Wheat Grew Overnight

This is the most unusual thing I ever saw but yesterday's rain made the wheat grow overnight.

It has been so dry the wheat and barley barely came up. With a nice 1-2 inches of rain on it it grew overnight.

Usually it is so damp in fall the cereal crops come closer to drowning than lacking from water but this year's La Nina event is quite something different. The grain prices are so volatile because of high demand and questionable supply that the rumor of drought in South America has the markets queezy.

We are about 12 inches behind an average year's rainfall. We had one inch of rain June 12, another one Sept 17 and more than that yesterday. That's almost a half a year with 3 one inch rains, very unusual around here.

They said it was the coolest October on record in Europe but then turned record warm while we were there.

The yard greened up a little but not like most places we have been to where it is lush green. I really need to re-seed the whole thing now.

It sure has been a different year weather wise!

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. It is amazing how affordable a home cooked meal still is.

"While the average cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal rose by 56 cents, the price of feeding a gathering of 10 is still less than it was in 2008, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table.

The average price tag for a holiday meal for 10 with all the trimmings rang up at $43.47, up from $42.91 in 2009 but down by $1.14 from the 2008 average. The rise was in spite of a significantly lower average price for the centerpiece 16-pound turkey, which was down by 99 cents.

“Turkey prices are down some this year despite the fact that, according to United States Agriculture Department estimates, turkey production has been slightly lower in 2010 than in 2009 and supplies of turkey in cold storage are below last year’s level,” said American Farm Bureau Federation Economist John Anderson, who said this indicates retailers are being aggressive in featuring turkeys in special sales and promotions.

“Overall, the change in the price of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner is basically in line with the modest changes that we’ve seen in the overall price level this year. At $4.35 per person, our traditional Thanksgiving feast is still a better deal than most fast-food value meals, plus it’s a wholesome, home-cooked meal.”

The survey involved shoppers from 34 states (including one from Georgia) collecting price data on turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10.

The cost of a 16-pound turkey, at $17.66 or roughly $1.10 per pound, reflects a decrease of 44 cents compared to the prices from the 2009 survey. A 38-cent rise in the price of a gallon of milk and a 72-cent increase for miscellaneous ingredients (coffee, onions, eggs, sugar, flour, evaporated milk and butter) offset the decrease in the price of turkey. The price for a pound of green peas also declined, by an average of 14 cents, while the cost of 12 ounces of fresh cranberries was the same as in 2009."

I am sure most of us spent more than that but food is still affordable.

Those little wheat plants won't make a dent in the cost of producing the pumpkin pie shell it could make.


Ed