Very soon it will be another crop year and another adventure for farmers in Will County. I suspect that most of us will welcome seeing old-man-winter in our rear-view mirror. How many more false springs will we see before true warmth arrives and our growing season begins?
False spring is a term I have picked up from my gardening friends. Mother Nature has a way of teasing us with warm spells only to flip a switch and relapse to winter weather. I suspect many are like me; I truly enjoy the days getting longer and the lure of summer.
I should take this moment to chastise our favorite master gardener, Nancy Kuhajda, for writing her weekly column that gives me the desire to garden. Her writing makes me want to open seed catalogs and plant a garden, and then I return to reality. I have remained vigilant for almost 20 years and have not planted a garden. The most I ever plant, beside about 121 million corn, soybean, wheat, oat, sweetcorn and sunflower plants, is a few tomatoes and a pepper plant in a raised bed near the house. I leave the growing of fruits and vegetables to professionals.
Do not take that wrong; I encourage everyone to have a garden. Even raise some chickens or animals for food. I believe many should experience the joy of growing something that you can pick and eat yourself. I have read the documentation that claimed during World War II, the era of victory gardens, that the public raised close to 40% of our yearly needs of fruits and vegetables.
This will also allow everyone to feel the wrath of too much rain, too little rain, wind, hail, insects, diseases/funguses and predators, not to mention the joy of a never-ending invasion of weeds. Why should farmers be alone in the agony of Mother Nature’s wrath?
I have learned that many are busy hatching eggs/chicks for laying hens now. The effects of bird flu on egg prices have many becoming backyard egg producers or expanding their flock. One of my customers at my farm informed me last week that the price of laying hens at auction had dropped to $10 from a high a few weeks earlier of $25-$30. I will assume that is evidence that the nation’s egg crisis is finally winding down, and with the warmer weather, the infections of our flocks will decrease.
In the meantime, I must build three new planter beds for my “tiny” garden on the patio. When I am done with that, I may turn to the dark side and open a seed catalog. Just kidding, well, maybe not. Is there a support group for recovering gardeners?
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