Stoic Seeds
Finding Peace When the Weather Won't Cooperate
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Clouds, fog, and moisture invaded the area this week, putting a damper on a wheat harvest that is turning much later than many expected.
It’s getting especially late for those who raise seed and cannot kill our uneven crops with glyphosate. A true test of patience is underway.
For the second year in a row, most of our wheat will be harvested in September.
The rains weren’t all bad, however. Sugar beets, corn, and soybeans that haven’t begun drying down will all enjoy the August drizzles.
The harvest delay also offered John and I a chance to head down to Sam’s Club to stock up the pantry we call “diabetes corner” with plenty of eats and treats to keep our blood-sugar levels where God intended them to be.
The trip went well, though I thought I might be fired for a moment when I failed to put the soft-batch Lucky Charms cookies in the cart.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and I am still employed.
We hit the links when the wheat was 20.5% on Thursday afternoon. I don’t remember many years when we could golf in late August, but here we are, making the best of watching the wheat ripen slower than a coat of paint dries on a damp wall.
As I wrote this on Friday morning, sunshine and a breeze graced the valley.
Perhaps this weekend, we will finally get some grain in the bin.
Cyst Nematode Update
Last week, we dove into Soybean Cyst Nematodes and how to test for them. If you’d like to go back and check that out, you can find it using the link below:
Soybean Cyst Nematodes, The Wheels of Change, and The Bugs Are Back in Town
This installment of Farming Full-time is free for everyone. I send this email weekly. If you would like to receive it, join the others who love it by clicking the subscribe link below: Are you checking any of your soybean fields for Soybean Cyst Nema…
Three of the nine fields we sent dirt samples in to be tested for cyst nematodes came back positive, with populations ranging from 150-550.
Those populations aren’t excessive, but they do require more planning and attention in the future when selecting our soybean varieties.
One point to note is that the tests performed were in tiny areas of fields that I cherry-picked while driving by. Likely, the populations swing wildly from one spot to the next. We will continue to test yearly in different spots of the fields to assess the bigger picture.
The main thing to take away is that Soybean Cyst Nematode is present in the Northern Red River Valley. We’re not looking at another one of those “down south” pests.
Testing your fields now will give you peace of mind and the knowledge to select the proper soybean varieties for your ground in future years.
If you need help getting started, contact your agronomist or email me at adamkuznia@riopellesco.us. I'm always happy to help and geek out on SCN with anyone interested.
What Keeps You Going?
Some people find solace in a bottle of gin.
Others distract themselves by collecting rare bobbleheads of The Traveling Wilburys, Walter Cronkite, and Richard Nixon.
Many likely go home and scream Hank Williams lyrics into their favorite screaming pillow.
No matter your outlet of choice, it would be best if you had something to manage the stress to keep yourself from getting attached to things you cannot control.
As frustrating as it is, we don’t get to choose when that sun comes out, when the good lord dumps seven inches of rain on us, or when the IRS thumps the door holding a Thermos and a calculator, demanding answers.
We have droughts, and we have floods. Pests show up to destroy our crops. Grain markets tank from time to time.
Shit happens.
We are not in charge of any of it. But there is one thing we can always control: how we respond to whatever shit gets flung at us.
I discovered Ryan Holiday a few years ago when I was addicted to TikTok, mainlining the app with every chance I got.
Though I’m not proud of it, pissing two daily TikTok hours down my leg had its benefits, the more significant being learning about stoicism and applying it to my life.
Stoicism can be helpful in every profession or area of life, but not many are more suitable than agriculture. I don’t know many occupations where so many events, forces, and things will happen regardless of our thoughts.
When I was a younger man with nicotine-stained fingers, waiting for fair weather or a shot of rain would drive me up the ditchbank. I’d piss and moan and whine to anybody who would listen.
It’s no surprise not many hung around very long. This taught me that keeping my feelings and opinions to myself was best, but it created a lot of turmoil within me.
Some people rip on the stoics for teaching people to suppress their emotions. This fundamental misunderstanding of stoicism gives the school of thought a bad rap.
Nowhere is this misunderstanding more prevalent than in farming.
As farmers, we’re brought up to be chock-full of grit. Our dad’s fathers raised them to be tough, so it’s natural for them to tell us to get up and quit whining when we fall off our bikes and our knees are falling off.
When we’re older and worried about bills and rain or the watershed district, we’re expected to be the strong and silent type.
Instead of discussing and working through our emotions, we stuff them down. We wear an impenetrable armor and do our best to handle it ourselves.
To cope, we reach for a drink or buy another piece of machinery to distract ourselves from the discomfort.
Suppressing our emotions like this is not stoicism. It is madness.
The deeper we stuff the emotion, the more pressure builds. Without a healthy outlet, something is bound to blow.
The lack of an outlet and the misconception that we must be tough no matter what we’re going through make the suicide rate among farmers much higher than any other occupation in America.
We’re not meant to carry this heavy load all the time. We’re not built for it.
Being a stoic isn’t about standing tall and tough. It’s about accepting the things we can’t change or control, facing and working through them, and moving forward.
Stoicism is simply the art of not getting attached to these things that get in our way. It’s not letting the crap in our lives define how we act or what we are.
It's healthy and necessary to express emotions. Following this prescription helped me sleep better and get out of my head.
Stoicism has transformed my life, and I believe it can do the same for anyone, no matter how tough or gritty.
So go ahead, cuss and swear for a minute if it makes you feel better.
Scream into that pillow.
Bobble those bobbleheads.
Don’t carry it around with you all day.
Don’t let it define who you are.
That’s how a real stoic operates.