Today before we closed, he said say Hi to LuAnn. He always says that but he added "tell her I really miss talking to her." That made me feel right there we haven't been up to see him personally as much as we should. It's hard to keep up with all your family, isn't it?
He also said something that really peaked my interest. He said I dream about you. He added he dreamed about my dad. I thought that was pretty good. He talked about the sleds they pulled between rows to chop weeds out of the corn. I barely remember that as that was going out in favor of cultivation and herbicides when I was little. Now, almost all weed control is done with herbicides.
Can you imagine sledding between corn rows with a team of horses, using corn knives to chop down weeds? I can barely remember it but that statement gives me much inspiration and thankfulness how far we have come. I wish I had a good picture of my family chopping weeds out of corn but I don't. I have really chopped or pulled weeds all my life but mostly with crop rotation and herbicides. I've always had a passion to kill weeds and hold my commercial pesticide license. On LuAnn's wish list for Christmas for me is a weed burner as I want the pleasure of actually frying some of my tall noxious weeds!
I think we need to stay close in touch with his generation because their ranks are diminishing day by day, even a little faster than my generation. I do thank Roy and every veteran today for sacrificing everything so that we can enjoy what we have today.
I've been scouting weeds all day in a 12 foot tall crop so I remembered Roy's weed stories.
Ed
Well I believe we'll soon have some of those sleds, except more modern ones, with no horse and no human driver or weeder, all robotic. Mechanical weeding is the only method that makes sense, it does not involve harmful chemicals and it does not generate superweed resistance, and if it's small enough, it will also not create any compaction.
ReplyDeleteWe have the technology, it's being tested in the labs now, we just need to make it cheaper than chemical weeding, which shouldn't be too difficult given the increasing cost of herbicides. The good thing with a robotic system is that it can work on any crop or any plant density and inter-row width with the appropriate set of parameters. It can also work 24/7, starting automatically at the beginning of the field after it reaches its end, so there will never be any weed seeding for the next year, making the job easier. Or you could let it seed around harvest for some more biomass fertilizer and cover crop. Would come handy for organic farming too.
I wouldn't be surprised with what they come up with robotically. The sky is probably the limit! I wonder if any work is being done that subject?
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