Green Thumb – Fall Garden Clean-Up for Pollinators & Wildlife
As the gardening season winds down, many of us will begin cleaning up our landscapes for the winter. While cutting back dead plants and raking leaves can make for a clean-looking yard, it may not be the best thing for pollinators and other wildlife that inhabit our landscapes.
While monarch butterflies ...
Around the Farm – Fall Treats
Fall is in the air – that means harvest is here, and so are the apple and pumpkin treats!
Have you ever wondered what happens to the rest of the apple after it is pressed to make cider, juice, or wine? We did, too! So, I reached out to our friends ...
Green Thumb – Petunias
Petunias are better than ever
Who can resist the bold splash of color in a border of blooming petunias or in a hanging basket loaded with flowers?
New petunia colors are bright and lively, gorgeous and garish. Breeding has made them more vigorous, with stable flower patterns and colors, and a greater ...
Around the Farm – Short rainfall, short corn
What a spring and summer this has been!
We started planting corn on May 5th with some pretty decent conditions. As planting progressed it got drier and drier, and we had to start chasing moisture with the planter. While we had planned to wait to plant our transitional soybeans in June, ...
Green Thumb – 2023 Gardening Trends
The interest in gardening over the last few years is a trend that is here to stay. Creating a place of beauty affects our mood, which affects our outlook on life. Our gardens become a healthy place of retreat.
Here are some of the notable trends we are seeing in 2023.
Color ...
Around the Farm – Blossoms & Babies
Nothing lifts the spirit like watching the earth come back to life after a dreary winter.
The cold winter months bring some necessary rest to our soil and plants (and maybe even ourselves), but eventually we are all ready to start buzzing again!
While flowers and green grass are the first ...
Around the Farm – Farm Transitions
Every new year in farming brings changes
Some years those changes are small things, like new products or new hybrids. Some years those changes are a bit bigger like a piece of new machinery. But every once in a while, a new year brings major changes like the year we switched ...
Around the Farm – Strong Roots
Greetings! Since I am a new face in this magazine, I would like to introduce myself.
I was born and raised on a farm in Clare – about eight miles west of Sycamore. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t involved in helping with the cattle and pigs we had ...
Around the Farm – Much to do after harvest
Farmers have a half-joke; the best days of harvest are the day you start and the day it ends. This year that statement rings very true.
We finished harvest just after thanksgiving this year, and it was a challenging year with breakdowns but the yields were pretty good. Even though harvest ...
Around the Farm – Harvest Requires Teamwork
If I could choose one word to describe harvest this year I think I would choose “teamwork.” This year I really relied on a team of people to get harvest finished, especially since I have another job off the farm.
I could make a list of several people that helped out ...