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Changing Chores: Baling Hay

By Ben Sutherly | Thursday, July 24, 2008, 05:53 PM

The year was 1989, and I was 13 years old. That was the year Dad and the uncles bought their first round baler. As a young teenager, this was great news for me, especially as my older cousins were heading off to college and our family farm operation’s available pool of labor began to dwindle. For the first time, we were baling hay in a way that didn’t require handling by hand. We could get the hay from the field to the barn without touching it.

Fast forward to 2008. My oldest uncle has turned 70; my dad, the youngest of four, is 61. We still do some baling the old-fashioned way, producing small square bales that weigh 50 pounds or so. In part, this is because we have some older barns with lofts that are beyond the reach of tractors and can’t efficiently store larger bales of hay. So we handle those bales by hand. We also bale smaller square bales to sell at the drive-through at our family’s grain elevator in nearby New Carlisle. But we no longer have round bales. Instead, most of our hay (and straw) ends up as large square bales, which are a more efficient shape to store inside barns.

Do you have memories of baling hay or straw growing up?

Also, as part of an assignment back in 2000, I spent six hours of free labor baling hay. The only requirement: a willingness on the part of the farmer, family and hired help to be interviewed for an article on the subject. To read about that experience, click here:

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Can Black History in Middle of Nowhere Draw Tourism?

By Ben Sutherly | Monday, July 21, 2008, 06:04 PM

The Longtown settlement on the Ohio-Indiana border has a compelling story to tell — but is it compelling enough to make people drive nearly an hour?

The Union Literary Institute Preservation Society may help answer that question soon as it embarks on a fix-up a c. 1860 brick building used as a manual labor school. Its students included the Rev. DeSoto Bass, minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Scott and Bruen streets in Dayton from 1895 to 1928, and Hiram Rhodes Revels, the nation’s first black senator, representing Mississippi in 1870-71.

Rural triracial settlements were rarities in Ohio, and Darke County was home to one of only two statewide where folks of black, American Indian and white descent built a thriving community during the 19th century. Folks who grew up in Longtown and sought opportunity elsewhere in Richmond, Ind., and Dayton took pride in their home place, saying it raised them to be educated, productive citizens.

Do you think the old brick school and the nearby 1840s home of Longtown’s founder, James Clemens, will be a sufficient draw to bring people from Dayton and other big towns to this remote rural area?

(If you’re in the mood for a drive, check out a map of the area that you can use for a self-guided tour by clicking on image.pdf below.)

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

By Ben Sutherly | Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 05:08 PM

I’ve been hearing from various sources, including the folks at Siegel’s Covington Country Store, that interest in gardening is up considerably this year given higher food and fuel prices. So I figure a lot of you are probably part of that trend, if you’re not already long-time gardeners.

I am not the most ambitious gardener in the world, a fact to which my weeds will attest. But I do enjoy raising some vegetables each summer, and so far I’m pleased with what I’m seeing. I’m beginning to harvest a few green beans, and have more turnips than I can shake a stick at.

My sister-in-law, who lives with my brother in Tipp City and doesn’t have space for her own garden, brought 10 tomato plants to me this spring. She loves tomatoes — and she’d better love ‘em, because I am going to have a ton of them on my hands in a few weeks.

I’m not a big fan of tomatoes, but love the smell of tomato plants. To me, it’s one of the main olfactory cues that we’re deep into summer.

The butternut squash and peas are also coming along nicely, though the peppers seem to be taking their time.

What are you harvesting from your vegetable garden these days? If you would, share some of your gardening tips at daytondailynews.com/downtoearth

In particular, I’m wondering if any of you have suggestions for keeping weeds in check in between the rows of vegetables. (I like to avoid herbicides if I can.) I’ve heard leaves raked up from the previous falls can make for an effective weed-suppressing mat, but my elm trees don’t produce big leaves. Any other suggestions?

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Upbeat About Wheat

By Ben Sutherly | Monday, July 14, 2008, 06:50 PM

Local farmers are wrapping up what some folks are calling one of the best wheat harvests ever.

I spoke with one farmer near Cedarville today who reported an average wheat yield of more than 80 bushels per acre, one of the best yields he’s seen in more than 50 years of farming.

And while wet weather has caused some sprouting, resulting in some loads getting docked at the scales (lower quality means lower prices), farmers are reaping some of their highest harvest-time prices ever. Wheat prices lately have been more than $6 per bushel, far more than what wheat was fetching a year ago.

Baling up wheat stems, or straw, also was going strong last week until we got a downpour on Saturday (I measured 1.9 inches of rain in my gauge 5 miles east of Troy). My family managed to get the mows (or lofts) filled in a couple barns along Ohio 41 before the heavens cut loose, but we still have quite a bit of straw to go.

It wasn’t an ideal way to spend part of my vacation, but it was satisfying to put my back to work — and to have a hand in what for some has been a historic wheat harvest.

How’s the wheat harvest been your way?

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Great Season for Wild Black Raspberries

By Ben Sutherly | Thursday, July 3, 2008, 04:57 PM

I spent an hour this past weekend picking wild black raspberries from a fencerow on the farm where I live, as well as at my cousin’s farm. I was pleased to see so many raspberries ripe for the picking, despite the fact that the picking usually peaks a week earlier. I ended up with about a quart or so; more importantly, I managed to avoid getting a rash from poison ivy.

My future mother-in-law confirmed it was a good season for raspberries, bringing in a much larger haul from her family’s raspberry bushes in South Charleston.

While I have a weakness for coconut cream pie, black raspberry definitely ranks as my favorite this time of year. And you can’t beat black raspberries over vanilla ice cream.

How have the berries been in your neck of the woods?

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Wal-Mart Touts “Buy Local” Push, but is it “local” for us?

By Ben Sutherly | Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 11:47 AM

Wal-Mart announced Tuesday, July 1, a nationwide push to offer more locally grown fruit and vegetables, in part to cut shipping costs. But are those fruits and vegetables local for folks here in the Dayton area?

In Ohio, Wal-Mart highlighted its commitment to purchase from Wiers Farm, which harvests more than 3,000 acres and 40 different crops such as cucumbers, bell peppers and yellow squash at its operations in north-central Ohio. The farm, which Wal-Mart said is the closest farm that provides produce to the Dayton area, is near Willard in Huron County.

Willard is 118 miles from Dayton. Does that count as local in your book?

Wal-Mart said it’s the largest U.S. purchaser of local produce. Its partnerships with local farmers are up 50 percent in the past two years.

In making the announcement from one of its Supercenters in Georgia, Wal-Mart said that during the summer, fruits and vegetables “that are both grown and available for purchase within a state’s borders” account for a fifth of all Wal-Mart produce. Wal-Mart highlights that produce for customers at its stores.

The company said produce currently travels an average of 1,500 miles from farms to the homes of consumers. The company plans to cut millions of “food miles” each year by better logistics planning, truck packing and local sourcing.

What do you think of Wal-Mart’s “buy local” announcement?

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Outcry Over Labeled Milk Goes to Court

By Ben Sutherly | Monday, June 30, 2008, 06:10 PM

Groups representing the milk processing and organic industries have filed federal lawsuits against the Ohio Department of Agriculture, claiming its new milk labeling rule is the nation’s most restrictive and undermines commercial free speech and interstate commerce.

The lawsuits, filed Monday, June 30, in Columbus, lambasted the state agency for limiting what processors can say about dairy products that come from cows not given an artificial hormone called recombinant bovine somatotropin, or rbST.

The lawsuits were filed by the International Dairy Foods Association, whose members produce and market more than 85 percent of U.S. dairy products, and the Organic Trade Association. IDFA said the rule is so cumbersome that it could effectively silence processors and marketers in making claims about whether artificial growth hormones have been used in milk production.

The rule took effect in May; processors have until September to implement it. Spokeswoman Cindy Brown said ODA believes the rule is “lawful and appropriate,” and declined further comment.

Retailers such as Kroger and Wal-Mart have stopped using milk from cows given rbST for their store brands, citing a shift in consumer preference. Farmers use the hormone to increase milk output.

Bill Riley, general manager of Reiter Dairy in Springfield, said the rule in effect prevents the processor from using its signature starburst claim by requiring that processors include a “lengthy” disclaimer that the Food and Drug Administration has found no significant difference between milk from rbST-treated and untreated cows.

Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s said the cost of changing its packaging would exceed $250,000 and the company would have to overhaul its entire distribution system, putting it at a disadvantage against companies that only distribute in Ohio.

The Organic Trade Association said the rule undermines marketing efforts by the organic dairy industry, but “it provides a boon to Monsanto Co., the sole manufacturer and marketer of rbST.”

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