Dry skies and corn

With water (from the hose) and all this sun our gardens are yielding super sweet corn. amazing.
there was so much we had to cut it up for freezing.

however, the reality is that we are in a nasty dry spell that is really affecting every other aspect of our lives. a situation not really experienced in the cool and plentiful confines of the grocery store.

some corn facts, a snapshot from today:

nebraska is the 4th largest producer of corn in the USA. today the nebraska commercial corn crop is only at 43% good to excellent condition compared to 82% good to excellent. a very low number and not seen for decades. the nebraska corn board has 63% irrigated corn as good to excellent and only 16% of dry corn.

dropping water levels on ground water are leading to some shut offs for junior irrigators.

with some more moderate temperatures, rain and the fact that most of our irrigation comes from wells (although there are still thousands of groundwater irrigators) the potential for poor corn yields can be reduced.

according to the "national drought mitigation center" http://drought.unl.edu/  we are in moderate to severe drought with a small section of extreme. 99.81% of our state is in drought conditions.
on the bottom are the current maps. 

26 states are experiencing drought conditions.

One of one hundred and fifty.

Young william lost the bet and had to paint all of the polled herefords to look like 

angus that had dipped their heads in vanilla ice cream.

3 hours later the first one just about done. he just has to add the sprinkles on the top and chill it for a few hours.

that sounds good!

(dad gets his polled hereford-angus cross ready for 4H. he is spraying to keep the flies away, it is not good to have your entry moving around and stomping during the judging.)

Gardening tools cleaning

It is time for the midseason maintenance of the garden tools. 

starting out with some of my detailing and bonsai tools.

all tools need constant tending to. rust will hit all of them, even when not in use. cleaning, lubricating hinges/joints, sharpening and conditioning the wood. the burden of a lot of tools is the relentless cleaning schedule. sure as hell when you finish you are already behind.

these two are my main bypass shears. bought in Ise, Mie ken Japan. all of the other tools (except the felco bypass shears) were bought in Nagoya, Kuwana or Inabe. they have been serving me for over 14 years now. 

scavenged this seriously abused tool box from grandfather Vic's barn.

Hops in early july

25' and growing, glorious cascade hops. the upper third will be ready for harvest soon. this season has long vines and the upper third is far more advanced then the lower two thirds.

there are 8 hills, 3-4 vines per hill and tethered from the plot to the top of the windows on the south side of the house (20' of line and then starts to drape down acting as window awnings). cascade is hardy, productive and very very prolific. we keep tight reigns on its suckers so as not to overwhelm the plot. keeping it airy is the key, reduces pest zones and easier to care for.

cascade hops a real workhorse for our home brews, especially in our pales, ipas, porters, and big barley wines. 

in 1956 this hop was bred in the United States. it became available in 1972. it is the product of crossing a fuggles hop with a Russian serebrianker hop. cascade aroma is "flowery", "spicy" and "citrus-like". the alpha acid content ranges from 4%-7%. quite a bit of difference depending on the growing conditions.

Slinky

Why slinky, why do you have to be that way?

Oldest vs youngest

At least this time it wasn't point blank in the face.

then the youngest retaliates.

finishing a stretch of weeks at 90+ degrees and the last 3 days above 100.

only 20% chance of rain today.

Findley's hatchets III

Findley sent me the color flash he wanted and all is finished.

multiple coats of tung oil have been rubbed into the bare wood.

sights established, with the white bore added.

this polished up very well.

protective coat on the head. the initial coating is different then the metal protectant i apply after starting to use the tool. for day to day use i recommend johnson's paste or gun oil.

both have 18" handles. as discussed in the past this will increase leverage and function. if one needs to detail work they need only choke up on the handle.

great project!