Water

"All day I've faced a barren waste

Without the taste of water, cool water

Old Dan and I with throats burned dry

And souls that cry for water

Cool, clear, water

Keep a-movin, Dan, dontcha listen to him, Dan.

He's a devil, not a man."

Did you ever hear the Sons of the Pioneers sing this song? Dad loved it.

I would expect that from Leonard Slye who became my childhood hero as Roy Rogers.

I remember working the ground "above town" as we called it and getting hot and thirsty. Dad would take me to the field tile near White Oak Creek where the water was running cool and clear. If it wasn't running it was a bad year.

You didn't dare drink the creek water, it was too polluted. The tile was safe compared to that.

Now they say tile water is polluted. I am glad I don't have to drink tile water anymore but I would trust mine more than a lot of other sources if I needed it.

I wonder if people's minds aren't polluted?

They can't sort from fact and fiction.

Ed Winkle

This Crop

This crop is bothering me.

I did a good job planning for it and getting it growing but now the weather has went from not letting it mature to not letting it be harvested.

Farmers have lots of bucks on the line, including me.

It is still cold and damp here and it doesn't look like it will warm up soon.

Farmers have to have all the faith required to plant a seed, watch it grow, nurture it and try to make a living from it. They spend that living in their community which is why I call them the backbone of this country. That is because we are the backbone of this economy.

Without food and shelter, we all know we wouldn't be here long. Farmers provide both, food and shelter.

Our crops are eaten and stored and transformed into many foods. Our crop provides the timber to build our houses.

Today my tree crop will be used to warm my house and it is not October yet.

Ed Winkle

Art Schlichter

We have many fine people in southwest Ohio and many of those are farmers or grew up farming.

One of those families is the Schlichter family(pronounced shleester) near Washington Court House Ohio, only a half hour northeast of here.

I saw Arthur, Art Schlichter play football for Miami Trace High School in the 70's. They were really good. They pounded and burned neighboring teams.

I thought, this kid is good and so he was! It didn't take Woody Hayes long to have him signed up for Ohio State. He led his high school team to 29-0-1 in three and a half years. No one around here could beat them.

"Schlichter continues to be Ohio State’s career leader in passing yardage despite the fact he played his final game in scarlet and gray more than a quarter-century ago and passing attacks have evolved greatly since his career ended. By way of comparison, Schlichter’s career total of 7,547 yards is more than Rex Kern, Kirk Herbstreit and Cornelius Greene – combined.

Additionally, he remains the only quarterback in school history ever to have a 400-yard passing day, shares the single-game mark for completions at 31 and is just one off the all-time career record with 497 completions."

There is one little problem though he shares with the great Pete Rose. They became addicted to gambling. Art and Pete will never get all the accolades they earned because of this addiction.

Art has served his time now and is signing his new book, "Busted."

It should be a good one!

Ed Winkle

The Value of Music

After church today I was thinking about the value of music in our lives.

It is quite a gift when it is pleasant to the ear.

I searched the subject on Google and came up with an explanation I thought was pretty well described.

" Music offers an opportunity to experience the pleasure of self-expression at a new level, opening exciting vistas of self-satisfaction. So much of our educational system is "impressionistic."

Students are given the material and the better they can repeat it, the higher the grade they get. There is little chance to "create" or add a personal touch to the assignments. In fact, individuality is often discouraged.

Music class is a place which is "expressionistic" and students are encouraged to put their own thoughts and feelings into their music-making. This offers a much-welcomed change from the normal learning process.

The veteran musician knows that music speaks to something more subtle than the intellect; it speaks to the very soul of human kind. Music is woven into the fiber of our life, our spirit. We are moved, changed, alerted to a new sense of knowing by experiencing music. Think of your reaction when you hear Handel's "Messiah," or witness a fine band marching down the street at the local parade or feel the heart-wrenching plea of a talented blues singer. We know there is happy music, sad music, music for celebrations, and music to soothe wounded emotions. What else can generate such feelings?

Music stretches one's understanding of self, which in turn helps us understand others. And every musician will quickly tell you it stimulates a part of the mind which opens our imagination, bringing about a highly intellectual activity we have come to call joy. "

I think we all love good music. I know I do. The Ohio State Marching is one of those groups that really inspire me and have since I first heard them live in 1968.

It must be the brass and the Military aspect that bring that music to life for me.

I listened to my parents and their families talk about the band.

I grew up playing trumpet in a small school and I remember the hours and hours of practice.

Calcium

"Calcium has always taken a back seat to the "big boys" of soil fertility. The industry buzz is usually nitrogen and new forms are frequently being released to the market. Referred to as a secondary nutrient behind nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, calcium is finally starting to take its place in the ranks of important plant nutrients. It is true that NPK is used in greater percentages than calcium, but calcium is used more by weight and volume than any other nutrient.

Practically speaking, calcium is rarely considered as a nutrient at all! Instead the focus on calcium has been more as a soil buffer to help adjust pH. Calcium is of huge importance to both the plant and the soil in many more ways than simply moving the pH scale. It plays a major role in the physiology of the plant, strengthening its physical structure and helping in protection from disease attack. In the soil, the importance of calcium is many fold, including the reduction of soil compaction and helping to provide a better environment for the proliferation of beneficial microbes. Some research even suggests that calcium plays a role in decreasing weed populations."

I researched calcium again as I understand its importance in life and its effect on soil productivity.. I have tried to apply lime containing calcium to plant producing soil whenever needed. It is difficult to get enough calcium on the ground in many midwestern and other soils like Ohio has.

If you own your own ground, I think calcium is a pretty obvious nutrient and substance to add to improve your soil productivity.

If you don't own your own land you have to look at the lease and how can you justify spending the money to bring the calcium up to an affordable level that will pay off in the term of the lease. This is especially true in short term leasees. You never know when that lease might end. Too many farmers have been caught in this situation and that becomes their number one concern when I recommend more lime for their field.

As a landowner, calcium is your friend and needs to be applied according to soil test. I also use a tissue test on a crop and make sure it is getting enough. Many I took this year came out low. I call it too wet and too cool for good mineral uptake. The magnesium content in Ohio soil is so high that it rarely comes out low or deficient, usally calcium does first.

Test your soil and look at your lime content. Look what calcium does for your soil.

It will make up for lots of things out of your control and is in your control.

Ed Winkle

The Cost of High School Dropouts

As an educator all my life, this article caught my interest.

"Dropouts Cost Oklahoma $3.8 Billion In Additional Income.

The Ada (OK) Evening News (9/24) reported, "If the students who dropped out of Oklahoma's Class of 2009 had graduated, the state's economy would have benefited from more than $3.8 billion in additional income over the course of their lifetimes, according to a new issue brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education." The economic losses are due in part to lower earning power, and also to the more limited job prospects that accompany a lack of diploma. The brief also argues that "everyone benefits from increased high school graduation rates," not only because of higher earning potential, but also because graduates "live longer, are less likely to be teen parents, and are less likely to commit crimes, rely on government health care, or use other public services such as food stamps or housing assistance. At the same time, the nation benefits from their increased purchasing power, collects higher tax receipts, and sees higher levels of worker productivity."

This is just one example in one state of the value of getting your education.

We all know good people who dropped out of school for various reasons and made a productive impact on our society.

I think of three men immediately. Bob Evans, Dave Thomas and Ralph Stolle. Since I knew and met all three men, I learned they were way ahead of their time and didn't fit in our traditional educational system.

Bob figured out how to use sausage to make him famous, Dave made Wendy's square burgers famous and Ralph invented the pop top for cans.

I know that is still possible today for our youth to accomplish similar or better feats but it looks to me like the odds are really stacked against you without proper education.

I found an Ohio State Buckeye cap at the Iowa 80 truckstop that really fits my head and I really like to wear it. Of course people like to comment on it. When they do, I tell them that the education I got there really helped me in life.

As an educator and parent, one of the most difficult jobs I ever encountered was how do you help a young person find their possibilites and become successful?

That is a job that will never end and always will keep teachers and parents employed.

Ed Winkle

Are these my memoires?

I have been encouraged by many people to keep writing. LuAnn challenged me almost a year ago to put my stories on the Internet.

Yesterday a friend I haven't talked to in years emailed me that she wanted to see me keep writing. I don't know why.

I am just a person like you and I try to help other people. That is the best I can make out of life.

I am so blessed I hate to quibble. Some things get my ire up and I have to take a stance.

Today, no, I am just happy. Happy to be alive, happy to have a life. happy to have a good family, and happy to have one of the best crops I ever grew.

I saw a lot of things at Farm Science Review yesterday that I can't afford and surely can't justify.

I got in a creative mode and probably called ten people to bounce my ideas off them while I was at the review.

Sable was happy when I got home, she just wants to be with me and be scouting out in the fields. She is so happy out there, like me.

I wonder what being cooped up in this old farmhouse this winter is going to be like for my new pup and me?

We are soon to find out but I just want to enjoy every day of this fall. It has been such an unusual year, much to my liking though.

Ed Winkle