Is it time to retire? Can I afford to retire? Would I enjoy retirement? Or should I admit that I am stuck in my ways and they will someday pry my cold dead fingers from the steering wheel of a tractor or find me lifeless in a hayloft? I sure Read more
For many, summer is over. School is back and the fair and Labor Day weekend have passed. The crops in most of the fields are on a downhill slide to harvest and the end of the season. Just like the Chicago Cubs. As a White Sox fan, I could not Read more
What would you do if you went to work and later that day when you came home your lawn was missing? Not stolen per se, but the grass was all stripped and eaten away. Such a scenario may actually be possible. Not long ago I wrote that armyworms were chewing/eating Read more
Recent events confirm that my work as a writer to educate the masses about agriculture may never be done, or perhaps I am not doing a good job. Last week I wrote about how as a child, I knew not to try to eat field corn off the plant, something Read more
It is 9:00 p.m. Wednesday. How many random tidbits of agriculture can I include in a 500-word article in the next hour? Do you know how many ears of corn a corn plant usually produces? The Will County Fair is fast approaching. About 20 years ago at the county fair, Read more
What is the difference between a puppy and John Kiefner? A farmer probably can always complain about something: too hot, too dry, broken machinery, or rogue animals, too wet, too cold, low prices/yields. Each day or season brings its own success and failure. We are in the “dog days of Read more
A Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Would you like to save some farmland and open space in Will County? Or would you like to pave and develop the entire county into shopping centers, subdivisions, truck Read more
7-10 days is the answer. Do you know what the question is? On my farm in Manhattan we received almost as much rain in the last 11 days than the previous 4 months. Seven straight days of measurable rain ended our current drought. It sure is amazing how we can Read more
I have worked late too many nights in a row to pen a witty and funny article so I will go with my default of random thoughts on multiple topics. I see something in the cornfields that I had never noticed before. The outer rows of most fields are only Read more
It is hay season on farms all across the Midwest. It is a lot easier making hay during a dry spell versus a wet spell. With the recent shortage of rain locally, many farmers are seeing some reduced yields in their hay fields. The weather has been quite variable across Read more