Sunday

You can see in the background we have a little fall color this year but not much. The trees are just so dry. The northern Pecan trees in the yard are the last to bloom in the spring and the last to turn in the fall. They just started turning color.


Usually our fall weather changes to windy and cooler so the leaves won't stay on very long. They still are not predicting much moisture for the coming weeks and everything is bone dry.

I wonder how the leaf peeping went this fall? I imagine those hurricanes blew the leaves off the trees in New England. A lady said the trees weren't that pretty at the Fall Festival of Leaves in Bainbridge, Ohio.

I usually write one piece on fall leaf color in Ohio. I had one a year ago that explained how our hardwoods change color.

One day last winter grandma talked to the older grand daughters about there being no green on the trees and the little one piped up, yes we have green trees grandma! They have conifers in their yard and yes they are green, Brynn. What a quick and astute comment on tree color.

The best green we have are the fields of cereal grains and cover crops dotting the landscape now in southern Ohio. It would be neat to see an aerial picture of them and I am sure Google Earth or some other Internet tool has them pictured.

I can't get Steve Groff's hat that says Soil Was Meant To Be Covered off my mind. He has become an expert at that with his cover crop ideas to save his soil in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The biological activity that goes on with that concept really changes soil chemistry and soil physical qualities.

I have been listening and learning and all my fields should be green this winter. I am trying to get and stay ahead of the weed population but I am gaining soil quality in this pursuit.

Steve has Field Day in late October and he will have several hundred farmers and land owners visiting his farm to see his experiments at keeping the soil covered.

"Our annual Cover Crop Field Days are quickly approaching!This year we will be expanding to a 2 day educational event- October 27th and 28th, 2010. The theme is: “Solving the Cover Crop Puzzle- Helping farmers fit cover crops into their management system.” We have a terrific line up of speakers, equipment demos, rainfall simulator demonstration, and 24 species of cover crops in field length plots, as well over 50 acres of cover crop cocktails/mixtures for you to tour and inspect. A registration fee for each day includes delicious meals and an information-packed 3-ring binder for use in planning cover crop rotations.Last year the event drew over 350 people from 14 states and 4 countries. Don't miss out!

Click HERE for all the details- directions, special van and bus rates, lodging, and registration. There are still some exciting details coming together and we’ll follow-up in a few days. Attached is the Press Release if you’d like to print out to pass along to others.Finally, please forward this invitation to anyone else you think may be interested.Hope to see you next week!Steve GroffCedar Meadow Farm
Holtwood, PA 175321-800-767-9441

www.TillageRadish.com

It is paying good dividends to him and us that follow that concept.

Ed