Opinion
Fresh from the Hen House
I told my son that his second-year bucket calf, Dodge, would be going to the feed lot that night after the premium auction, not the next morning as we discussed.
On the Extension Line:How to Pick a Ripe Melon
Telling when a melon is ready to be harvested can be a challenge, or it may be quite easy. It all depends on the type of melon. Let’s start with the easy one. Muskmelons are one of those crops that tell you when they are ready to be picked. This can help you not only harvest melons at the correct time but also choose good melons when shopping. As a melon ripens, a layer of cells around the stem softens so the melon detaches easily from the vine. This is called “slipping” and will leave a dish-shaped scar at the point of stem attachment. When harvesting melons, put a little pressure where the vine attaches to the fruit. If ripe, it will release or “slip.”
The most American month
Germany is efficient. France is flirtatious. Canada apologizes for being in your way, even though I don’t know anyone on their way to the North Pole other than Will Steiger. But America? If you want to understand America, skip the textbooks or history lessons. At a distance, just observe the month of July.
Fresh from the Hen House
Sewing has been done, not without some seam ripping. Photos have been taken, gone through, and mounted. Wood crafts have been cut, sanded, and perfected to the standards of a child. Cutting boards have been planned and created through cutting and gluing. Robots have been made and tested. Flour has been milled to test recipe after recipe. Artwork has come alive on canvas. Vegetables have been planted and cared for in hopes of having produce in time. Chickens have been handled and preened. The bunny has been groomed and posed. Goats have been led and braced. Steers have been trained and fattened. Bottle after bottle of raw milk has been fed to the growing and ornery bucket calf. Halters have been fitted. Practice shows have gone on in the yard. Clothes have been ironed and modeled.
On the Extension Line: Tomato Cracking
Tomatoes often have problems with cracking caused by pressure inside the fruit that is more than the skin can handle. Cracks are usually on the upper part of the fruit and can be concentric (in concentric circles around the stem) or radial (radiating from the stem). We don’t know everything about cracking but here is what we do know.
On the Extension Line: Brown County Fair
Be sure to check out the Brown County Free Fair in Horton, KS on July 12-18. A schedule of events can be found on our website: http://www.brown.k-state.edu/ along with this year’s Fairbook. You can also follow along on Brown Co 4-H and Brown County Kansas Fair Facebook page for results and pictures. This year’s fair theme is Blue Jeans & Country Dreams.
Snapshots of history
Included are some photos submitted by Greg Newlin, who is a guest columnist for the Hiawatha World.
Railroad history west of the Mississippi River
In 1853, it originally was planned that Iowa’s first railroad the Mississippi & Missouri would connect Davenport with Council Bluffs, this railroad went bankrupt before getting even halfway across the state. Organized on June 6, 1859, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad first officially used its title in 1861. The parent of the organization, the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad incorporated in 1836 was the first railroad West of Chicago reaching the Mississippi River. Eliminating Galena and adding Northwestern, the G. & C. became the Chicago & Northwestern on June 2, 1864 and the firm grew through constructions, purchases and mergers to service nine Midwestern states. In 1869, the company assisted in the completion of the first transcontinental railroad carrying construction materials to Council Bluffs and the Union Pacific on January 17, 1867. Prior to this and in 1862, when the Union Pacific Railroad track laying crews headed West from Omaha there was no railroad connecting to it from the East. After the Chicago & Northwestern Railway reached Council Bluffs, and until a bridge was built the railroad for awhile in the bitterly cold winter months tried running freight trains between Omaha and Council Bluffs over the frozen Missouri River. In the warmer months, the Union Pacific Transfer Company maintained a ferry service from 1866 to 1872. Under the direction of Civil War engineer Greenville Dodge and at a cost of 1.75 million dollars, the railroad employed 500 men over three years to build a bridge to cross the Missouri River. To place the piers for this bridge, iron columns were sunk into the water and air pressure was used to displace the water in the column, at which point men entered the column with picks and shovels to sink the column as much as 17 feet per day. The deepest the men worked was 82 feet below the surface of the water, during which time they were exposed to air pressure that was 54 pounds per square inch. The columns were then filled with rock and concrete to form a base for the masonry piers above the water line.
Gone Fishin’
He began with frogging. Then jigging. By noon, he said, he’d be hula popping. I kept nodding, as though these were natural things for a man to say while I was drinking my first cup of coffee. Or ever.