Time Change

I have always been very aware of the effect on me at changing the hour on the clock. The computer and cell phone changes automatically and so do two Atomic clocks. The rest have to be changed.

The clock says 7 and my body doesn't know what that means but it is too early.

Man lived centuries without a clock or by living by sunlight but that all changed with fire, light and electricity.

"Americans will set their clocks ahead by an hour this weekend, as daylight saving time begins Sunday. "Springing forward" creates another hour of sunlight in the evening. It also has some effects on health and public safety that many people are unaware of. Interesting facts about daylight saving time include:

1. Officially, it's "daylight saving time," not "daylight savings time." But don't feel bad if you thought there was a final "s" on "saving"; far more people Google the incorrect phrase than the correct one.

2. Daylight saving time has mixed effects on people's health. Transitions into and out of DST can disturb people's sleeping patterns, for example, and make them more restless at night. Night owls tend to be more bothered by the time changes than people who like mornings, Finnish researchers concluded last year.

3. There's a spike in heart attacks during the first week of daylight saving time, according to another study published last year. The loss of an hour's sleep may make people more susceptible to an attack, some experts say. When daylight saving time ends in the fall, heart attacks briefly become less frequent than usual.

4. People are safer drivers during daylight hours, and researchers have found that DST reduces lethal car crashes and pedestrian strikes. In fact, a study concluded that observing DST year-round would annually prevent about 195 deaths of motor vehicle occupants and about 171 pedestrian fatalities.

5. A U.S. law signed by President George W. Bush in 2005 extended the length of daylight saving time by four weeks. It now begins at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March. It ends on the first Sunday in November.

6. Also in 2005, Kazakhstan abolished daylight saving time, citing negative health effects. The country's government reportedly calculated that 51.6 percent of Kazakhs responded badly to the time change.

7. Many other countries observe daylight saving time, but not all do so on the same day. That can create confusion for international travelers, business communications, and more.

8. Daylight saving can also cause confusion close to home. In March 2007, a Pennsylvania honor student was mistakenly accused of threatening his school with a bomb. He had actually called an automated line to get info about scheduled classes. Someone else made the bomb threat an hour later.

9. Two states—Arizona and Hawaii—and four U.S. territories—American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—don't observe daylight saving time. Indiana adopted DST in 2006.

10. Local time determines when DST begins, so America's eastern time zone makes the switch before the rest of the country. This Sunday, cities like New York and Atlanta will be two hours ahead of the central time zone, instead of the usual one-hour difference, from 3 a.m. to 3:59 a.m. EDT. New York City will be four hours ahead of Los Angeles—instead of the usual three—from 3 a.m. to 5:59 a.m. EDT.

11. Daylight saving time was first used during World War I, as part of an effort in the United States and other warring countries to conserve fuel. In theory, using daylight more efficiently saves fuel and energy because it reduces the nation's need for artificial light.

12. The first American to advocate for daylight saving was Benjamin Franklin. He realized in 1784 that many people burned candles at night yet slept past dawn in the summer, wasting early-morning sunlight. (So old Ben did this to me!)

13. The effect of DST on energy use has changed over time and varies from place to place. Experts even disagree on whether DST still saves the nation energy. But so many people like to "spring forward" that it might be hard for officials to end the tradition, even if they determined it's wasteful."

The best part of farming is not living by the clock but that all changes when the parts store closes at 5.

The calendar is little measure on the quality of life too.

Man and his big dreams and schemes!

Ed

St. Patrick traditions

It looks like the St. Patrick's Day parade in Cincinnati is a very wet one. We sre are in a rainy period in southern Ohio and dreams of fertilizing wheat and planting crops get pushed back further each day.

"The First Parade :

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

Over the next 35 years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called "Irish Aid" societies like the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold annual parades featuring bagpipes (which actually first became popular in the Scottish and British armies) and drums.

In 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world 's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants.

Each year, nearly three million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Savannah also celebrate the day with parades involving between 10,000 and 20,000 participants."

Me, I like the bagpipes but I thought that was a Scottish tradition. That's close enough to Ireland I guess but the call of the parade brings out all the ancestrial traditions. I remember the pipes playing in parades from Buffalo to Cincinnati.

I wonder where the tradition of corned beef came from that is often served during Lent?

"Why do they Call it "Corned" Beef?The term “Corned” comes from putting meat in a large crock and covering it with large rock-salt kernels of salt that were refered to as “corns of salt” This preserved the meat. The term Corned has been in the Oxford English Dictionary as early as 888 AD.

Irish Were the First Exporters of Corned BeefIrish were the biggest exporters of Corned Beef till 1825. The English were serving corned beef but also the Irish. In this day and age corned beef and cabbage is not very Irish, but corned beef is. The area of Cork, Ireland was a great producer of Corned Beef in the 1600’s until 1825. It was their chief export and sent all over the world, mostly in cans. The British army sustained on cans of Cork’s corned beef during the Napoleonic wars."

Corned beef is not my thing but that's the beef that "What's for dinner?" tomorrow. Cabbage? I like crisp folding money but cole slaw is the best use of cabbage I ever tasted.

Happy St. Patty's Day March 17.

Ed

Fish Fry

It's the Lenten Season and time for those Friday night fish fries. Have you ever been to one?

My grade school served fish only on Friday. Well maybe some other days to get rid of the order but you know what I mean.

Here is a quote from a young writer on the evolution of fish fries in Wisconsin:

"However, strict interpretations of such a unique tradition are not satisfactory to many folklorists, who dig deeper and insist the fish fry evolved from the meshing of many cultures. Janet Gilmore, who has a Ph.D in folklore believes the fishing culture of the Ojibway tribe played a major role in the evolution of the fish fry.

The only way for the Ojibway to survive here was to eat white fish and lake trout, which they dried so they could make it through winter,� she says.

Then all these immigrants descended on the area-Scandinavians, Belgians, French, Germans, Poles. They intermarried with each other, and with the Ojibway, and everyone kept on fishing (Martell, 2002, Aug., 5, D1).

However, eating battered fish in bars and restaurants did not become a social tradition in Wisconsin until around the time of Prohibition, Gilmore notes. These establishments had to find a gimmick to replace alcohol to consistently draw crowds. Offering fish fries on Friday nights was affordable for the whole family, which made Wisconsin one of the only states where entire families attend taverns together. Since then the standard fare for the fish fry is battered or deep-fried fish accompanied by a potato (baked, mashed, French fries, etc.) and cole slaw. By the time Prohibition was lifted, the tradition had already been cemented in Wisconsin and now a favorite beer could be ordered to wash down the fish (Martell, 2002, Aug., 5, D1)

Not one of the interviewees mentioned Prohibition as a reason for the popularity of fish fries, probably because it was before their time, but many noted the hand-in-hand relation of fish fries and beer. This could point to a relationship between the lifting of Prohibition and fish fries, but could also reflect Wisconsins overall love for beer."

I guess I have always liked fish on Friday, thanks to my childhood. That was all we had to eat at school on Friday. Remember the loaves and fishes? Fish has been connected to spiritual food for thousands of years.

The fish fry is big in New Zealand. It is still big here, too.

Our friend Scott Mires gave us vacuum packed fresh Walleye from Michigan lakes in exchange for hunting that white tailed deer on our farm.

It's been a good exchange and tonight it is time to taste another one of his catches.

Ed Winkle

Glyphosate

There is a growing concern in the use of glyphosate on farms.

Here is a quote from http://www.soilcursebuster.com/ :

"Let’s begin with the claim which French scientists and regulators have officially disputed. Glyphosate is bio-degradable. Many producers have made comments that there seems to be some residual activity with the chemical. Here is a quote from Huber and Johal from the European Journal of Agronomy 31 (2009) 144–152. ( Dr. Don is a good man and respected scientist, another farm boy who really studied his lesson.)

Detoxifying glyphosate in root exudates may occur in highly calcareous soils or soils with high levels of soluble metal nutrients through chelation to reduce its impact on soil organisms. Toxicity of glyphosate to Mn-reducing and synergistic nitrogen-fixing organisms in the rhizosphere can have serious consequences for sustainability of legume production.

The toxicity of the chemical you see is not limited to the chemical contained in the spray tank solution which unavoidably comes into contact with the soil. The toxicity Huber refers to here is in the root exudates or jelly-like substances that are excreted from the root of the plant which is sprayed with glyphosate. It has mistakenly been thought this reaction takes place only with GT (glyphosate tolerant) plant tissue. Huber again

. . . root rot is more severe when glyphosate is applied to soybeans under weedy conditions even though the weeds may not be hosts for Corynespora cassiicola. The weeds serve to translocate and release more glyphosate into the rhizosphere environment to reduce the population of Mn-reducing organisms and increase Mn oxidizing organisms. This change in soil biology limits manganese availability for plant uptake and active defense reactions, and acts synergistically with Corynespora to increase disease ( Huber et al., 2005 ).

So, even the weeds or other non-gmo plants which are sprayed with glyphosate give rise to soil contamination of the chemical. That contamination changes the ability of the soil to make certain key micro-nutrients available to the plants and soil microbes."

I know Jim personally and he is avid about the use of glyphosate on soil and willing to testify in Congress on its pitfalls. I have other highly regarded friends who won't recommend or use glyphosate on their farm.

I quit using glyphosate when it wouldn't kill the weeds around here anymore. Also I got tired of the Manganese difficiency it causes in legumes. That yellow flash may just be the tip of the iceberg.

People like me were used to sell the attributes of RoundUp, the first brand of glyphosate many years ago. Even though it is broadspectrum as a weed killer, the LD50 and half life is low. "Safer than a cup of coffee or aspirin" they would say.

Maybe that part of a half life remaining really messes up soil biology?

Genetically modified corn, that's a whole 'nother issue, digestion, liver problems etc in dairy cows to humans. I do know New Zealand didn't allow it in their country and the Japanese paid a nice dividend on my non GMO soybeans for tofu.

It is all controversial and not mainstream. Most of the food coming out of our country is genetically modified and most of the soil is treated with glyphosate to control weeds.

Maybe it's an attempt to bring down Monsanto. I don't think so, I think it is just science evolving as it always does.

Pounding the ground

Last night's conversation got my notill juices up again. I just spent weeks trying to explain these concepts in a foreign land. I just wrote a notill blog for http://www.notillfarmer.com/

One name came up who farms a lot of ground very successfully. They are the best maintenance of any group I know. They travel a long distance and pound the roads and pound the ground when they get there and make it work.

I will never hold a candle to them and I don't want to. That just isn't my thing but they have made it work. I respect them and hold them in very high regard. You have to find your comfort zone in anything you do.

They get good yields pounding the ground, I just can't justify it or afford it. Any extra trip to make a good seedbed is just wasted in my mind. I remember that fellow telling me he worked a field 13 times this season and my jaw dropped and my mind went back to 1963 when I was a freshman FFA student.

They started notilling beans years ago and eliminated a lot of trips. 70% of the beans in this country are notilled but only about 25% of the corn. They haven't either so I am in the minority.

I will never forget that rolling, eroded hillside across from the house notilled into corn last year. It was the best crop it ever raised, pushing 220 bushels per acre.

The most we worked rough ground this year was 3 times and one trip notill made the most money. You have to get these old farms level, you know.

Rototilling my garden is one thing but I can't afford that on 1000 acres. I can't afford to pound the ground to pieces.

So what is your take on this?

Thanks,

Ed Winkle

Opportunity

A family friend called and has an opportunity, one I and most of us never had. He has the chance to take over the family farming operation.

Wouldn't you know the battery died on the phone. That happens to us a lot. You think maybe we talk too much?

We finally got back together and started talking notill. I could quickly tell he has studied his lesson and had a good plan for this year. He said all the right things and asked thr right questions. I think he needed approval from someone he knows. I know he respects my opinion and that is a high honor and challenge for me. If I give advice, I want it to WORK.

I had my little opportunity at age 54 and put my ideas right to work. And they have worked, enabling us to expand by planting right, quicker and taking on more acres.

The first question he raised, raised my eyebrow. He is in ag sales and has the flexibility to do this and farm. So he knows all the major programs out there and asked about two that I question.

They are very good companies and might really help him. I don't use them because I can duplicate their program for much less cost with basic, sound agronomy. Soil test and tissue testcomes right up in these discussions because we get lazy and don't do them. Then some bright young, aggressive salesman wants to sell you this fancy product you may not need.

You have read my stand on notill, balanced fertility and profit. That is the easiest way to make money growing crops. Sounds like it is time to invite the young man over and maybe go see a couple of planter setups.

I forgot to ask him about crop insurance. Is he going "naked" this first year? That means no coverage. If you have to borrow much money it is usually demanded. If you don't, it can still be a good tool. The new enterprise units have brought our cost way down on this farm.

Marketing the crop is the most challenging to me. We never got to talk about that either but there is enough to learn with the planter and the soil test for basics. That's an all week seminar right there.

I love a challenge. Sounds like I have another one.

I love helping young people and this one will do it right.

Ed

Cooperatives

Cooperatives have had impact around the world. I taught the principle in high school all of my career. Each year we would have a competition between FFA Chapters to see which students had learned the most about their cooperative study.



There are four very basic ways of operating a business:





proprietorship


partnership


company or corporation


cooperative





The cooperative as a modern business structure originated in 19th century Britain. The Industrial Revolution had a profound effect on the way business was organized and on the working conditions and economic situations of many people. In response to the depressed economic conditions brought forth by industrialization, some people began to form cooperative businesses to meet their needs. Among them was a group of 28 workers who were dissatisfied with the merchants in their community.





They formed a consumer cooperative known as the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in 1844. They began by opening a cooperative store that sold items such as flour and sugar to members, and the Society quickly grew to include other enterprises. The founders also established a unique combination of written policies that governed the affairs of the cooperative. Among these rules were: democratic control of members, payment of limited interest on capital, and net margins distributed to members according to level of patronage. Based on its success, the Rochdale set of policies soon became a model for other cooperative endeavors, and became known as the general principles that make a cooperative unique from other business structures.





Co-ops as farmers call them here quickly became established in America. I don't know where the first was but I know our family did business with supply cooperatives. The Capper Volstead Act was important in the formation of agricultural cooperatives today.





Now as a farmer I do business with a supply co-op and they bid on my grain as a marketing cooperative. One complaint of modern co-ops is they have gotten huge to stay in business and some farmers think it is due to their inefficieny.





Here is a list of possible reasons for success or failure.





Why Cooperatives Fail
poor selection of directors, especially those who fail to support their cooperative



members who join but never use their cooperative and bypass it for a small gain elsewhere



members who use cooperatives but fail to take responsibility. Each member must be ready to accept responsibility when asked, or as the need arises. Every member should have an equal opportunity to be president of the cooperative.



members who never ask questions and who let a few persons make policy
members who don't attend annual meetings and directors who fail to attend board meetings
lack of consistent membership education about the problems cooperatives face and the challenges they must meet



not supporting the cooperative with enough money (risk capital) to get the job done
low-cost management - it's the most expensive item for a cooperative. High-priced management is usually the least expensive item.



not closely watching the formation of cliques and special interest groups within the cooperative
concealing facts about a cooperative. All facts, both good and bad, should be placed on - not under - the table.



errors in financial policy, such as over-extension of credit, too little capital, poor accounting records, lack of a financially sound, systematic program for reimbursement of equity
errors in educational and social work. This begins by failing to teach cooperative ideals to members unfamiliar with how cooperatives function, neglecting general educational programs, failure to develop member loyalty or countering the development of factions within the association.



management errors, such as inadequate inventory, poor location, improper equipment, neglected appearance of physical facilities, employee dishonesty, ineffective management, incompetent directors, nepotism, poorly conducted meetings, admittance of disloyal and dissatisfied members.





Why Cooperatives Thrive
providing only the goods and services members use



financed by the members. The greater the financing (risk capital) supplied by the members, the more efficient the cooperative.



using all major fixed assets at the 75 percent level, or more



members who do the majority of their business with the cooperative



low administrative and overhead costs



more individualized and specialized services, particularly in the marketing area



maintaining an open line of communication with members. Individual members will then become more influential



selecting and developing a quality management team.



placing more emphasis on electing business-oriented directors



developing and implementing a systematic method of cooperative education for members, employees, directors and paid management



aggressively positioning for changes in operations, markets and member needs.





It looks to me like the cooperative principle has a better chance with strong local control. I think that may have left a long time ago.





Ed