Valentine's Week

Really National Farm Machinery Show week but I have to put my Valentine first!

She does what I like to do and I try to like what she does but antique stores and flea markets get old! Thank Goodness she likes to travel and learn new things and talk to people like I do.

Waiting for the appraiser to get here, really curious what they will think. Should be no problem in re-financing this place at a lower rate but you never know. We have done so much to this farm in 5 short years. Nothing really to compare it with around here, it is quite original.

I would sure like to see this are settled and these three farms built. This one sits on the highest knoll, second highest in the county by a few feet. Built around 1880 and four bricks thick. They call them cannon ball walls so they couldn't shoot a cannon ball through it, Civil War you know.

This soil is great for farming but they should have imported the bricks instead of making them here. This soil is just a little too crumbly to make bricks from. The old brick pit is still down by Little East Fork of the Little Miami River.

This farm sits on a unique glacial moraine. This farm is on the Wisconsin Glacial Till but the fence line to the west and south is Illinoian Glacial Till. Hard to imagine the old Illinoian is buried deep under this glacial outwash.

I am surely no expert but taught soils as a part of my career all my life as a student, teacher and farmer and now consultant. Soils are important to us and we like to dig. Every summer we try to dig down and see how are soil is responding to our management practices. I guess that is the largest legacy I will leave, the love and understanding of soil and how to nurture it to make a living and feed the world.

It feels like a blustery March day today, not like cold February a year ago. The seasons pass, the time changes and we all wonder what it will be like tomorrow.

The biggest challenge will be getting Sable over to the grand daughters this afternoon on our way to Louisville. She gets quite uneasy in the car and got sick her first ride. We have taken one ride since and she did OK but it was a short trip.

I never had a problem with car sickness but sure appreciate those who do! Boats and jets don't bother me but heighths sure do in recent years. I use to skin tall maples to where it wasn't safe to be and now get uneasy on a stepladder!

My how times change and go so fast! I try to appreciate each and every single day but they are just coming ang going too quickly!

Hope your time is going slow if you are having fun but it is probably going too fast like mine!

Have a great day,

Ed Winkle