StillwatersIowa

Howdy. I'm visiting with you from a computer in a hotel lobby in Osh Kosh, WI. We are on our way to the upper penninsela in northern Michigan for some vacation time. Anyway over twenty thousand bikes came through town this past week. When I stopped by Beacon there were thousands of cyclist resting and drinking after their many miles on a bike. We put some miles on the sprayer again this week. We sprayed fungicide to prevent desease, insecticide for grasshoppers, and a little fertilizer for foiliar feeding. I drove a 4-wheeler to a farm across town to finish cleaning out a pond. When I arrived the dozer had a dead battery so I had to drive home and come back with a pickup to jump start it. Two sets of jumper cables for two batteries. One of my favorite jobs is mowing road ditches. It also gives a person a chance to get a birds eye view of the crops. Occasionally things don't go as planned. Fortunately my brother Doug went the extra mile and came and pulled me ou...

This past week at a seed meeting Dana complimented his dealers for having grit. The seed business was complicated this year due to seed supply, timing, returns, and replants. He said grit is defined as firm character, a can't be overcome spirit, courage, and resolution in the face of difficulty. I like grit. Farmers needed grit this spring as they had less than a dozen fieldwork days in close to three months to get their crop in due to the weather. Last Sunday Jan and I went for a Ranger ride and ended up at my cousin Stanley and Lila's house. I think Stan must have an AC tractor for every piece of equipment he uses. Stan has a D17 tractor named Walter. Stan and his father Sam bought this D17 at Walter's farm sale in early 1974. I was Walter's hired man from 1971-1973 and put many hours on this tractor as a teenager. I want you to know farming hills with a D17 as your main horse builds grit. Pablo, Paula, and Justina welcomed Lori into their family this ...

DeColores (the colors) is a Spanish chorus. It is used in Roman Catholic circles and talks about the colors in nature and in our lives. As I was thinking about our past week, what we did, and what to share with you this morning, I was reminded that there is so much color in what we do and where we live. Jan and I are blessed to live on a very colorful place. Jan does an unbelievable job on her flowers, her garden, her trees, and our yard. This past week we worked hard to try and finish up projects as we think about getting ready for grandkids at the fair, a week of vacation, and our annual customer appreciation supper, all in the next five weeks. We'll keep you updated. If you are going to help your Dad you have to get up early. Atali chooses her thumb and blankie for early morning wake up instead of coffee. I'm hoping we are just about finished spraying. With this last dry spell in our weather the weeds aren't dying very fast. Spraying is ki...

Good morning. Spring is finally behind us. The crops are growing. Most of the first cutting hay and grass has been baled. One more week and the sprayers will be caught up. We were made to have structure in our lives. Whether on the job or on vacation we need to know where we are going. We are the most productive and feel the best about ourselves when we have a direction, a goal, and a plan of action. That's living intentionally. Sometimes we go places and do things and then when we get there we wonder to ourselves, now why was I wanting to be here or do this? Whether we set them for ourselves or have them set for us we feel safer when we have boundaries. That doesn't mean we don't venture out and take risk. It just means heading out to the deep end without a lifejacket can be dangerous. In farming we call it managing our risk. That's living intentionally. Thirty five years ago I used to plant a crop and hoped it grew. I used to harvest it and put it in ...