Haying...

   Peter commented on haying. In response to his question in a comment, a wide variety of grasses can be hay. In my childhood we had some ground too steep to farm. It grew a combination of native grasses and invasives like smooth brome. We hayed that land. One difference is that alfalfa keeps growing after it is cut. In my youth we got two cuttings of alfalfa. Now, in these wetter, warmer years farmers routinely cut three crops, and some times four, in a season. Kentucky blue grass makes good hay but the quantity is limited and it doesn't re-grow enough for a second crop. Cereal grains, and especially oats. make good hay.

    In my years in north-western North Dakota many farmers I knew were active during the prolonged drouth of the 1930s. One thing that would grow during those dry years was Russian Thistles. You may know them as 'tumble weeds'. The famers  said that they used these thistles for hay. Of course, they were harvested green, well before they came loose and blew in the wind.

   Windrows typically mean hay or grain that been cut and left in a swath. Shelter Belts were multi-row tree belts. Many were planted in the early '40s, after the dust bowl years. Dad and his siblings planted about two miles of these tree belts. Much later single rows of trees were planted also to control soil erosion. Most of my tree planting have been multi-row belts primarily for wildlife.

Takk for alt,

Al

"See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I'll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
Cares of the past are behind
Nowhere to go but I'll find
Just where the trail will wind
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
I know when night has gone
That a new world's born at dawn
I'll keep rolling along
Deep in my heart is a song
Here on the range I belong
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
Drifting on and on
Moving on and on
Wandering on and on"   Roy Rogers

WNBA Returns!

     The WNBA season has begun with pre-season games. Via the portal of a modestly priced WNBA League Pass all games are available either via live stream or replay. It's half-time of the New York Liberty and Indian Fever game which I'm watching. Fever lead by a few points. For a WNBA nut such as I, it's fun to see familiar players and many new faces. With the new WNBA contract many established players timed the end of their contracts to coincide with the new terms this years. Consequently, it was basket upset as many of them switched teams.

   The new contract was recently ratified and that made a very short time for teams to practice. Practice is important as new players are integrated. This years crop of college recruits are particularly gifted. Some of them will become starters with the teams that drafted them. One of those is Olivia Miles, a point guard drafted #2, by the Lynx. After four years at Notre Dame she played a fifth year at TCU. 

   Recently I upgraded my Little House internet connection to enable live streaming the games. The new internet connection at the OFH is more secure but no faster than the old.

  Life is good!

Takk for alt,

Al

Lynx star, Napheesa Collier #24, is recovering from surgery and will not play until June.

Ya, then....

     This is one of those days with no original thought. However if I don't post one or both of you will wonder about my welfare. It's the good life that I'm living in the OFH. Good to connect with family and friends. Perhaps a random picture with give something worth seeing.

Takk for alt,

Al

While in Melbourne, Australia, Amy and I visited a game reserve. Surrounded by kangaroos, they were looking for treats.

Life in the OFH!

     Being resident in the OFH allows for helpful people connections. An important friend made a significant drive to join me for lunch today. The gift of friendship is a a beautiful thing.

    Tonight three of us inmates of the OFH went to to Cossette's for dinner. Cossette's is three floors of delectable Italian food. In addition to three floors of dining there is a HUGE, delicatessen with cold cuts, baked goods, desserts, etc.

    The OFH practice is that when inmates expire their picture and obituary is posted on a credenza in the lobby. All three of us at dinner have a lively sense of humor. Tonight the focus was on the dear departed's picture's and obituary's on the credenza. The idea was hatched that we should be prepared for our demise and have a preferred photo on file with the employee tasked with preparing the credenza memorial. To that end my picture was taken. (See below)

Takk for alt,

Al

  

Old Folks Home!

     Kaia and I motored through dust storms to the OFH this afternoon. Ye Olde car thermometer registered 90 for a bit. Terribly windy, I lucked out with a gentle breeze yesterday for the burn with red flag days fore and aft.

   While I was absent  Brittany cleaned my apartment. I nicknamed her "Sparkle" because the place sparkles after she cleans. While I'm here Beth will clean The Little House. Once I did some dusting and when it all came back I gave up the enterprise. Yes, I'm spoiled and happy to be so.

     The OFH now offers secure WIFI. The router was installed in my apartment while I was gone. Luddite that I am, I figured out how to access the internet with it and I am using the secure connection as I type this. The router is a white tower on the top of my roll top desk.

Takk for alt,

Al

Fire bug!

         Much of my grassland, about which I often write, is in a Federal Government program called the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).  Contracts are offered for ten or fifteen years. Participants agree to a number of things:  plant native grasses, control noxious weeds, do not plow or mow, the exception is in drought years haying is permitted, and do a mid-term restoration process. The choices of restoration methods are light discing, haying or burning. It's mid-term in one of my contracts, thus the following.

     Of the three restoration methods, burning is most effective. The primary desired grasses are native, late summer varieties. Before the advent of the plow frequent prairie fires swept the plains. So, a controlled burn, replicates the effect of prairie fires. Controlled, meaning only the field in question is burned.

     Today we burned a twenty-five acre CRP field. It went well, burning the grass but nothing else. To ensure this control I disced a fire break around the perimeter. USDA, administers the CRP program. Before burning they required I completed a compressive Burn Plan. Permission to burn from the local fire chief was necessary because there is a county burn bane in place. It was also necessary to inform the Brookings County Sheriff.

    One of the positive effects of burning is inhibiting invasive grasses that tend to take over. One of those grasses is smooth brome. The fire helpfully burns off the thatch that's accumulated over the years. It also consumes thistle seed that's blown in.

   Key players in the project today were two representative from Pheasants Forever, who supplied the 'know how' and significant physical help. Also, my nephew and my Sinai friend were invaluable. They both brought ATVs with water tanks for spraying hot spots. Were Pheasants Forever personnel not available I would have hired the local fire department.

Takk for alt,

Al

The pictures show before, during and after.

Half Day Man!

     Very few of the tasks here are urgent. Consequently, I've developed a pattern of working? half days. Being in a pattern of arising at 6:00, working is typically in the morning. That allows for an afternoon nap, because I believe you aren't likely to sleep well at night if you don't practice in the daytime. That practice, plus a clean conscience, are helpful for night time slumber.

    With temperatures in the 20s this morning it wasn't tractor weather.  By mid-afternoon the temperature was 70 so I did some late afternoon tillage. It was 7:00 pm by the time I finished and got back to the house.   Why am I tired?

Takk for alt,

Al