Category: News

Lots of grain trucks on the road this morning. Don’t know about tonight, it was dark. A nice rain in southwest and central Ohio Tuesday, perfect for the AGR landscape and new lawn. Saw one tractor working in the fields this morning, it was doing ground prep in Brother Allan Collett’s bean stubble.

Still some action happening on Iuka this week. The pipe chase for the exhaust system for the kitchen stove had to be extended higher above the roof line. The brick and block work was finished Monday and today the roofers were working to close off and finish where the roof over the rear entry was disturbed with the extension. The contractor finished the interior installation for the kitchen exhaust hood today, they had the area looking like a disaster. Parts and tools everywhere. Tomorrow they will be working on the exterior portion of the exhaust system. When you visit the house, look behind the fence by the back door and you won’t believe what you see. Code.

Now the kitchen can be cleaned up to bring in some of the kitchen equipment that was delivered today courtesy of Bill Hirzel and family.

Monday Nathan Louiso delivered a planter Gary Thornton built for the back entry. Tuesday Jim Rees helped Gary deliver two more planters, one more to go. Today Gary picked up some more landscape plants from Bill Studebaker, these will go into the planters. Bill Tom is bringing some soil on Friday to fill the planters. We got two new benches for the front walk from Rick Doesburg and installed them today.

The internet provider ran their wires up to the house today and the guys installing the wireless internet should be finished tomorrow. A door closer was added to our front door so we no longer have to slam it to get it to close tight. The proper locks on the two basement doors and the women’s rest room were installed this week. The two area rugs for the living room were delivered today. Tomorrow the G C will have someone doing some odds and ends touch up in preparation for Saturday.  Everything will not be finished by Saturday, lots of touch up still to do. A number of new dry wall cuts have been made and will need to be filled soon. They will not be doing anything the makes dust on Friday.

Our collegiate members have been busy this week. They are doing their part in preparation for our open house and ribbon cutting on Saturday. As they work around their class schedules it seem that someone is always involved in some project inside or outside.

Saturday should be a great day!

Bill

Here are a few tips for successful soil testing:

From Jason Greve Shelby County Agronomist.

1. Standardize your testing. OSU extension recommends pulling soil tests a minimum of every three to four years in either the spring or fall. Be consistent with your season to gather the most accurate results.
2. When reading your soil test, know what unit the lab is reporting in. If you need to convert units, double parts per million to convert to pounds per acre.
3. Work to maintain sufficient nutrient ranges for maximum yield. Refer to the Tri-State Recommendations for ranges that are appropriate for your soil type.
4. Ideal sampling depth is 6 – 8 inches. Most of the nutrients are in the top 2 – 3 inches, so when you only sample the top soil, your results will be skewed and won’t represent true nutrient levels.
5. Scrape off any residue before you take your sample. You only want to send soil to the lab.

The time and financial investment in soil testing can appear to be a hassle, but in the end it is important to know where additional nutrients are or are not needed. This is a key part of Ohio farmers’ goal of achieving maximum yields with minimum risk of nutrient runoff.  More at www.ohiowaterquality.org