Information Matters

Some time ago Natalie's father BJ went to check his cows. He found a newborn calf lying in the snow and mud. He and Joe loaded up the near dead calf and carried it to his families home. It was cold inside and out. After tubing the calf with colostrum they put him in the warm garage. After a couple of days the calf miraculously came around surprising BJ. 3rd grader Natalie told her Dad she told God about the calf and prayed and prayed he would live. It now follows Natalie around the yard like a pet. She named him Joe.

Although it's easier in this day and age to ignore news and information, it's also our job to be prepared for what may be ahead. Big tech (social media) (Amazon) is changing the way we live both good and bad. Along with the media big tech is controlling what we hear and read making it our responsibility to discern truth from propaganda. Below we are learning how to use information compiled by precision ag such as planting date, seed maturity, heat units, rainfall, and dry-down, to determine a harvest date for a particular hybrid.

 I chose to not use a story last week because I wasn't sure it was believable. And then I saw the same story on the internet news this past week.

Jan and I stopped in Tacna, AZ just east of Yuma for breakfast with Ed. Ed is a snowbird from Knoxville, Ia. He and his fellow snowbirds ride their side by sides in the desert. One day recently they heard unrecognizable voices in a ditch near the Mexican border. When they returned to town they mentioned it to border patrol. The authorities told them never to ride alone near the border because there have been an influx of Iranians sneaking into our country through this neighboring border.

The 801 Ford and light blade seemed to be the best way to pull the gravel back out of the grass put there by pushing snow many times. Our country is in a tug of war between individual liberties and a new age of government radicalism. It seems new policies are being rushed through by those in control. My prediction is our countries president will be replaced before his full term in office. 

 

As a country we are a generation of folks wandering around without God. Without God things don't go well. Covid has us stuck in a mudhole of fear. It has been used to create a huge divide in our country. Folks need a source of motivation other than fear and misinformation. Thanks for the picture Kurt.

Shortages and back orders are now the norm. Delivery of China products aren't as reliable as they were not long ago. There are states where folks are still not working causing manufacturing to back up. It was Ford country in our shop one day this week.

Stories are more powerful than facts. Facts are what's in information. My purpose in breaking my own rules this morning on negativity and politics is to hopefully inform you and make you think on your own. When our government spends money it doesn't have it has 3 options. Option 1 is to print more money. Printing more money makes it worth less and we are printing money today at twice the rate we did 50 years ago. Inflation is coming like a tidal wave unseen since the 1970s.   Thanks for the early morning picture Joe.

Option 2 for our government spending money it doesn't have is to borrow it. That creates competition with lenders who secure funds as well to loan to us as small businesses and home owners. After the inflation of the 1970s came 20% interest in the 1980s. Interest rates will rise. Make sure your loans are at a fixed rate.

Option 3 is to find multiple ways to raise taxes. Jerry and I talked about this at tax time. I also received an email this week from an estate planner friend. Without getting to deep, basically our president hopes to eliminate "Stepped Up Basis". Stepped up basis allows us to give our assets away after we die without paying Capital Gains of about 20%. This administration is also trying to require "Immediate Recognition Of Gain". meaning our heirs would be required to pay this tax even if they chose not to sell the asset. Finally the White House hopes to tax this transfer of assets at normal tax rates and hopes to raise those normal rates to as high as 40-45%. They hope this revenue covers their free college plan. You might be thinking this isn't my problem. I have few assets. Hopefully level heads will intervene because if this happens it would end the family farm which produces food with only about 8-10% of your income.

 When I was a kid I used to hear the adults talk about the "latter days". They said the bad would get worse. They also said the good would get better! Lets finish visiting about the good. America is an exceptional country and we should never apologize for that. Let's keep it that way for our next generations. We need to stay informed as citizens, as small businessmen. With higher cost comes the need to try harder. As farmers we only get one chance a year to start our crop. Our goal is to help the folks we work with become better at what they do.

We are having a planter clinic at our new shop across the road this coming Tuesday, March 16. Van Wall equipment has allowed us to borrow Dean and Randy to talk about the green planters from 11 am till 12. At noon our crew is grilling and Jan will serve us a delicious meal. Titan Machinery has allowed us to borrow Joel from Pella to go over how to be best prepared with the red planters from 1 till 2 pm. Jarod, with Precision Ag, will be here from 11 till 2 to answer questions about even down pressure and proper placement technology. Shauna will represent Dekalb about a new layer of rootworm control. This is about planters and there will be no seed selling pressure. We're here to help whoever wants a refresher on planter tune ups. You might call if you would like to come so we know how much food.

Last week a group of young adults met at the cabin for a meal. They have been meeting together on Tuesday evenings for some time studying the Bible and sharing about life. Kudos to these young folks and Mike, their leader. They are preparing themselves with information for their future.

It feels like life is slowly moving back to normal. The cabin is once again busy every weekend and booked for the foreseeable future. These neat gals came and quilted together. I got to meet them when they needed me to catch a bird that had gotten in the fireplace.

 Last week I listened to a message Phil gave about Gethsemane. Jan and I visited the Garden of Gethsemane a year and a half ago. I always visioned it as flat. It's hilly with Olive trees. That's why it's sometimes referred to the Mount of Olives. It's just the next hill over from Jerusalem. Gethsemane and Calvary were the worst. However God had a plan for the best. And because of the story of these two hills, we have eternal life if we accept that.

Don't forget to tell your children and help others with information about how sometimes things seem bad but God has a plan for good. And when possible do it in the form of a story. Remember to spring your clocks forward this morning or you will be an hour late for church.