My 45th hunting season this year will be sad because my hunting partner and mentor is gone. The woods will seem empty. But Dad will be there nevertheless. Because his memories and stories remain.
Travel along any country roads in Wisconsin and one is bound to come across a vestige of education from days gone by.
Asexual plant propagation involves taking one part of a parent plant and causing it to regenerate itself into a new plant. We can do it through cuttings, layering, division, budding and grafting.
The Great Pumpkin story, as we call it, came to mind the other day after I drove past a giant-pumpkin display near Pigeon Falls. I pulled over to take a photo, thought about my late father and smiled.
My footsteps made soft crunching noises as I walked across a frosty white carpet. A waning moon was visible in the early-morning sky. In the early hours of Oct. 4, the growing season ended in our valley as temperatures landed in the upper-20s. I awoke to a layer of white frost coating the lawn.
I’ve discovered as I’ve grown older that my ability to muscle through projects continues to diminish. What I could have done at 30 or 40 takes a heck of a lot longer when pushing 60. The will may be there, but the way is just too dang hard.
I’ve been called many things over the years, and now I can add a title to my name that would have made those callers’ heads explode — Lord. Yes, I have been officially proclaimed Lord Christian Hardie because I am a Scottish landowner.
There are more than 300 apple varieties grown at Wisconsin orchards. Visiting orchards is a great fall family event.
In a profession full of uncertainties, one thing we can rely on is farmers finding a way to over-produce any commodity, including hops.
Suddenly the calendar turned to September and I asked myself, “Where did the summer go?”