Going with the flow

INDIANOLA, Neb. - It is a mystery to me how the weather has changed over the years just in my lifetime. I personally don't believe the climate alarmists theory; I just think the world comes around and goes around and it will be what it will be.

I can remember as a child getting much more snow in this area, at least more than we have in recent years. My dad told me horror stories about the "Dirty Thirties" as well as the plagues involving locusts and grasshoppers that were so detrimental to agriculture and the general economy. So that pretty much proves the climate and insects just go with the flow.

Almost three years ago the Natural Resource District came out to plant another windbreak on our farm east and south of our home. That May we had rain for what seemed like weeks, so the ground was saturated a foot deep. They ended up "mudding" those trees in and placing the mesh-type ground cover around them using large staples. By the next year, 60 of those trees had died, so I had to replant those even though I had put in a simple irrigation system.

Last summer it was hot, dry, and windy which wasn't great for new trees. This spring we've had more moisture, but the wind is still atrocious. A couple of sections of my plastic mesh have come up from around some trees and literally beat the sap out of them so I've spent hours with a spade trying to fix this issue.

I'm not sure how good of a job I've done but my back doesn't appreciate the exercise! My grandsons helped me put in another area of mesh, helped me spade some more dirt, and even helped me plant nine more trees that perished from the darn beating they received from the mesh.

A couple of my sons-in-law suggested a different watering system than my soaker hoses which spring leaks after the hot sun and thorns play havoc so that I have water squirting up every few feet. If people drive by, they can see I have bricks and big rocks covering up each hole. Like I said, a pretty good irrigation system!

Farmer Tom did not appreciate the guys’ ideas. Even though he won’t be providing the labor to put it in, he will be financing it! As of now, I have the grandsons lined up to help me install a better way to water them, so I hope I can get them over here before it gets too hot.

I also don't have a lot of water pressure, so not only will the water have to keep running, I'll have to change my settings often, which will take up a lot of my time. Farmer Tom says the next thing to go out will be the water pump but after all the hours I've spent on these trees, I can't let them die now. One only hopes that the grandkids will be able to enjoy the practical use of these trees twenty years from now!

Have a Good One!