Roger Wayne Wolfe, from Baltimore, passed away last week at the age 77. He loved farming, his family and sharing his passion for the soil. He was a neighbor, a friend and mentor to me. If Hugh Hammond Bennett (1881-1913) is the Father of Soil Conservation and Louis Bromfield (1896-1956) is Conservation’s Prophet on Mt. Jeez, then Roger Wolfe (1936 -2013) is Fairfield County’s Farmland Evangelist on the Mounds. And what a conversation those three are likely having…

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A list, because: 1. It's the last full week of school. Which means we're running to town every day for class plays, assemblies, lunches, baseball, carnivals, and more. Actual school work is rapidly winding down. We're staying out too late in the evenings because it's nice and we don't want to come inside, which is fine and dandy except for the school bedtimes. The kids are so done. And so are we. But still, we have two more days this week, one full day next week…

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If you own cattle in Michigan, two of the worst words to hear are TB-positive. In March, bovine TB was discovered in a 100-plus head Saginaw dairy farm. Lesions, which are indicative of the infection, were discovered at slaughter. Any farm that's designed TB-positive is a concern, but it becomes extraordinary when it's outside of what's considered the TB core area of northeast Lower Michigan. Unfortunately, the bad news doesn't end there. On May 3, the Michigan Department…

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There have been 48 long hours now to try to grasp the magnitude of what happened to Moore, Okla. Just 24 hours before a massive tornado struck the town about 200 miles to our south, my family and I were hunkered down in the basement of my northeast Wichita home while we listened to updates of a “massive, destructive wedge tornado on the ground approaching Mid-Continent Airport.” The home that I own in West Wichita sits on the northwestern final approach path to…

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The annual Mississippi River Forum, sponsored by the National Park Service, with support from the Mississippi River Fund and the McKnight Foundation, was held May 17 at the Science Museum in St. Paul. The room was packed with about 120 people with a keen interest in water quality. That is, packed with folks representing the forestry service and other natural resources, watersheds, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Department of Public Health, university Extension and overall…

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The T-shirt my wife purchased for me one Christmas reads: “Vancouver, Not BC. Washington, Not DC.” The idea is to remind people that the little Vancouver just across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore., is indeed a U.S. town, unlike the city of the same name 300 miles north in British Columbia. And, that we are in the state rather than the nation’s capital. But, when old Capt. George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy left MY Vancouver, he…

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One of the most annoying things about Farm Bill debates is that the majority of discussions are about money, not policy. Activist groups that I like to call – anti-farm or anti-food security – make farmers out to be free-loaders, loudly spouting off about direct payments and subsidies. I venture a guess that nearly all of these folks who like to use farmers as punching bags are not hungry or homeless. They probably enjoy hearty meals each day, thanks to guess who? Our nation has…

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In the rush to cash in on the “organic” buzz, seemingly everything is organic these days. Even stuff that’s always been organic now has “organic” emblazoned across its packaging. Last weekend, I spotted a pallet of organic soil at Home Depot. What?!! I assume the little white fertilizer balls are the only inorganic ingredients added to typical potting soil. Organic Marketing 101: don’t put the fertilizer balls in, slap organic on the bag, and mark…

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Wait. What Day Is It? I'm sitting at our 4-H meeting, which is really the only way I know it's Monday. The past week has been a blur. As of last Monday, May 13, we hadn't planted a seed. We'd had 14 inches of rain in the preceding month. Rivers had been out. Some of them twice. We'd been stuck in a three-week pattern of three decent days, then four rainy ones. Never enough time for anything to dry out. Temperaments were, shall we say, running a little ragged…

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 Yes, this is an unusual thing to be blogging about. In recent months, I've gone to funerals of two farm friends, and came away from both thought-filled and inspired. That's as it should be. Like most of you, I'm not fond of funerals. I don't even want to attend my own! But a funeral or wake can be a wake-up call with redeeming value. That's why I'm writing this. I was reminded of a few things, none of which the preachers preached. The "few things"…

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