I can hardly believe it’s been 2 weeks since my last post. What a whirlwind the end of July was!

We had a field day on our farm with over 1500 people. Thanks to all who attended, and I especially appreciated the questions and comments about the Blank Slate field. It’s been fun visiting with so many people about the decisions we’ve been making on this uniquely challenging piece of farm ground. There are so many possibilities and management choices that can get me to the same end point.

The rains have kept coming and we’ve been very fortunate to miss the bad stuff.
While Sioux Falls is only 10 miles south of our farm, they’ve probably gotten twice the rain or more in recent weeks. Just in the last week or so, areas south of us have had 10 inches of rain or more! Without the volume and frequency of rain the Blank Slate has gotten, I have no doubt that the hilltops would have suffered more from the extreme heat this summer has brought. I have to thank God for his blessings on the farm so far. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been very fortunate.

The end of July also included a brief trip to Haiti. My thanks to Steve Nuest and all the Jesus in Haiti Ministries folks for making it an educational and rewarding adventure. We saw firsthand the problems Haiti faces. We witnessed the tent villages, the poverty, and the lack of safe water and plentiful food. We also saw how the hope of Jesus Christ is being well received. If you’re looking for a mission opportunity, Haiti could certainly use your time and efforts.

I’ve visited with a number of other people in the agricultural industry who have done mission work in third world countries. We have all shared the same idea that agriculture is one of the answers to the problems these countries face. There is almost always land available to produce food, and with high unemployment there are plenty of people who need jobs. With some help from American farmers to provide crop growing tips and advice, we can really make a difference.

Back to the Blank Slate, things look very good. The Sure-K and Pro-Germinator we used have performed even better than we expected. I can’t wait for the yield monitor to show us the results of the fertility trials. It will be by far the best crop this ground has ever produced.