StillwatersIowa

Life and living things rarely stand still. In our activities and efforts it seems things either grow and move forward or slip and move backward. My friend Wayne is trying some very narrow row corn. The concept is to get more corn plants and still have spacing. Generally the thicker you plant the weaker the stalk. Canopy helps weed control. The ag industry is still trying to get the harvest part perfected. Our youngest grandson Malaki is very much part of growing life. He is six weeks old already and starting to get his own personality. He comes over in his car seat on the Ranger with his Mom, Kristin. Jackson is a year and a half old and is also growing. He loves to help his Dad, Kurt. The older grandkids are out of school now for the summer. It's easy to come up with jobs for them on wet days. It's a little tougher in dry weather when all the grownups are in the field. The fact that the boys outnumber the girls around here more than two to ...

What kind of person would you like to be when you get old? What's important to you now?   When you think about what's important in the Bible it mentions "believing" 233 times. It talks about "praying" 345 times. It talks about "love" 640 times. The Bible mentions "giving" 1536 times. Elijah graduated from Kindergarten this past week. He was to wear something he wanted to be. He told his Mom he wanted to go in a Cat combine. Way to go Stacy! We had another good week of wrapping up some jobs and starting others. Our family couldn't do it without our helpers who make us a complete team. Brad and Julie and their girls live close. Brad helps out as well as has ground of his own.   Alex can plant, spray, apply NH3, truck, or do just about anything else. He is BJs go to guy when tiling as well. Alex is just starting to rent his own land. Dan and Cindy are neighbors. Dan is retired and helps out part time tendering th...

Last Sunday noon the girls organized and made lunch for Mothers Day. These seven Moms have busy lives with all their responsibilities. Mark and Stacy's boys participated in a motocross race yesterday. My guess is this snapchat is Elijah in the 50cc class. I see our bookkeeper, Linda, has a new mouse pad. It's a series of pics of Gavin and says, World's Best Grandma. Jan and I went out to eat one rainy evening this past week and ran into Kurt and Brad's landlord. Gary was there with his brothers and sister and some of their families. Jan went to Grandparents Day four different times this spring. I went along with her for this one. I had to draw a picture for grandsons Anton and Zac of what I remember doing as a kid.   Congratulations to nieces, Ki, Moria, and 13 classmates who graduated from 8th grade at Osky Christian Friday evening. They all told us their favorite scripture verse and what it meant to them. I can still re...

Last week Sunday the weathermen were predicting a wet week. So when folks got up on Monday morning and it was dry many came to pick up their soybean seed.   We loaded the planters and headed for the fields. I'd guess crop planting in our area is close to being completed. The sprayers always stay busy. Some farmers spray after planting. Many no-till fields are sprayed with burn-down. That's when you start with spraying Roundup and then plant right into last years old crop residue. Much of the crop nutrients nowadays are split applied meaning we fertilize some all through the growing season instead of all up front. We applied some extra nitrogen to our new seeding. Being involved in agriculture and the process of raising a crop is a wonder. Emergence is when you check stand, spacing, plant health, and weed control. A corn plant responds to details. The secret to a bumper corn harvest is hoping and helping your corn fields never have a bad day....