Practice

Practice makes perfect, practice what you praach. Jesus sharply criticized the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus rebukes them in Matthew 23 saying they preach but they do not practice. They pride themselves on religious lawas and rituals. All their works are performed to be seen.

They love seats of honor, greetings in the marketplace and saluatations such as rabbi, teacher, father and master. They are all show and no go(substance), often doing the opposite of what they claim to believe.

We make the same claim today. You might receive an award but what did you do to earn that award? You can quickly see who doesn't practice what they preach. I have to be real careful of that as a teacher and a consultant and most importantly as a farmer. As my friend in Iowa says, teach by speaking with your fields. Let farmers see what you know by watching your fields. That is a big one to live up to.

My fields demonstrated that this year. They were better where I practiced where I preached. I had one new 4 acre patch beside the farm we bought last year that never got the lime or fertilizer I put on the whole farm. I just didn't get it done as I didn't know they wanted it farmed when I was doing mine.

That field made about 40 bushels per acre and the treated ground beside it made about 60 bushels per acre. 20 bushels times $12 beans more than pays for the lime and fertilizer.

My favorite picture to date is last year's corn on that farm which made 191 bu per acre on an old farm that had never produced that much before.

I have to practice what I preach.

Ed Winkle