Time continues to march on. It's hard to believe it will be June in two days. I check our flooded soybean field every day or so. There are some sprouts but in general it looks pretty bleak. I'll have to decide this coming week if it needs to be replanted. We planted at the rate of 150,000 plants to the acre. If we have at least 100,000 plants we will be marginally okay. My wife is an accountant by profession.I explained the problem and told her I needed a bean counter and that would get her back to the roots of her profession. She demurred but I have another plan, find a hula hoop and randomly throw it into the field and count the plants it encircles. After several tosses you can reasonably estimate the plant population.

All of our other fields were planted after the deluge and have sprouted and look promising.

We now have had eighteen of this years twenty calves born including one this morning. There is one cow that should freshen soon and the other not until September. Eight mother cows and their calves are in our woods pasture. This is a transition area to get the calves fence trained.

We are about ready to move them to their summer pasture. This was a new seeding last year and has lots of volunteer clover. We're a little concerned with bloat so we have to get the cattle acclimated carefully.

Our hay equipment is ready to go but the weather is not cooperating. The forecast through at least mid next week isn't favorable. The crop looks great but is continuing to grow and mature. The secret to good nutrient value is to get it in the bud stage before it heads out. It can also get so heavy that it falls over into a tangled mat,

My friend who winters in Florida says he isn't coming back here until the long range forecast predicts ten seventy plus days in a row. He is a good friend and I enjoy his company but it might be quite a while before I see him him at this rate.

At least the weather has been good for rhubarb. Lots of pies and sauce are available. We started a community garden for some of the folks on the lane. We made a big raised bed which we filled with a secret blend of cow manure and topsoil. I am confident things will grow. Looking at the number of tomato plants already in the ground, it looks like a lot of spaghetti sauce will be made.

I've also assembled two upside down tomato growing contraptions like you see on late night television. They should be a curiosity piece if nothing else.

Today Jim participated in his last ever high school sporting event. The meet was about an hour and a half east of here. We stopped en route at a farmer's market. There was a farm that we know selling beef from their Belted Galloway herd. We visited for a while and traded information.

Jim placed fifth in two events at the regional level. He did well. Track meets are pretty much an all day event with a few bursts of activity. I took advantage of the down time to visit a fence supplier that I had heard about. They had a really nice store with about anything you'd ever need for cattle fencing. It was a pleasure dealing with them. Mary had to work but she made it in time for the Jim's last race. On the way home we stopped at a restaurant that we know that serves grass fed beef hamburgers. They were excellent.