My Grandma is the one with white shoulder length hair in the bottom right of this photo.
You can see how close she got to the stage!

• Food - You can't talk about the Fair and not talk about FOOD!  Every year at our County Fair I have to eat at the 4-H Food Stand and get a taco salad and a slice of homemade pie, I have to get a chicken wrap from the Smoke & Crome stand, and I have to get homemade ice cream from Pleasant Hill.  This year my new favorite food I tried was fried cookie dough on a stick!  The food at the County Fair makes me excited for food at the State Fair next month!

My Farmer and LP after eating some homemade ice cream at Pleasant Hill

• Family Time - We had a blast as a family at the fair this year.  LP is only 16 months old but he had so much fun at the fair!  He enjoyed just people watching, to singing and dancing at the concerts, to cheering on the Monster Trucks.  It was fun to do things as a family all week long.

LP loved putting his hands up in the air and cheering at the concerts.
Here we all are cheering for the Oak Ridge Boys.

I always love hearing from readers.  What is your favorite thing to do at the Fair?

Farm Friday

It has been a fast paced week here on the farm.  Besides keeping busy with loading hogs and spraying fungicide on our corn, we've also been participating in several things at our local county fair this week.

My "backyard" is starting to show signs of stress due to a lack of rain but yet, I remain optimistic about the crop.

I can't believe how much the corn ears are growing despite no rain!  The corn is now at R3 which is known as the milk stage.  The kernels are now yellow on the outside and have a milky white fluid in the kernels, which is the beginning of starch accumulation.

You can see how large the ear of corn is compared to my hand

R3 Corn

There are 16 rows on this ear of corn

Now onto my hog's "backyard."  The soybeans continue to grow well despite the lack of rain.

Here's a look at how large the soybean pods are today.

Have you gotten rain this week?  How long has it been since you had a measurable rain?

Farm It Maybe

I think "Farm It Maybe" might be the next viral sensation to highlight agriculture, like "I'm Farming and I Grow It" which now has almost 6 million views!  According to the YouTube account, this video is done by 9 year old Fred and his 18 year old brother Justin.  These young dairymen do a great job on their farm parody of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe."  On the video's page, the brothers comment that their video was inspired by the Peterson Farm Brother's I'm Farming and I Grow It video.  Just like the I'm Farming and I Grow It video, I first saw this video when there were 2,000 some odd views yesterday afternoon, as I write this blog this morning there are over 42,000 views.  It is a fun video that shares information about dairy farming.  Good luck guys!

Check out Lil Fred's other videos too.  I really like his "Got Milk?" video.

Toilet Paper Impact

Last night LP and I watched our County Fair Parade and after the Fire Engines, Fair Queen Candidates and local businesses, the Greater Franklin County Chamber had an entry that reminded everyone to Shop Local, Dine Local and Bank Local.  The main focus of their campaign is to Buy One Product Locally - Toilet Paper.

I have to admit, before our local chamber started this campaign I didn't buy my toilet paper locally.  I went out of the county to buy it at a large discount store.  Why not buy something so simple as toilet paper to support businesses in my county!  Here are the numbers:

How much toilet paper is used in Franklin County?

• Number of people in Greater Franklin County = 14, 987
• Average number of rolls used per person each year = 105
• Total number of rolls used by the people of Franklin County = 1,573,635
• Average cost per roll = $1.25
• Total dollars spent on toilet paper per year = $1,967,043.75

How much toilet paper is bought in Franklin County?

• Estimate total rolls purchased locally per year = 268,640
• Average cost per roll = $1.25
• Total dollars spent in Greater Franklin County on toilet paper = $335,800

How much is Franklin County loosing in local sales just because people are buying their toilet paper out of county?  $1,631,244

I'm not one that usually shouts to the hill tops about "Buying Local" but really, what could you do with $1.6 million dollars for your community?