Ramsey County

August 21, 2006

Howdy!!!!

Have you ever had a bunch of relatives over that like to have fun?  Well that happened this past weekend as my wife celebrated a special birthday.  She was not a happy camper however, as she would prefer not to celebrate a party as such and she also would prefer farmers to stay harvesting their crops.  That is one thing I will definitely say about my wife, harvest comes once a year and now is the time to reap that harvest.  The night did go very smoothly with the kids doing a great job of entertaining and surprising mother.  The one thing I did find out that night though that really surprised me was how many of my family members that read my column in the paper.  I know this because of the conversation that was held.  Family members can be brutal at times. “GREAT FUN”

Only in North Dakota do we find such extremes in weather conditions, it seems.  I know other states also face many different weather challenges, but where can you find a community that faces, not only too much rain but also areas that have received little rain and yet have difficulties getting the harvest going.   With the weather we have had lately it seems life is always a struggle.  We go most of the summer without much rain and now it seems, as farmers sit in the combine for only a few hours, the rains or high humidity come rather quickly in the course of the day.  Harvest is still progressing rather nicely with most of the barley and I would guess about ½ of the wheat being harvested.  Surprisingly the cool season crops are yielding much better than maybe we thought, with the topsoil moisture we had, but thanks to mother nature the subsoil moisture pulled many of the crops through this summer.

The vegetable garden has been tremendous this year.  I was worried early about the plant growth but have been pleasantly surprised by the production.  The cucumbers have been on fire.  Many pickings of 15 gallons or more of cukes and even the tomatoes have been coming on quite nicely.  Remember to clean up after the gardening season and to use a good rotational plan in your garden to help eliminate any possible disease or insect problems for the next growing season.  It is also a very good time to prepare the garden, for the next growing season, with compost  

524 4th Ave NE #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - ramsey@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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