Show Me State

We had a nice surprise visit with our friends Jules and Alice from Missouri. I met Jules on AgOnline 16 years ago and he and his wife have become dear friends.

We talked about the farms and barns and houses we have owned and the barn quilt project that we participated in the last few years. I showed them the old covered bridge and the glacial moraines we farm.

They saw one or two corn fields from Missouri to Ohio. We talked about how serious this situation is this years and all the bad years we remember from the past.

They had a house condemned when they farmed on the Missouri River. Farming bottom ground like he and we did years ago was quite a contrast of good crops on rich soil to complete devastation in years like this one.

We had a beautiful picnic under the Pecan trees yesterday then a big storm blew up and we had hail for 15 minutes which didn't help my wheat nay and record flooding just on the other side of Martinsville.

We did a little road farming and caught the edge of that storm near the new farm in Highland county just down the road a little. Anyone who worked their ground lost it quickly last night and the gush of fresh soil was just atrocioius everywhere we drove. It was that way all the way to Greenfield so our region got hammered again.

This is gotten serious as you can imagine. Crop insurance may help some through this mess but it will never restore the lost crop and soil damage that has occurred.

My cover crops are clear out of control now and the rye has went to seed. It seemed like a good idea last fall and it was but now we have to figure out what to do next if it ever dries up.

I had a clear vision of this crop year last night and it isn't going to be good. We are on hard times on the farm here. It is here and we will have to deal with it.

They even found a new leak in their bedroom so that is two leaks we have to deal with now. We are blessed not to have the conditions they have in the river basins but we have our own set of problems.

This is definitely one of the wettest springs on record as it won't be long until summer with nothing planted.

Ed Winkle