The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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A teacher in Carrington recently commented to me that although we live in an agricultural community, many of her students don’t know where food comes from. If that’s true of our students, imagine how difficult it is for young people who grow up in urban environments. Last week I toured a project that is attempting to address that issue in a neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The non-profit group New Neighbors offers employment to 20 to 25 high school students each year. Half of the stu...
“Of all my crops, the corn is struggling the most,” a farmer texted last week. He continued, “Some, but not all, of our corn may make knee-high by the 4th of July. I’d rather it was waist-high.” The slow development of this year’s corn and soybean crops has frequently come up in my recent conversations with farmers. Cool weather is to blame. Temperatures warmed considerably last week, but overall, our daytime highs have averaged three degrees below normal since corn was planted mid-May. Crops li...
A friend from Indiana called last week, and I patiently listened as he boasted about his thriving garden. “I picked my first cucumber today,” he said, “and my tomatoes look tremendous.” My experience this year has been quite the opposite. My potatoes died after heavy rain left them standing in water for several days. Other vegetables – corn, cucumbers, and zucchini – didn’t emerge at all and had to be replanted. They are growing now, but way behind in development compared to last year. I’m not...
“You couldn’t ask for better weather than we’ve had this year for small grains,” one farmer remarked to me during the Foster County fair. Unfortunately, the cool, wet conditions over the last six weeks haven’t been as favorable for corn and soybeans. Both crops thrive in temperatures around the mid-80s. Last June, we experienced 19 days above 80 degrees, and several producers mentioned they’d never seen corn grow so rapidly early in the season. This year, however, the mercury exceeded 80 degrees...
June has been pleasant, but with July approaching, we can usually expect warmer and drier weather. If keeping your lawn green throughout the summer is important to you, it’s essential to monitor your grass closely. Lawns need about an inch of water each week to stay green and healthy. If we don’t receive enough rain and you notice the grass beginning to wilt, it’s time to irrigate. Don’t wait until the leaves start turning brown. Remember to water deeply and infrequently. The aim is to keep th...
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to judge the 4-H wood-working exhibits at a fair in a neighboring county. I recall one young boy, beaming with pride as he placed his project on the table before me and then took a seat, eagerly awaiting my assessment. My first impression was positive, but when I reached down to pick up the project, my fingers touched paint that was still tacky. “Is wet paint acceptable for a fair exhibit?” I asked myself. I continued examining the project and found that the...
A weather system passed through Foster County on May 23 and 24, bringing cold, wet conditions to the start of Memorial Day weekend. The Carrington REC recorded 1.4 inches of precipitation, with higher amounts near McHenry at 1.9 inches and lower amounts near Kensal at 0.9 inches. Winds gusted up to 40 miles per hour during the storm, and the temperature dropped to 34 degrees on Friday night. The rain halted planting for four to five days. Some farmers, particularly in central Foster County, had...
My mom has enjoyed watching a litter of rabbits grow up in her backyard this spring. The fun wore off last week, however, when the cute furballs began eating some flowers that she had recently planted. “What can I do to get rid of them?” she asked. “Your birthday’s coming up,” I said with a grin. “Maybe I’ll get you a slingshot.” My mom ignored my comment, saying, “I’ve heard sprinkling blood meal around the plants may work. Apparently, the smell scares the rabbits away.” “I suppose there is n...
In 1893, William P. Brooks conducted a classical experiment at the Massachusetts Agriculture Experiment Station. Brooks filled pots with soil that had never been exposed to soybeans. To one group of pots, he sprinkled a pinch of dust collected from the floor where soybeans had been threshed. The remaining pots were left untouched. The outcome was remarkable: Soybean plants in pots with added dust were greener, more vigorous, and higher yielding than plants without dust. Although the mechanism...
A series of weather systems brought precipitation to Foster County at the end of April, boosting our monthly total to well above normal. Farmers had a small window of time to plant small grains before the rain started on April 26. Over the next four days many parts of the county received 1.2 to 1.3 inches of precipitation. The rain put a halt to all fieldwork. Total rainfall amounts in April were 2.6 inches at the Carrington REC, making it the eighth wettest April on record since 1967. Temperatu...
A weather system late last October blanketed Foster County with 11 inches of snow. After experiencing record breaking snowfall in 2022 – 2023, most of us were probably thinking, “Oh no! Here we go again.” But the weather event on October 26 and 27, turned out to be the heaviest snowfall we would see all winter. The Carrington REC received just 27 additional inches in the months that followed, bringing the total snowfall to 38 inches for the winter of 2023 – 2024. Our annual average is 41 inch...
Are you interested in gardening, but don’t have a suitable site? Do you already have a garden but need additional space for corn, squash, melons or some other crop? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then perhaps you should consider reserving a spot in the Carrington Community Garden, located just east of the parking lot at Bethel Chapel. The 10 feet by 20 feet plots will be tilled and ready to plant as soon as conditions allow. A water line at the site makes it possible to k...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts the Census of Agriculture every five years. The results of the most recent census were released recently. Here is an assortment of findings contained in the report: Foster County had 235 farms in 2022. A farm is defined as any place that produces and sells more than one thousand dollars of agricultural products annually. One hundred farms were larger than one thousand acres. The average farm size was 1,540 acres. Nearly two-thirds of Foster County...
When I was growing up, it was my job each spring to mulch our rhubarb and asparagus with a thick layer of straw and composted manure. The mulch suppressed weeds and supplied nutrients to the perennial garden plants. Both crops thrived in this system. The rhubarb stalks and asparagus spears were big and thick, always tender and never stringy. Last spring I started a new asparagus bed in our yard in Carrington. The plants grew well, and I’m optimistic that the asparagus made it through winter in g...
The Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society (NPSAS) works directly with farmers to encourage better care of the land by increasing perennial crops, reducing chemical use and developing environmentally beneficial livestock systems. The organization places heavy emphasis on organic farming practices. Organic farmers do not use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or genetically modified organisms. Instead, they strive to work together with nature to reach their production goals. Soil...
An arctic blast brought brutally cold and windy conditions to Foster County during the second week of January. Temperatures remained below zero for five consecutive days, with a low of minus 23 degrees on January 14. Winds gusted at speeds up to 42 miles per hour, and wind chills fell to minus 53 degrees. Temperatures climbed slowly back to normal by January 20 and then kept climbing. Forecasters predicted temperatures near 40 degrees by the end of January compared with a normal high of 20...
An arctic blast brought brutally cold and windy conditions to Foster County during the second week of January. Temperatures remained below zero for five consecutive days, with a low of minus 23 degrees on January 14. Winds gusted at speeds up to 42 miles per hour, and wind chills fell to minus 53 degrees. Temperatures climbed slowly back to normal by January 20 and then kept climbing. Forecasters predicted temperatures near 40 degrees by the end of January compared with a normal high of 20...
“Variety selection is without a doubt the most important decision I make annually on my farm,” said a producer at a meeting early this winter. Many farmers will agree with the man’s comment. Some of them might add that because there are so many choices, variety selection is also one of their most difficult decisions. Each variety has specific strengths and weaknesses that make it more- or less-suited to a given field environment. Differences in variety performance can have huge effects on a pro...
Some readers may know that my wife and I lived in China for 18 years before moving to North Dakota. I was telling a group of men about our experience during breakfast several weeks ago, when the topic of water came up. “The tap water in China is untreated and not safe to drink,” I said. “Those who can afford it typically have purified water in five-gallon bottles delivered to their homes. The alternative is to fill a kettle and boil the water before drinking it.” The men seemed surpris...
Earlier this month, I heard a Carrington resident tell his friends that he was enjoying the perfect life. “I went golfing and ice fishing both in the same day,” he explained. Warm days and cold nights in early December were favorable for all kinds of outdoor activities. The NDAWN station at Carrington reported record highs of 56 degrees on Dec. 6 and 55 degrees on Dec. 7. A weather system passed through on Dec. 8, leaving behind five inches of snow. However, temperatures quickly rebounded and...
“Where do you think he’s going?” I asked my wife. We were watching as a squirrel climbed a spruce tree outside our kitchen window and cautiously made his way toward the end of a branch. The creature’s gaze was fixed on the bright red bird feeder hanging on a shepherd’s hook about eight feet from the tree. “I think he’s going to jump for it,” I said. But the thin branch bowed under the squirrel’s weight, and he seemed to have second thoughts. We could almost see the frustration on the squirrel’s...
My wife and I bought a pig two weeks ago. Actually, we bought half a pig. Our niece’s children are enrolled in the 4-H swine project. The brother and sister duo own several sows, and they’ve developed a good business of direct marketing meat from the animals they raise. We get a call each fall saying that the pigs are ready and asking if we want to buy one. The enterprising 4-H’ers tell us, “Happy pigs taste good!” The USDA reports that farmers and ranchers sell more than nine billion dollars of...
What a change of weather Foster County experienced from the beginning to the end of October. We started the month with a near record high of 89 degrees on Oct. 1, and temperatures remained warmer than normal for most of the next three weeks. Everything changed when a weather system arrived on Oct. 24, bringing snow and cold to our area. The Carrington REC received 11 inches of snow, and the mercury plummeted to a near record low of three degrees on Oct. 31. Most soybeans had been harvested by...
It’s likely you’ve heard news reports saying that El Niño conditions have developed for the first time in three years. El Niño typically causes our winters in North Dakota to be warmer and drier than normal. That’s welcome news to many people who still remember last year’s record-breaking snowfall. But forecasters urge caution about building too high of expectations for a “mild” winter in 2023-24. They remind us that in a typical El Niño winter, temperatures are just two degrees warmer than no...
f you think we’ve had a lot of foggy weather this fall, then you’d be right. By my count, the National Weather Service in Bismarck issued seven dense fog advisories in September and two more in early October. The damp, foggy weather and several rain events slowed progress during the first weeks of soybean harvest. Fortunately, the long-term forecast indicates we can expect warmer and drier than normal weather during the second half of this month. That is welcome news to farmers who are und...
