KEVIN YOUNG, DIRECTOR
60822 Creek Road
Niles, MI 49120
269-684-3870
kevin60822@sbcglobal.net
JULY/AUGUST 2019 GRANGE NEWS
Wow July!? Where did the first 6 months of 2019 go to? It sure doesn’t feel like July weather though. Too cool and wet during June so who knows what July will bring! With this weird weather means our garden isn’t growing very well. Everything is behind where it should be at this point even though we didn’t get it planted until Memorial Day. We have yet to plant out potatoes and at this point we are not doing the 5 gallon bucket method. Instead we are doing the Ruth Stout Method of gardening on them. This method will require basically very little watering and no weeding when done correctly. It is a system where you are “composting” the materials back into the soils during the winter months including the plants/vines from the growing season! No more need to use the rototiller. I hope this works well! Google Ruth Stout method of gardening. There are videos and everything on the internet on this form of gardening plus others as well.
Wow July!? Where did the first 6 months of 2019 go to? It sure doesn’t feel like July weather though. Too cool and wet during June so who knows what July will bring! With this weird weather means our garden isn’t growing very well. Everything is behind where it should be at this point even though we didn’t get it planted until Memorial Day. We have yet to plant out potatoes and at this point we are not doing the 5 gallon bucket method. Instead we are doing the Ruth Stout Method of gardening on them. This method will require basically very little watering and no weeding when done correctly. It is a system where you are “composting” the materials back into the soils during the winter months including the plants/vines from the growing season! No more need to use the rototiller. I hope this works well! Google Ruth Stout method of gardening. There are videos and everything on the internet on this form of gardening plus others as well.
We are a few short months now from our 2019 State Session that is being held at the Lenawee County Fairgrounds in Adrian this year. Remember the dates have been change for this year to the week after our normal set dates.
Fair season is here with the start of the month of July. Lots of hard work by the youth all over our State of Michigan will be on display when your local County Fair is going on. Please take some time to attend your County Fair to show support of our Youth. They are the future of our State and Country and we need to encourage them to do the best they can. The pigs and goats are just about on schedule here for weight gain for our County fair. They let me know every day that they see me and want their dinner! LOL I love having them around and will miss the noises they make but will enjoy fewer chores I will have at the end of August.
Fair season is here with the start of the month of July. Lots of hard work by the youth all over our State of Michigan will be on display when your local County Fair is going on. Please take some time to attend your County Fair to show support of our Youth. They are the future of our State and Country and we need to encourage them to do the best they can. The pigs and goats are just about on schedule here for weight gain for our County fair. They let me know every day that they see me and want their dinner! LOL I love having them around and will miss the noises they make but will enjoy fewer chores I will have at the end of August.
Here is hoping your gardens are growing or will be and that your harvest is bountiful. Until the next MGN….
AGRICULTURE
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 GRANGE NEWS
Wow! August is almost over and another County Fair season is in the books for my area. I am sitting here after finishing up a very busy week (August 20th) at the Berrien County Youth Fair both as a volunteer and a very proud Uncle! We started out with loading the 4 market pigs in less than 15 minutes! The kids washed the pigs in the trailer and then my oldest nephew gave each pig a haircut. The pigs looked very good and all made weight on Sunday morning during weigh in at the fair. The market goats and breeding stock all made it to the fair in good condition as well. The proud Uncle was so happy with how the kids did this year with their goats. They did very well with showmanship and then came the really proud moment when 1 of the kids were in the champion drive for Grand Champion Dairy Market Goat, which my nephew was the winner 2 years in a row with his goat that we raised in my back yard! That makes 3 years in a row as my niece won two years ago! Willow was a doe and is happily living at home with our good friend Jessica who raises registered Nubian Dairy goats. The pigs looked really well but the judge wasn’t looking for what we had in the type of pigs. With the fair week past us, that means my chores will slow way down as I do not have goats and pigs to care for any longer. They will surely be missed for the next few weeks, but I do have chores to do yet. Our small flock of 17 chickens and one guinea hen are stilling doing well. They enjoy all of the things from the garden that have been there a little too long. Like zucchini that are the size of baseball bats or tomatoes that the bugs started to eat on. They expect “goodies” every time I go out to the coop!
Wow! August is almost over and another County Fair season is in the books for my area. I am sitting here after finishing up a very busy week (August 20th) at the Berrien County Youth Fair both as a volunteer and a very proud Uncle! We started out with loading the 4 market pigs in less than 15 minutes! The kids washed the pigs in the trailer and then my oldest nephew gave each pig a haircut. The pigs looked very good and all made weight on Sunday morning during weigh in at the fair. The market goats and breeding stock all made it to the fair in good condition as well. The proud Uncle was so happy with how the kids did this year with their goats. They did very well with showmanship and then came the really proud moment when 1 of the kids were in the champion drive for Grand Champion Dairy Market Goat, which my nephew was the winner 2 years in a row with his goat that we raised in my back yard! That makes 3 years in a row as my niece won two years ago! Willow was a doe and is happily living at home with our good friend Jessica who raises registered Nubian Dairy goats. The pigs looked really well but the judge wasn’t looking for what we had in the type of pigs. With the fair week past us, that means my chores will slow way down as I do not have goats and pigs to care for any longer. They will surely be missed for the next few weeks, but I do have chores to do yet. Our small flock of 17 chickens and one guinea hen are stilling doing well. They enjoy all of the things from the garden that have been there a little too long. Like zucchini that are the size of baseball bats or tomatoes that the bugs started to eat on. They expect “goodies” every time I go out to the coop!
The garden hasn’t done well this summer for some reason. The zucchini produced okay this year but all came on a the same time. The tomato plants are behind so we are just starting to see fruit turning color. The butternut squash had struggled this year to grow and I am not sure how well they will turn out for State Grange. We did get potatoes planted even if it was not until June! But they are growing well with the method of planting we did. I believe it was the last article I mentioned about the Ruth Stout method of gardening. I hope everyone that has planted items for the Agriculture Department classes are doing well too!
As we move in to the harvest season, please keep in mind that we will once again be sharing the roads with very large sized farm equipment. I know we are all in a hurry to get where we are going but we need to keep in mind that those big pieces of equipment help to put food on our families’ tables.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the Michigan State Grange Convention that is being held in late October at the Lenawee County Fairgrounds. I know our host region has been working hard to make this convention very nice. Keep in mind that State Session is still on a shortened schedule so check the MGN and the website for the proposed schedule.
Ya’ll come now, ya hear!!!
See you at State Session!!
