If you thought FFA membership was declining due to fewer farms and a lack of support for ag programs at high schools around the state, you would be wrong on both counts. According to Jeff Hicken, state FFA adviser with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, membership hit a 29-year high this year in Wisconsin with 19,000 FFA members. And if you were anywhere near the Alliant Energy Center in Madison June 10-13, you may have noticed a sea of blue and gold jackets. That's…

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I just finished signing up for health insurance through my employer. It's a task that I dread every year for a variety of reasons. One, I hate the paperwork involved. This year was worse than most because we had to sign up on the computer and it took much longer to complete than previous years. And two, I have to decide what level of coverage I want for my family and which level of risk I'm willing to assume – do I want to pay more and have better coverage or am I willing…

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I've loved flowers since I can remember. While cut flowers are nice, I admit I get more enjoyment out of watching flowers bloom and grow in a flower bed or flower garden. I'm no expert at flower gardening -- I am learning as I go. In my flower beds, located on the south and east sides of our house, I grow my favorite perennial flowers and plants -- roses, irises, tulips, daffodils, jonquils, peonies, purple cone flowers, black-eyed Susans, mouse-eared coreopsis, hydrangeas, tiger…

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As farmers worked hard to plant corn the middle of May, Congress was able to show some significant progress on the 2013 Farm Bill. On May 14, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved a five-year Farm Bill. The bill would eliminate $5 billion in direct farm payments to farmers. The Senate bill calls for a total of roughly $2.4 billion a year in cuts, while a House version passed May 15 would save $4 billion annually. The Senate Farm Bill: •Eliminates direct payments. Farmers…

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Now that alfalfa is finally beginning to green up after the winter that would not end, many farmers across Wisconsin are discovering that their alfalfa winterkilled or is suffering significant winter injury. Dr. Dan Undersander, University of Wisconsin Extension forage agronomist, says he has been getting reports that damage varies from low spots only in fields to major portions of alfalfa fields. Short of plowing up all of your alfalfa fields and starting over, what can be…

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I confess there was a time when I drank two, sometimes three cans of Diet Coke per day. In fact, I was addicted to Diet Coke. I could tell because if I went a day without drinking any Diet Coke I would wake up the next morning with a pounding headache. The cure? You guessed it – another Diet Coke. This addiction to Diet Coke went on for 23 years! Finally, in 2005 I managed to kick the habit. Fortunately for me, Diet Coke wasn't the only thing I drank. I have always been a…

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Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for. That is certainly true when it comes to our weather. Last summer, nearly everybody was praying for rain in June and July in the southern half of the state and there was little rain to be had until the end of July. Showers were widely scattered throughout August and much of the state grew dry again during September and the first half of October. After a snowy, cold winter, spring has been much colder than normal and extremely wet…

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  The week of April 15-19 is Tornado Awareness Week in Wisconsin and with any luck, the crazy weather we have been experiencing lately in Wisconsin will help increase residents' awareness and preparedness for tornadoes and even more dangerous weather. A freak ice storm hit east central Wisconsin overnight on April 10 knocking down countless trees and power lines, damaging homes and farm buildings and cutting electricity to thousands of homes, farms and businesses…

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A year ago, we were basking in 80-degree temperatures in Wisconsin on the first day of spring – double the normal high temperature of 40. On the first day of spring this year, we were greeted with a low temperature of 5 degrees in east central Wisconsin and the high temperature barely made it above 20 degrees – half the normal high for the first day of spring and 60 degrees below what we had in 2012. Only in Wisconsin could you have temperature swings that great from one year to…

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I find the arrival of seed catalogs a welcome sight in what is normally a mailbox full of junk mail, magazines and bills. Like most gardeners, as I turn the pages and look at the colorful and perfect fruit in the catalogs, I find myself inspired each spring to plant "the perfect garden." But unlike most gardeners, I don't plant a garden grown exclusively from seeds. Oh sure, I buy seeds for carrots, beets, lettuce, radishes, green beans, yellow beans and peas. But we plant…

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