Grain harvest struggles to its conclusion
When prices go up and down, sometimes without reason, we call it "volatile." When we can explain it, we describe cycles and retracements and...
A new favorite bird to monitor: Saw-whet Owls
I have a new favorite bird — the northern saw-whet owl. Until last week, I’d never seen one in the wild. But on Wednesday,...
Hazard A Guess: Week of Nov. 19, 2009
Each week Farm and Dairy challenges readers to identify a small tool or gadget (or at least 'hazard a guess' as to its use).
One devil’s advocate thoughts
If idle hands are the devil's workshop, idle thoughts are, what, the product of a devil's advocate? Maybe, but one election result from early...
Critical responses to mandatory national service
Last week I suggested that mandatory national service in one of many different fields would be a good way to bridge the gap between...
Life puts us where we are supposed to be
"The bright sun filtered through the clouds, warming the fields of alfalfa that my father was mowing. Within a day or two it would...
School trip is growing experience — for me
Our sixth-grade son, Wonderboy, has gone to camp. Camp being yet another thing the school district cooked up specifically to test me.
Much like...
Where do these people come from?
I'm not a Scrooge, really, I'm not. So I can't blame it on the upcoming holiday season. Maybe it's just because I'm getting old(er)....
Crop harvest drags into Thanksgiving
USDA released the Sunday night Crop Progress Report Monday after the close, and it was not pretty. Harvest still drags on, and rain coming...
Put more black ink on your bottom line
If Walmart were in the cattle business, it would probably serve as an operating definition of "least-cost producer." People might refer to its cowherd...
