The scurs are having continued success with the Weather Eye as of late. Are our weather fortunes about to change or do we continue living a charmed weather life? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with highs in the low 70’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Thursday, mostly sunny with a moderate chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Partly sunny on Friday with an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms by evening. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with a moderate chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with highs in the mid-80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Monday, mostly sunny with a decent chance of a daytime thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the low 60’s. Sunny for Tuesday with a slight possibility of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the low 60’s. The Full Moon for the month falls on the 15th. We’ll see 14 hours of daylight on the 15th, the same as we saw back on April 27th. The normal high for August 15th is 81 and the normal low is 60. The scurs have their fun money tucked away for their favorite edibles at the Steele County Fair.
The Full Moon for August goes by several names, the most common of which is The Full Sturgeon Moon, as the tribes of the Great Lakes were able to catch this large fish the most easily during this month. It also goes by the Full Red Moon due to the haze common around the time of the moonrise. It has also been known as the Green Corn Moon or The Grain Moon. The Ojibwe knew this as the Huckleberry Moon and the Sioux called it The Moon when Cherries turn Black. At the ranch it is The Full Dog Brushing Moon, aptly named for the continual brushing of Border Collies whom shall remain nameless.
Seasonal temperatures have prevailed, resulting in steady progress of the area crops. Most early-planted corn has developed those roasting ears, so named for the pioneer days before many sweet corn varieties had been developed. Soybeans have also made progress, with many fields reaching R5. Some of the early-planted, early-maturing fields have largely stopped flowering already. Along with additional SDS being found this past week, white mold was also discovered in some area fields. While it’s too early to tell how severe it may become, we were fortunate to have had a drier spell in late July and early August or it could’ve had the potential to be much worse. Soybean aphids continue to be present, although few fields have reached treatable levels.
One of the most common questions I’ve encountered lately is “What are all these smaller butterflies?” Most of what we’re seeing are painted lady butterflies, or thistle caterpillar butterflies. As the latter name implies, the larvae like to feed on thistles, primarily Canada thistle in this area. Unfortunately, they also like to feed on soybeans. While there are plenty of Canada thistle patches around, there are far more acres of soybeans conveniently available for them to dine on. The adults migrate into this area in the spring to lay their eggs and usually produce two generations. The larvae can be an economic pest from time to time in soybeans, although generally they are just a novelty. There is some evidence that they may be producing a third generation, although the hope is that the soybeans should be large enough that the 20% defoliation threshold for reproductive stage soybeans won’t be met. In the meantime, enjoying the large number of adults as they fly around and pollinate flowers is something everyone can appreciate.
More 4-H fair kids heading to compete this week for the first time so hopefully they do well. It won’t be for lack of effort. Olivia has been here most of the time twice a day to work with Nelly, a natural colored Cheviot. Typically, Cheviot ewe lambs are wild and the natural colored Cheviots are the wildest of the wild. This lamb, however, is as tame as and even dispositioned as any animal on the place save for a bottle lamb or two. The fact it was worked with so frequently made all the difference. As cute as it is, it should be a crowd favorite if nothing else.
The Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour starts beginning on the 19th. This will be my 16th installment and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. It’s a week-plus out of my summer and with State Fair right on its heels, my thoughts turn more to sleep after such a bomb session rather than jumping out of corn and soybean fields to head to the State Fair on Saturday. I still think back to my roots when it comes to the agronomist position I maintain on tour.
It was 40 years ago this past spring I took a quarter off of college at the U of M to work with the Soils Dept. there. The job would change my life forever. It exposed me to most of the crops that Minnesota had to offer at the time with the exception of wild rice and introduced me to a lot of people who are still friends and mentors to this day. It also involved a lot of travel. One day we’d be working on bluegrass and timothy plots near Roseau and the next thing we’d be working on corn and soybean plots in Houston County along with everything in between. Talk about a unique “hands-on” learning environment to gain knowledge about the state’s cropping systems.
Some of my favorite memories are working at the experiment stations and bringing back things like potatoes, sweet corn, strawberries and blueberries from the test plots. We lived at the time in an apartment on Brewster St. south of the St. Paul campus. There was more produce coming off the plots than we could eat, so we made sure the elderly ladies in the apartment shared in our good fortune. We’d also made a point of hauling in Verna’s and Mom B’s groceries if we happened to be around when they came back from the store. Needless to say we had already reached tin god status in their eyes, and giving them excess produce was just the icing on the cake. Frequently, there was a knock at the door with a plate of cookies, cake or pie. There was method to our madness.
See you next week…real good then.