View from the Cab: Beyond planting
Now that planting is over, my focus turns to summer fairs and other activities.
The Central Illinois Farm Network’s 2019 Fair Central tour officially kicks off this week with the annual Ford County Fair at Melvin. Highlights include livestock shows, a queen pageant, petting zoo, children’s tractor pull, rides and a big country concert on Friday featuring Montgomery Gentry and Mitchell Tenpenny. More information can be found at www.fordcountyfair.org.
It may be hard to believe but next week is already the Fourth of July. Chenoa has a big celebration and The Central Illinois Farm Network will be there covering it. Join us for a live broadcast of the Chenoa parade starting at 2 p.m. on our Facebook page. We’ll talk to some community members, celebration organizers and have plenty of fun along the way from our broadcast booth downtown.
July also means it’s time for fairs in DeWitt, Livingston and Iroquois counties. We will be at each fair talking with the kids, snapping a few photos and taking videos. I always enjoy working under the shade trees at Livingston County’s 4-H Park near Pontiac and seeing so many familiar faces each year. I have the honor of once again announcing the ag olympics this summer. Once we get through July, we will be traveling to the Illinois State Fair, McLean County Fair, Cullom Junior Fair and Fairbury Fair.
I am also looking forward to the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, the Half Century of Progress in Rantoul and especially the Threshermen’s Reunion near Pontiac. That should keep me from getting too bored until harvest arrives – whenever that may be.
We got caught up on mowing last week just before more heavy rain fell. Boy, those ditches fill up fast (as we all know from April and May around here). The grass was actually starting to slow down a bit before the ground got soggy again. Now we will be back to mowing something every other day just to keep up, if we don’t get the mower stuck. Let’s just hope the weather dries enough so growers can finish spraying corn and soybeans. Others still need to apply nitrogen to their growing corn crop.
(The View from the Cab blog is powered each week by Petersen Motors in Fairbury)
