Getting Ready

It doesn't matter whether you are farming, building, selling, marketing, teaching, preaching, or homemaking, the more intentional you are about getting ready the more successful you will be with whatever you are doing.

Ezra, Elliot, and Elijah helped move some bricks this week. Most compact tractors have a button under the seat that causes the tractor engine to shut off without weight so it takes the weight of two grandsons to keep the tractor running. Giving kids responsibility helps them get ready for adulthood.

John came earlier this spring for some sweet corn seed. He came back recently to show me a stalk that had four ears on it. Hope that's an indication of how the field corn might yield.

BJ, John, and I attended a farmland leasing workshop put on by Iowa State University and led by Steve J. It was mostly attended by landlords and lenders. It was a good meeting with good information. It reminded tenants and renters to keep their landlords informed. It reminded landlords that fluctuating grain and land prices sometimes means fluctuating lease rates.

It's the time of year to start thinking about getting ready for the 2017 crop. In any business you need to know the cost of your inputs in order to figure a marketing plan and then being ready to act on that plan. Many farmers sell when they need the money, need the bin, or it smells. That marketing plan leads to an emotional roller-coaster of greed when the market is going up, hope as it reaches the top and starts to drop, and despair as the market comes flying down. 

Ron and his crew came this week to form up a patio out the west basement door of our home. It will be another fun place for the grandkids to ride their toys on rainy days. If you notice the white pvc pipe to the left is a drain. Jan is going to set up a hot and cold temporary shower in the summer time on that cement wall to hose the sand off the grandkids after swimming.

Tuesday after lunch in the rain I slid down our plywood sidewalk and fell. It hurt enough to go get x-rays. No broken bones. However that did decide it was time to get our front entry finished.

Scot, our student summer pastor, and I went visiting again Wednesday afternoon. One of our stops was at Keith and Gloria's where Keith showed us where they finish cattle. 

We have been getting equipment ready for harvest. We hooked up the grain carts and Karl is installing the scale.

Ezra is driving. Gideon is holding down the seat so the tractor doesn't shut off. And John is up on the tender telling them how far to back up as they help BJ load rye seed for cover crop this fall.

Friday the girls got together with everyone's tomatoes and made salsa.

Saturday Jan's side of the family got together for lunch at the house since the cabin was busy. Jan's Uncle Homer is 91 and her Aunt Lois is 97.

Chopping cross-ways through the center of the test plot has become an annual event. It means we are getting ready to put up signs which means we are getting ready for company.

For 27 years we have hosted an appreciation supper for folks we work for, sell to, farm for, or are just friends with. Jan makes a home cooked meal. BJ is going to grill on the cattleman's grill. The girls serve. It's just a fun time when families get together before the busy fall season. If any of you would like to join us you are more than welcome anytime between 5pm and dark on Wednesday, August 10.

In 2 Timothy 4:2-3 Paul says " Preach the Word; to be ready in season and out of season; to correct, rebuke, and encourage-with patience and careful instruction. For the time is coming when people will not listen to truth but will look for teachers that will tell them what they want to hear." Let's get ready for whatever plans God has for us while we still have the opportunity. Have a good week.