[Gabz]

Garden Ping!!!!!

[Arrowhead1952]

I’ve been using cow manure compost to fertilize my yard and garden. My plants grow like mad, and water usage is way down.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The farmers around here know the score. There are 700 acres of soybean around me this season, versus sweet or field corn in other years.

FIL’s only planting field corn this year to cash in on the ethanol boondoggle; nearly $6 a bushel! Unheard of in years past.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"If we get a normal yield, we will make money. But, boy, if we have a drought, reduced yields, insect problems — we'll lose a lot of money."

When people we meet ask my husband what we 'do', he sometimes replies that we are professional gamblers. He will then smile and tell them that we farm. There is an awful lot of truth in the gambler statement, though.

Actually, I think that 'scared' is a term somewhat misused here, as I believe that you wouldn't farm if you were scared. You just have to be prudent and weigh all of your options harder than you might in years past.

This year we decided to plant field corn on irrigated ground, which reduced our 'usual' corn crop by 60%, but it takes the rainfall question out of the equation. We are having a smaller cotton crop this year as well, as it requires high amounts of nitrogen (not mentioned in the article). Soybeans actually fix nitrogen in the soil, so they are always a good rotation crop regardless of the market price. We have more soybeans than usual.

Thanks for the ping.

[The Ghost of Rudy McRomney]

So-What’s wrong with manure? Waste is something we’ll never run out of, usually cheaper, plants grow better on it (at least mine do), etc;etc. I don’t see a down side, other than the smell, but that isn’t permanent. I wish farmers could have stayed with it. I’ve put it in my front flower bed two years in a row, and everything there has come out HUGE, especially the peonies.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks for the ping.

I cross linked it.