Miranda Neville, Agricultural Resource Specialist, BCCD
If you live in Rural America, you’ve probably heard the expression “Knee High by the Fourth of July” in reference to a growing corn crop. On a weekend when social media is flooded by photos and videos of firework displays, farmers are more commonly sharing images of them standing in corn fields to show off their crops to gain bragging rights over neighboring farmers. The origin of this phrase was in a time that this was a benchmark to gauge a successful yield. Corn is typically planted in April or May for a mid-Fall harvest. This year’s wet conditions aside, (in the northeast US) farming advancements and technology allow for corn to be much higher than knee high by the fourth. Shorter growing day corn is a beneficial advancement for those of us with shorter growing seasons. Keeping in mind how much farming practices have evolved, here are a few facts to keep in mind reflecting on how we celebrate this year’s Independence Day.

Glenn Bell, Ag Conservation Technician, BCCD
​Tilling is the process of churning up the top layer of soil, typically with a plow or disc, to prepare the land for the planting of a crop.  This is done to aerate the soil profile, control weeds and to make a nice fluffy seedbed.  This may sound great, but conventional tillage does have its downsides when considering soil health.  Typical plowing and discing disrupts the top 8”-10” of soil, and in the process destroys soil structure and millions of beneficial organisms.  Once the soil has been tilled and most life destroyed within it, there is nothing to hold it together.  This exposed soil is now highly erodible leading to topsoil, nutrient, and money being washed downstream.

Lacy Powers, Conservation Technician, BCCD
After a long winter, it is finally time to come out of our homes and start enjoying nature to its fullest again.  People enjoy the outdoors in many ways, to include hiking, bird watching, planting, and gathering around natural and man-made waterbodies.  With the large amount of pond and wetland areas we have in our county, most of these activities can be done right in our backyards.  These areas give us the ability to connect with nature without having to travel to enjoy all it has to offer.

Kevin Brown, Ag Resource Specialist, BCCD
We are obsessed with things looking neat and tidy.  We want that golf course look.  Why?  I have said before that the only creatures on earth that want things looking that way are human beings.  Period.  Every other creature wants to have cover and food and prey to eat and the list goes on.  Where do they find that?  Not in well-manicured lawns.
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We can’t even get people to look at pollinator areas because they look “bad”.  Really?  Once established, they look fantastic.  Ever go out in the middle of a goldenrod field in the fall and just stand there and soak it in?  Wow.  Bees and pollinators everywhere.  Stand under an apple or cherry tree in the spring and watch them work.  It sounds like the tree is going to “take off”.  We have all these theories about why populations of things are struggling.  Bee numbers are low.  Bats, Monarch Butterflies, lightning bugs, insects in general, and the list goes on.  We love to blame things that we don’t do.  It must be pesticides people are using.  It is because there isn’t enough milkweed around.  It’s because ….   Do you ever think it just might be us?  All these creatures need a place to live, to forage and feed, to be protected, and we do our best to take all that away. 

Kevin Brown, Ag Resource Specialist, BCCD
This is not to be confused with a “creeper” named Charlie.  Creeping Charlie, or the official name “ground ivy”, seems to really be getting a foothold on the local area.  Have you seen it?  Do you know what it looks like?  It is a small purple flower with wide, scalloped leaves on it.  It will grow into a carpet and completely push out all other vegetation where it grows.  It has taken over parts of my lawn, and some of my garden, and just continues to spread.  I had a brother-in-law ask me about it the other day.  He and his son mow lawns as a business, and they were also seeing it everywhere.  He wondered what it was, and then (of course) how to get rid of it.  The first question had an easy answer- ground ivy.  The second question was a bit more difficult to answer, and I needed to do some research.  

​(A reprint from spring 2023 with some really good information.  I know with the weather we have been having, it is really bothering people that they can’t get that manicured lawn look.  Maybe it shouldn’t.)
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As we enter a stretch of warmer weather, one thing is on a lot of people’s minds. Mowing the lawn. I know that I’ve been thinking about it too, as parts of my yard get taller and taller while others stay relatively short. While it may be tempting to get out there and mow on the first day that the temps reach 70 degrees, I’d like to provide you with some information and hope that you consider waiting before firing up the mower early this year. 

Cathy Yeakel, BCCD, District manager
Get Ready to Welcome Spring!
Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, as an environmental awareness day to educate people about pollution and its effects on the environment. Founded by a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day became a global movement to protect our environment. Since 1970, celebrations have changed from awareness lectures to outdoor events offering education on our natural resource issues and demonstrations.

Miranda Neville, Agricultural Resource Specialist, BCCD
What are the first signs of Spring that you notice? For some that’s seeing Robins bouncing around their yards or buds sprouting on trees, but for me it’s seeing tractors in the fields. Despite the multiple rounds of false-spring weather we’ve had, I saw the first few tilled fields while out driving through the county yesterday. An important reminder is that with those tilled fields, tractors and farming implements are not too far away. It’s also that time of year to be extra cautious on the roads, especially if you live in more rural areas. Farmers and their equipment are gearing up to spread manure and fertilizer, spring tillage (of all varieties) and plant their crop fields so here are a few important reminders for everyone traveling the roads; know your surroundings, patience is key, pass with caution.

Kevin Brown, BCCD, Ag Resource Specialist
Sayings, I am full of them.  Just ask my counterparts.  We even play games about what one I will say next.  There are a hundred of them, and they all have some merit to them.  This is why they exist.  This one definitely has some validity to it (I believe).   We will always have those “early adapters”.  You know the ones.  They have to be first to try everything.  Now, I am not opposed to someone being that way.  We need them.  We need to know how things will work, and this is the way to get that information.  It is not me personally, but it is the way some people operate.  And, if you can afford the risk, and you are willing to take it, thanks.  Thanks for helping the rest of us understand the pros and cons to whatever the next “thing” is.
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Kevin Brown, BCCD, Ag Resource Specialist
We knew this day would come.  Technology is just amazing if we think about it.  Some of the things that we can do, at the blink of an eye, are just incredible- make a call from about anywhere, watch an informational video to fix something almost anywhere, get directions to anywhere, and the list goes on.  I had an acquaintance tell me a year or so ago that he had put up a small lean-to on the side of one of his buildings.  Two weeks later, guess who shows up?  The county assessor.  They needed to update the assessment on his property because of the new addition.  Now, this guy lives on a dead-end dirt road/driveway, and that driveway comes off of a very seldom-used back road that just doesn’t ever really need to be traveled unless you live there.  My point?  He lives in the middle of nowhere.  How did they find that lean-to so fast?  Modern technology.