StillwatersIowa

Years ago a reporter asked John Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest men in the country at the time, "how much money is enough"? Mr. Rockefeller's famous answer was, "just a little more". Harvest is 99% complete with just a couple bits and pieces left. Below the crew is taking a break after finishing a field for Royce.    I was hauling honey and noticed a lot of smoke to my west. About the time the smoke color changed from black to white I received a call that the neighbors combine had burnt and a couple of corn fields were on fire.  I hurried over with a disk and gave the Osky and New Sharon Fire Departments a hand helping put out fires in three different corn fields.  Speaking of hauling honey, this picture is for our city readers. We pump hog manure into a tanker wagon and then go and incorporate on our fields. We have the manure tested for fertility value and apply according to our manure management plan filed with the state. Thanks for a good ...

A story is told of a pastor who while visiting at a hospital would observe the interaction between the folks working there. He noticed that when a doctor walked by the nurses would raise their heads from their work, smile, and acknowledge the doctor as he greeted them.     A while later the pastor watched as a nurse was walking down the hall and met a custodian who was emptying trash cans. As they met, the custodian raised his head to greet the nurse. At the same moment the nurse lowered her head and walked by without comment. The custodian went back to his work looking dejected. We all have a desire to feel worthwhile in our homes, around our friends, where we work. The flip side of that coin is that we should help those around us have worth. Our attitude and responses can either make their day or make them feel miserable. Sometimes we shoot the messenger. Someone will tell us about a problem and we bark back, especially if the problem involves ...

Welcome to our family blog and a rundown of our week. Many of our efforts were concentrated on soybean harvest. Yields are variable with farm averages running from 27 bushel to 61 bushel per acre. For those of you that aren't from a farming background that range is from pretty bad to really good.   I spent a fair amount of my time in a truck hauling soybeans to either a processing plant in Des Moines or an export elevator in Burlington. The state of Iowa has raised our load limits 10% temporarily so we can haul more soybeans per load. Earlier in the week I had been crossing the Mississippi River and unloading in Gulfport, Ill. since there was road construction to the elevator on the Iowa side. One morning a friend called and said he had heard on the CB radio that the Illinois D.O.T. was waiting on their side of the river ticketing all the heavy loads coming from Iowa. Thanks for the heads up Kurtis.   I am always thankful to arrive safe and sound. W...

We had another productive week of harvest with our courageous, hardworking team. However rather than bore you with more combining pictures, I'd like to focus this week on another courageous, hardworking team. I'll probably struggle with having enough pictures to convey my thoughts this week however I'm going to try. The courageous team I'd like to visit with you about this morning is our spouses. Below Jan is feeding our crew lunch on a rain delay day with very little notice and doing an awesome job. The reason Jan can feed such a crew on the spur of the moment is because of all the freezing and canning she does through the summer. I tried to take a picture of all her freezing projects however a picture of an open freezer just wasn't that attractive. :) Below Jan is doing applesauce using DeWalt cranking power and having lots of little helpers. Her special pickles were a big hit this summer and the guys could generally eat a quart of them in one sit...