Last Harvest

So today is Thanksgiving.  But we were kind of busy yesterday, and I was kind of busy last night and didn't get this posted.  But anyway, Phil has some farmland, and uses Liquid fertilizer (of course).  He had some test strips that we wanted to harvest, so Ashley and I went to the Phil Farm to see what happened.  Phil had his combine decorated for the Holiday.

Ashley finally got a chance to pilot the tractor...

...while I assumed the position in the cart.  We are chasing Phil this time.

I always like to multi-task.  So I thought I would get the turkey stuffed for the big feast on Thursday.

A tradition is to watch the Macy's parade in the morning on Thanksgiving Day.

And here is Santa.  So the Christmas season has begun says the TV.

Well I have a turkey to smoke (charcoal not gas).  So I will also say Happy Thanksgiving.

Office Tour Today

So I can't believe it's already been a month and a day since my last organized tour of the new office construction.  Today Nick and Troy showed a partial crew from the NCRS around the place.  Naturally I saw a procession and jumped in.  Here is the way the front looks now.  Compare that to last month and you will see progress.  There is a roof and protective enclosure of the Ag Tech Centre on the left.

In fact Troy is so happy with the concrete base inside that he started dancing.  It was a cross between Riverdance and the Hokey Pokey.

Nick unveiled the proposed floor plan the other day.  Here I am at where I think my office, er..cubicle, er...work station will be.  Actually they are very nice and spacious according to the model outside my trailer office that some guy from Guymon sits at occasionally.  How fitting that it has a tool chest there as everyone knows how handy I am with such things.  Although that looks suspiciously like a mop on the side.  Hmmm.  What else will I be doing in my work station?

Here is a view of the lobby area with the silo and the bridge.  And there is the elevator SHAFT! (Can you dig it?)

Here is the kitchen area.  I think I can make it from my work station to the kitchen in less than 10 seconds if there are no copy machines in the way.  You know, in case someone needs me to taste test something.

Here is the upstairs with the high wood ceiling.  It looks like a big area to heat, but it will be done very efficiently with geothermal heating and AC.  Pretty cool.

Work is progressing in the Ag Tech Centre.  (Not sure if my snobbish spelling will catch on, but you have to try.)  Troy has many ideas for this place, although many are still in the thought balloon stage.  But it will have things like the history of fertilizer, and Agro-Liquid of course.  And also planned are farm equipment simulator rides. 

Well I hope the next month doesn't fly by as fast as the last one.  But it is fun to look at those old pictures from way back then to see progress.  By the way, Shaun, the company Site Manager Developer Guy also has a blog.  It's about construction projects like the office here and at our manufacturing plants.  So take a look at all of the things Liquid is doing to keep the building industry going across America, all to enable better service to America's Farmers (plus Canada, Mexico, Belize and Ohio.)

Planting Some Waving Wheat in OK

So last week after my TV show was over, I drove to Oklahoma where we planted some wheat test plots.  We worked with a contract researcher in West Central OK.  It is the same one that we built the Liquid applicator for the planter last spring.  And by "we" I meant Doug and Phil at the NCRS.  But for wheat, Oklahoma Sales Account Manager Jacob put together a manifold with tubes running down inside the double disk openers.  Here Jake makes the final adjustments.  OK, it's a "classic" drill, but it will work.

They did a nice job of planting the plots.  There are several comparisons of different Liquid, liquid and dry treatments, plus methods of application (like broadcast and post-emergence.)  Now the other important ingredient is rain.  I didn't bring that, but hopefully they have some there. 

Now here is a picture I took of a squirrel.  It has nothing to do with anything related to wheat plots.  But I liked it and I have a three picture minimum.

So tomorrow (Tuesday) I am off on another fertilizer mission.  Hopefully it will be a good one and I'll see another squirrel or something.

Orchard Duties

So sorry to not have put up something new for nearly a week.  But I've been busy.  No really.  But I wanted to show some of the work that Brian did last week.  He sent these pics.  He and Ashley went up by Traverse City, Michigan.  It is the Cherry Capitol, well of The Entire World.  Or so they say.  But Michigan does produce more tart cherries than anywhere else. There is a cherry grower up there that has used Liquid fertilizers for many years.  He is probably the top producer in the area.  He has also used Fase 2 on his trees since before it was a product.  Brian has been taking measurements of different treatments to document growth effects.  Here are some trees planted last fall.

Here are some tart cherry trees in their third growing season.  Brian has data on these shown in our research report and Research Supports Future Growth.  Check it out.  Those bigger trees in the back are sweet cherry trees.  

Here are Ashley's hands making a trunk diameter measurement with some calipers.

Meanwhile back at the NCRS today, Dan puts tree wraps on the 3000 apple trees in the orchard.  Yesterday it was nearly 70 degrees and sunny.  Today it's in the 30's and overcast. But Dan forges ahead.  We are fortunate to have an orchard pro like Dan.  It was really windy today and the guide wires were really humming.

So lots to do to get ready for 2013.

Live From RFD Live

So it was finally the day of the big show.  I was at the right place, Northstar Studios in Nashville.  If you don't know, Security Seed & Chemical is a full-service ag supplier with stores in Tennessee, Kentucky and other states.  They are also a dealer for Liquid fertilizers, and a great company to work with.

We had a pre-production meeting with our staff, the host and director to put together the show content and the order of events.  Here I am with director Heather helping to assemble the final script.

Here we see ACLF Marketing Manager Lonny, Security Seed & Chemical Marketing Manager Tom and my co-star Jamie, a Security Seed agronomist.  I had never met Jamie before but stopped by his store that morning in Russellville, KY on my way to Nashville.

Pre-show meal in the Northstar commisary.  We are joined by our host Mike Hanson.  Mike has been with RFD TV for a long time and is one of the originators or RFD Live, and is a great guy besides. 

Time to get dressed for the show.  Got my own dressing room, just like at work in St. Johns. 

We were happy to have Cherokee, the same make-up artist as last April.  Here she tries to convince Jamie

that he really does need some eye liner.

Here is the production room.  I think there were at least six show staff in there.  They are the ones that make us look good on the show, although I would imagine their eyes occasionally drift to the fishing show on the left.  No, that would be me, they are all professionals. 

It's show time!  Hope you got to see it.  I think it went pretty well.  Mike is a great host and I really enjoyed being on with Jamie.  We will have stories to tell for quite a while.  I presume it will be shown on the Liquid web site someday soon. 

I will probably come crashing back to earth when I see what really happened.  But for now I'd give it a 9.9.  (Always leave room for improvement.)

More Sugarbeets and TV Promo

So harvesting where we can, it was decided to harvest the sugarbeets on Farm 2.  Farm 7 is still a little muddy, so it will wait till next week, hopefully with no rain.  After topping the beets, the 4-row beet lifter drives down the middle 4 rows and extracts the beets from the ground.

Not familiar with a beet lifter?  Well those big wheels that you see on either side of the row actually lift them out of the ground.  Through a series of chains, the beets are dumped into the beet tank.

Then at the end of the plot, the beets are dumped into the scale wagon.  That's Tim left holding the bag at the back of the cart.  Actually after the dump and recording of the weight, Tim will collect some of the beets from the plot to take to the Michigan Sugar lab for quality analysis.

That's Stephanie recording the weights.  Well now the beets are all harvested for this year.  Remember the Farm 7 harvest on Monday.

Looking for something to do on next Monday night?  Well there is a show called RFD Live on the RFD TV channel.  Surely you have the RFD Channel don't you?  Well call a friend and invite yourself over to their TV room, and grab some snacks.  You see I am going to be on the show along with Mr. Jamie Dezarn of Security Seed and Chemical.  We will be discussing the growing season now that harvest is nearly wrapped up.  I do have some nice still pictures and some moving pictures.  And of course some research results appropriate to the topic.

Regular watchers will remember Liquid's last appearance in April.  I got to be on then too.  It was fun once it got started, but I was plenty nervous ahead of time.  So nerves are just starting to churn up a little now. But it will be fun to think back to then knowing what we know now.  {Of course you could say that about practically anything.)  But I need the ratings, so please watch!  (Even stooped to using exclamation points now.)