I hope everything is going well there.

Quite warm and rainy here – some would say downright humid. At least it’s not a cold rain though – just dull sky’s and lots of rain. I wish we could bottle some of it up to save it for when things are really dry.

My small container garden is heading into a really non-productive phase. The weather change is causing a lot of my tomatoes to split as they ripen. Most are receiving too much water so they are struggling (I need to remember more drainage holes in the containers next year!). I still have hopes that when we dry out, I’ll be able to harvest a bit more basil, parsley, and a few more peppers. The big worry now will probably be an early frost (one almanac is calling for a late September frost here).

Serious worries here about the corn and soybean crops. The cold, wet spring delayed planting, then we had some really dry weather for quite a while, and now it’s generally been an early fall for us. I did some farm visits and walked some fields last week. The beans (which should have at least 4 or more beans to a pod) had only 2-3 and they seemed smaller than they should be. The corn I saw had smaller ears with shallow kernels, and it was wetter than usual. Overall from what I can tell, production is going to be quite low – I have some farmers who have already decided to take more as silage (rather than grain) because of the high cost of fuel to dry down the corn to where it can be stored and marketed for grain. It’s a big worry for the farmers I work with that have to buy feed. The minute harvest starts, I’m afraid that the USDA projections (which have generally been for a very high yield) will be proven wrong and all corn and soybean products will be quite high priced. It’s a worry…

Work continues to be a challenge. My boss is recommending that I consider an HR job. That would take me away from the customers that I work with and have me work with employees. That can be a real nightmare. The pay is better (of course) but I think the burn out rate would be higher. In addition, it would mean working in a larger city I’m just not sure about that.

In the meantime, I’m still struggling with some serious issues. Lack of trained employees and high expectations are at the top of the list. With over 20 years of work here though I can’t imagine leaving and I’m not sure that an outside the agency job would be any better. Oh my!

Well, I should probably get going – there never seems to be enough time to get things done lately.

Best wishes and take care!