I didn't get a Mother's Day picture with the kids this year.   I went through some archived pictures to find something to use. I wanted Dave to take a picture of the kids and me on the front porch of our house because I know it will be the last Mother's Day at this house.  Maybe we can take that picture when all my flowers are actually in the flower pots on the front porch??

But, I came back to this picture. We aren't wearing our Sunday clothes but the kids look cute, Ryan isn't wearing his tie, and Mason is  not wearing his "church pants".  It's out of focus and I really debated using this, but it doesn't have to be in focus.  Our life is not at a stand-still at all.  Very busy and on the go.  In this picture we are standing were our new front porch will be and to me that brings me hope that things are finally moving forward for us. 

I am very thankful for my kids, and the joy and stress they bring to my life.  Much Love!!

 

What are USDA Crop Reports?
The Crop Progress reports are weekly reports, ran April through November. They contain the progress of planting, growing and harvesting and crop conditions of various crops during that growing time frame.

Why are USDA Crop Reports important?
Provide information for projecting crop yields. Gives explanation on crop development and conditions.

Where does the USDA get their information?
There is an estimated 4,000 reports every week, on every Sunday.  The report comes out Monday afternoon.  It would seem simple for farmers to volunteer their information to the government.  Some willing, some not so willing, therefore the information would not be consistent. 


What do these weekly reports impact?
The reports impact the CME markets and results in price fluctuations. Before the report is released, many private analysts share their own projections.  This leads to many perceptions before the report is out, and sometimes the market will respond before the report is released. July is a very important month.  This month is very important growing time for corn and soybeans.  The old wives tale, "knee high by the fourth of July" does not apply.  Corn plant is more advanced at this stage, and looking and silking and pollination stages.  Soybeans filling pods, so weather, temperature and precipitation is very important. If weather is a big issue, the market will react, either from fear of the unknown or the confidence that a good or bumper crop was going to be harvested.

Is their information consistent? 
Crop Progress reports follows the stages of progress and growth of crops.  The crop conditions could include the effect of crop quality and the different stage of developments as well.  

I have always joked about my husband.  If it walks or flies, he hunts it.  I sometimes label myself "hunter's widow".  Jokingly.  Reallly.

It wasn't long after I met him I was introduced to his hobbies.  For my birthday, three months after we met, he bought me a fishing pole.  It was just what I wanted.

Sometimes I struggled with his hobbies.  I decided I needed one.  It was called shopping and crafting.

Three kids later, I am lucky to shop or even step foot in my craft room at the end of the day.

I haven't actually gone turkey hunting. I have scouted for turkeys, stopped in the middle of the road to look at turkeys, looked at them through binoculars, but getting up really early is not for me.

In Indiana, turkey season opens on April 22nd.  I marked this in my planner. In other words, it means, my husband will be hunting that weekend (if he is not working), and don't make any family plans.  Shopping anyone? Oh, I just opened my planner and Macie's first softball game is Saturday.  We will have to hold off shopping plans!



One thing my husband enjoys is sharing his love of hunting with our kids.  Ryan enjoys getting up early to go hunting with his dad.  Macie would rather stay home.  Ryan has joined his dad for turkey hunting for a few years.  I am not really sure how that all works out, and how long Ryan can actually go without talking. 


I thought I would sit down with Ryan, age 7,  and talk to him about his hunting experiences with his dad:

What is your favorite part about hunting? I like scouting.

What is your favorite animal to hunt? That is hard, because I like duck, deer, turkey and squirrel hunting.

Do you have a hunting story to share? I remember a duck hunt at the Wilough Slough.  We were close to limiting that day at the Lake Seven blind. We hunted six wood ducks, one gadwall, shoveler, and one hen and one drake mallard.

Why does your dad take you hunting?  To show me how to hunt, so I can pass that on to my kids.

What is the hardest hunt, where you need to be the quietest? Deer hunting

Did you ever get to take a friend hunting? I have hunted with Tanner, Kyle and Logan.  Their dads like to hunt with my dad.  It is fun because we hunt from the same blind and watch our dads hunt.

What is something you need to practice to be a better hunter?  I need to work on my shooting skills. I also need to work on calling in ducks.

These numbers made the corn and bean market  decline when it was released midday. Corn came in at 89.2 million acres.  Corn acres look to be higher in the south and Texas.

Soybeans came in at 84.6 million acres.  This is a new record high for soybean acres, but still below most estimates. 

Corn Stocks came in 7.745 billion bushels, 136 million bushels higher than the average guess, and over 736 million bushels more than a year ago. Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois are the the state holding most of the corn, and that is not surprising since they sit right in the middle of the corn belt. April Supply and Demand Report might show more ending stocks, depending on the feed usage.

Bean Stocks came in at 1.333 billion bushels, 12 million bushels lower the the average guess, and 340 million bushels more than a year ago.  Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio still has the majority of bushels on hand.

Wheat usage and stocks had no surprises, no record highs or lows.

What does this report mean? In my opinion, we are looking at another big crop year.  We are far from it being harvested, and many factors can change the game at any time.  Traders will keep an eye out on the weather this spring, of course.  Planting in the south and Texas is currently being delayed with rains moving in, but they are not wide spread. They will also watch corn stocks closely, and the bushels being distributed. If farmers hold on to their bushels going into summer, they might see a very supportive basis level, but they might also see the basis level go the other way very quickly.  

USDA reports are not always easy to decipher.  But understand the timing of the report and how it might affect the grain markets is important for your operation and marketing plan.

Happy Spring. Spring break begins. Can you imagine the kids counting down the final hours of school today?

The beginning of a new season means many things to us.  Dave and both sides of our families will be in the field soon. Long hours and lots of packed meals!

Kids will start baseball and softball practice after spring break. Many miles are put on my truck this time of year. 

Ground breaking for the house will be happening soon. 

Many changes for our family, working on our forever home. Lots of decisions to make!

Hope you have a blessed spring!

When I think of March, I think of GREEN.  Green grass, St. Patrick's day, and first day of spring!  We woke up on the first day of March, and were welcomed with snow.  Six inches of snow!

Dave and I were on our way home from my company dinner in Indy, knew the kids really wanted to go sledding, but didn't pack their snow suits to stay at Meme and Papa's! I thought we had things under control preparing for a crazy weekend. We left the house early Saturday morning, went to the kids last basketball game, and everyone was packed for the weekend.  I had things under control, right?!? Until I turned my camera on to take pictures at their last game and realized the battery to the camera is dead.

If it is on the internet, then it is real, the truth, the law. Right? Just Google it! The answer is there.

I am curious where you go for your grain marketing advice online and do you go to those sites everyday? Agriculture web sites are more coveted, factual, and local.

The most up-to-date site is the CME Group. Quotes are delayed by 10 minutes, but you can view all commodities on this site. Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, New York Mercantile Exchange, and Commodity Exchange are all rolled into this web site, including news, charts, history.

U.S. Department of Agriculture  features may agency topics and reports. It features employee services, drought, climate solutions, farm bill, food safety,  housing assistance, trade, and travel and recreation.

 Agri-Talk is a great website to go for daily news updates from a very popular farm broadcaster, Mike Adams. I met Mike when I was a farm broadcaster with WDZ in Decatur. Mike was working in Jacksonville, IL.   He has live streams on his web site daily.

AgWeb is a website from Farm Journal company.  I go to this web site every day for market information. News, Markets, Weather, Crops, Machinery news is all streamlined on this web site.

Agriculture.com is another streamlined web site, with lots of information, backed by the Successful Farming company. 

These are the top five web sites I use on a daily basis.  Please share with me the sites you use!

We had a great family day last weekend.  Stayed home all day Saturday, and if you know us, you know that is very unusual.


We had a few new kitchen toys from Christmas to try out. The Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker.  There are so many different recipes I want to try.  I wanted to go all out with a Chocolate Peanut Butter recipe. We started out with vanilla.  It was delicious, and so creamy.  This did not last long! It was fun to make, and everyone helped. Kids thought it was fun to see the ice cream grow in the mixer! See a problem with this picture? One beater and three kids :)


So when we were making the ice cream, Dave asked what are we going to do with the 8 egg whites that we had leftover from the ice cream recipe.  I found an Angel Food Cupcake recipe online.  It seemed easier than making an angel food cake.  You can find the recipe here. I didn't have cake flour, so I am sure the cupcakes would have came out of the oven a little taller. She also suggested not using paper cupcake linings and spraying the pan very well.  I was nervous, but they came out just fine!



When we discussed what we would make with the left over egg whites, we talked about how Dave's grandma Lois Kellner would always make her angel food cakes from scratch. (Then we knew noodles were coming soon afterwards.)  Grandma Lois always used her caramel frosting (not icing) recipe. She made it very runny, so it went over the cake easily and didn't weigh it down.  It's all delicious, and brought back great memories of her special baking.


Grandma Lois' Caramel Frosting

2 tsp.       Margarine (or butter) 
2/3 cup    Brown Sugar
1/3 cup    Evaporated Milk
pinch salt

Bring to a boil, constantly stirring. Remove pan from heat, add  1 tsp vanilla. 
Stir in enough powdered sugar to make spreadable. Immediately pour over cupcakes

PRINT RECIPE HERE

Grandma Lois, we know you always put the extra frosting on saltine crackers, but we licked the pan clean. It was delicious!