Self Reliance

Good morning friends. My thoughts this morning come from a number of happenings and stories these past days. The purpose of Memorial Day. Folks being paid not to work. Reading a little history. Foster's life remembered. Anthony's emails. Government overrun. A busy productive week. A couple of visits. Self reliance isn't exactly the right word, however I'm not coming up with a better one.

Ernie has given Mike permission to use an old farm campsite located along the Des Moines River. Mike keeps it mowed and uses Grandpa Gene's old pickup camper on a homemade trailer. When Ernie, who is 91, was a child his family used to come here by horseback, camp a week, and hoe weeds in their field.

You all grew up in a variety of places and live all over so I need to be careful of what I don't know. However I'm a little bias to kids growing up on a farm learning to become self reliant. It's home grown skill. It teaches work ethic and taking responsibility. It's handling issues with common sense. It creates a "make things happen" mentality. And I feel when kids work with each other and parents it fosters thoughts and care for others rather than a "what about me" attitude when life is just focused inward.

 A couple of weeks ago when Jan and I went to Elizabeth's graduation we drove through Illinois of course to get to Indiana. On the way over we stopped in Stronghurst, a small farming community, at a quilt store run by a neat lady. While Jan shopped, the store owner and I visited about our previous year and how their little community decided to be self reliant and voted to refuse to go along with all Illinois's pandemic orders. Later I asked if I could "get rid of some coffee" and she told me their were two restrooms in the back. She said the signs on the door had been removed and just to use either one. 

On the way home from Indiana, again in Illinois, we stopped at a convenience store for "coffee" and to use the restroom. There were two, without signs, so Jan went in one and I the other. When we were again driving Jan said that the restroom she used had a urinal in it. I told her the one I used did not. And a local guy was coming to use the one Jan was in. Folks, neutral gender bathrooms, as our government leaders are requiring, are not right and we had better wake up and do some thinking on our own. 

Some crops planted in May, and more so to the south of us, are having a number of emergence issues and many folks are replanting their later stuff. Soil borne fungi attacks the little seedling and kills it. Most fungi like low soil PH and moist conditions. Soil temps vary with different fungi however many like the warmer, wetter soils. Below another dealer came and picked up some of our extra corn. If you look close you can see Jackson helping Grandpa load the truck.

A goal this week was to get our extra N applied to our and others corn acres. Soybeans use an enormous amount of nitrogen however they have the ability to create their own with nodulation. I did an experiment this week and applied dry N on two different bean fields at the 2-3 leaf stage. We'll see what happens.

As we are loading Ethan is moving their trackhoe to a dirt pile getting ready to grade a building pad. He stopped to say hello to Grandpa. 😊 We are blessed to have grandkids growing up to be self reliant. 

Another goal was to have second pass corn herbicide acres finished so we can start on soybeans. Kurt and Karl ran the sprayers most of the time this past week. We ran four semi tenders this week to keep the sprayers and spreaders with product.

Which brings up another thought I've been wrestling with. We put in a big week with long hours. "Busyness and productivity" help one be self reliant, paving the way for next generations, getting custom work done for others, even the ability to be generous with resources. But it comes with a price. We are also to be "less busy and available". For events like church ice cream socials. For visits with sisters and others. For more quality time with spouses. For finishing sidewalks and other home projects. I know it's a balancing act. And I also know we choose our own priorities. I've also learned well that at the end of the year it's God that ultimately provides. It's all His to start with and we are totally reliant on Him.

BJ and his family spent the week haying for himself and mostly for others. It was a great week for haying being breezy and humidity around 30% which is unusually low for southern Iowa.

Yesterday late afternoon Jan and I attended a free shoot. A family event and supper for the shooting team. A big thank you to all the shooting coaches and support folks. I so realize it takes "available" to do what you do. PCHS has around 100 kids shooting. Government interference has made shotgun shells really hard to get. Watching these 6th through 12th graders, guys and gals, interact is heartwarming.

Foster was the epitome of self reliant. He grew up on a farm where his father was a cattle buyer. He became successful in many ways. He used his God given resources  to be the most generous guy I've ever met. He always said that it was all Gods anyhow. He was very "busy and productive". He traveled the world helping folks. However he was also an encourager. He took the time to listen. He always insisted on "round tables" at meetings so everyone was involved. He valued the waiter or waitress as important as the senator. He was a doer and not just a talker. He believed America was the greatest country on earth and did everything in his power to keep it that way. That's how we met and worked together occasionally. His "memorial celebration" as he wanted it called was in Arizona yesterday and Wyoming today. A private burial in his hometown of Rice Lake, Wisconsin will be tomorrow.

I was at Kurt and Emily's on Friday tendering Kurt's sprayer with product. I walked into their shop to get a bottle of water. Every time I go in their shop I see this safe. Every time I see this safe I think of Kevin who we lost in September of 2019. Because I used a picture of this safe back then to remind you how we are not to keep our opportunities "safe" and locked up because we never know how much time we have left on earth. That blog was called "Our Dash". I'm going to finish today by again using this safe to make my point. We are not to just be safe and conform to what's going on today in our country. Nor does self reliance mean we just lock up and sit on our abilities and take care of ourselves as the culture seems to imply. Self reliance means we must have the confidence in ourselves to give others hope. To help change lives. To be a good listener. To complete the little things. To measure folks by the size of their hearts and not their bank accounts. To take some risks. To acknowledge our failures. To get up and try again. To create a joyful and positive environment for those around us. Our lives need to be an open book so when folks read our "story" they will see that our purpose fit in "His-story". Blessings to you all today.