Eating Our Way Across the South, Part 3; Durham to Nebraska

We left my brother's house just before an ice storm. The highway department had been out for 2 days spraying salt brine on the highways to keep the roads driveable longer. We had planned to pass through Charlotte and see the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but given the direction of the ice we headed straight south of Durham and went through Fayetteville.

We stopped at Darlington, S.C. and went through their small museum at the speedway. For those who are not NASCAR fans, don't admit that when traveling in this area. While we are not die-hard fans, we have watched and enjoyed our share of races. The museum was underneath one of the grandstands and held several notable cars. Most kids will recognize this car, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. Yes, the Hornet from the "Cars" movie did exist and did win several years on the circuit. They also had one of Richard Petty's cars from '67, along with several others. Lunch was a corned beef and swiss cheese sandwich on Ron's great bread eaten in the parking lot before heading on out.

 Our next stop was in Columbia, S.C., the state capitol. We toured the state museum, located in a former textile mill and the State Capitol. The museum was great and included local civil war history that we don't get up here. There was more than we had time to see, another time we may have to stop again. The State Capitol is beautiful. It was started before the Civil War, but was burned during the war. It was finally finished in 1907.




We stopped for the night in Augusta, Ga., home of the Masters golf tournament. We had supper at Cadwallader's Cafe. Wow. It ranked high on the TripAdvisor list and we know why. It doesn't look like much from the outside, like a strip mall. But the interior was a cozy restaurant perfect for an intimate dinner. I tried the black angus filet mignon, hoping for the best. I generally avoid beef when I am outside of Nebraska because our beef is so good, and most other beef is mediocre. This, however, was perfectly grilled and tasted great. Barb had the risotto with shrimp and scallops. Hers was also great. The owner seated us and checked up on us later. Great service.

In the morning we left for Atlanta. We had been told there is not much to see between Augusta and Atlanta. They were right. Lots of trees, and more trees. All the same kind of trees.

Our hosts in Atlanta were the best man at our wedding and his wife. It had been a few years since we had seen them and a long time since we had been to their home. They live in one of many suburbs of Atlanta. After our visit, I have no idea how anyone got around that town before GPS devices were invented.

John and Miriam liked to cook together and made us just watch while they cooked. We had a variety of meals there including hamburgers, pork loin and breakfast frittata. Sunday noon we ate at TaKorea, a fusion of Korean and Mexican food. Barb had the original bop - beef, spinach, mushrooms, mung beans, and marinated zucchini served over rice topped with a fried egg, Korean red pepper sauce, toasted sesame seeds and scallions. I had the Cubano minis - mini burgers topped with ham, fried egg, Korean pickles, American cheese and chipolte aioli. The flavors worked well together.

Sunday night we ate at Six Feet Under Pub and Fishhouse, named because it is located across the street from Oakland Cemetery. They specialize in seafood. Barb had the shrimp and scallops with basil wrapped in parchment paper and steamed, I had the crab crusted salmon. Once again the food was great.

We got to visit their daughter Angie who is a senior at Georgia Tech in Biomedical Engineering. She lives in a condo a few blocks from campus that used to be a hotel. Miriam's aunt told them when they were looking at it that years ago it used to house "ladies of ill repute." Now it is a wonderful condo complex.

We also visited a friend of Barb's from Meadow Grove, Neb., who is also a cousin of her cousin. Kurtis manages several properties in the area and also sells Amish constructed lawn furniture. It is remarkably comfortable. Too bad the freight from Atlanta is high or Barb would already have some his pieces. Kurtis also lives in a two-bedroom loft that is a renovated car shop.

We left Atlanta to head toward Memphis. Enroute we finally stopped at a Chik-fil-a. This is a southern fast food staple. They offer chicken, lots of chicken. They started serving chicken sandwiches in the 1960's in shopping malls and now have franchises all over with one now located as close as Omaha. I must say the staff was wonderful considering the lunch crowd. We were served quickly and with a smile.

For a break from driving we stopped in Tupelo, Miss., at the birthplace of Elis Presley. The very small two-room house his father built is still standing on the original site. They moved the neighborhood church that the Presley family attended onto the site as well. They have a nice small museum and have a short film about Elvis's early life for free.





Memphis meant barbecue, Memphis style. Barb had asked for recommendations from a friend who recently moved to Memphis for some great barbecue places. His first choice was closed the night we were there so we went to number two, Central Barbecue. Like all great barbecue places, Central is in a older, well loved building, but oh the smells and food. We ordered a rib platter for two. On the recommendation of the guy taking our order we got it half wet and half dry. For those who don't know, Memphis style is cooked with a dry rub. Sauce can be added at the table, but you really don't need to.

We then drove down to Beale Street. This street has great jazz joints, but Monday night in January is pretty dead. Then we went over to Main Street for an ice cream cone. Memphis has been doing a lot of work rehabilitating their downtown. Many buildings have been remodeled for condos on the upper floors and businesses on first floor. They have a trolley that runs up and down Main Street as well. Really a neat development.

Tuesday we drove back to Hartsburg, Mo., to stay our last night out at my sister's. We got a tour of nephew Ben's house and then were treated to a fish fry. Marvin and Ben fried up catfish, crappie and walleye. Side dishes included french fried potatoes, sweet potatoes fries, green been casserole and cole slaw. What a great meal!

Wednesday was the final day of our trip. We left Columbia and heard about a snow storm that closed I-80 between York and Aurora. So we changed our plans, again. First, we went to St. Joseph for dinner. We finally stopped at a Bob Evans Restaurant. We had planned on eating at one on our second day out, but road construction messed that up. Bob Evans is another southern staple, much like a Perkins here.

From St. Joseph we headed west on U.S. Highway 36. We ran into some blowing snow, but by Marysville the roads had cleared. We made it to Arapahoe for supper. I finally got Barb to The Cunningham Feed Store. I had eaten there a couple of times before, but it never worked out for us in our travels before.

Cunningham Feed Store is truly a gem in our area. The building did house the Cunningham Feed Store for over 50 years, selling animal feed. The building was rehabilitated by the owners board by board. The food is excellent and the bread is divine.

Finally we made it home. If you have been traveling with us you have traveled through 12 states and covered over 3,500 miles over 14 days. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, many days only driving for 4 hours. We could stop when we wanted and set our schedule. This was quite a stretch for Barb as she likes to have everything planned down to every stop, but even she admitted she had fun.

We managed to avoid fast food restaurants, except for Chik-fil-a, and enjoyed great locally owned restaurants. This is not to be a food snob, but rather a chance to show that there is great food everywhere, you just need to search it out. We eat our share of fast food, especially when we are the run to some meeting. But given the choice, I'll take a Mom and Pop shop anytime.

Happy trails to all of you and hope you can find time to be with a special someone.

Eating our way across the South, Part 2, Durham

We finally reached Durham, N.C., to visit my brother for the first time since he moved there 15 years ago. Durham has changed a lot in the past 35 years. It is a story of how to refocus after losing your two largest industries and become an innovative, thriving city. The multitude of changes were even spotlighted in a recent New York Times article, further driving interest in the area.

For years Durham has been about tobacco, tobacco and more tobacco. Throw in textile mills and blue-collar industry was what drove the city. The Duke family became tobacco tycoons with the formation of the American Tobacco Trust. After the anti-trust legislation passed in 1890 it was broken up into the American Tobacco Co., R.J. Reynolds, Liggett & Meyers and Lorillard.

The Duke family owned the American Tobacco Co. and also owned several textile mills and developed Duke Power to run the cotton mills. In the 1890s they saved the struggling Trinity College in Trinity, N.C., giving them enough money they changed the name of the school to Duke University and moved the campus to Durham.

The textile mills closed in the 1940's and 50's. Several of the mills sat empty for decades and some of the old mill houses became crack houses.

The tobacco plants closed in Durham in the 1980's, laying off thousands of workers. Some long range thinking has saved the area. A large research park was developed between Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh called the Research Triangle. IBM was the first tenant and the area now houses many high tech companies, including the company my brother works for, Syngenta.

In Durham the remaining textile mills have become long-term hotels or apartments and condos. The mill houses have been renovated and are now nice family homes.


The latest development is downtown at the former tobacco plants. They are now a mix of small businesses, condos and restaurants. The downtown area is cleaned up and is safe once again for strolling and shopping. The range of eating establishments is wide and the quality is great.

The first night we ate at Rue Cler, a Parisian bistro-style restaurant. We had their Prix Fixe menu, a three course meal that has many choices for each course. My choices were: Belgium Endive, Creamy Bacon Dressing, Garlic Croutons; Sautéed Asparagus, Sunny Side-up Farm Fresh Egg, Sauce Béarnaise; and finally Sliced Flank Steak, Collard Greens, Oignons Aigre- Doux, Veal Jus. Barb also had the endive salad but then went with: Roasted Pork Loin, Spatzel, Spinach, Oyster Mushroom Jus. All was great and we found room for dessert as well (Crème brûlée for me, Terrine au chocolat for her).

Wednesday morning we first toured downtown Durham. First stop was to buy some bread from one of Chris's neighbors. Ron started baking bread in his backyard brick oven. He now has his own store called, "The Loaf." After sampling the bread, baguettes and croissants all I can say is "WOW!" I especially recommend the almond croissants.

Then we got a tour of the Syngenta research facility where my brother works and then had true North Carolina barbecue, both types. We discovered North Carolina has two styles of barbecue, eastern and western. Western is a tomato-based sauce close to what most in the Midwest know as BBQ sauce. Eastern is a vinegar and spice sauce that is mostly clear. We tried both kinds, the eastern on some pulled pork, the western on some ribs. I prefer the western, but not by much.

Chris then took us on a tour of the Duke University campus. It is a very beautiful campus, with three sections, east campus where most freshman live and study, central which is mostly housing and finally the west campus. The west campus is where the Duke Chapel sits and is the campus building most often pictured. The east campus features Georgian style architecture while the west campus features a Gothic style. I almost felt like I was on Hogwarts. The three campuses sit on about 900 acres of land.

We also walked through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, a magnificent 55-acre garden. Again our timing is wrong to see it in all its glory, but it was beautiful even in January.


That night we cooked in and had corned beef and winter vegetables. Made for a great sandwich on the road later.

Thursday we were on our own as Chris had to work, so we visited my Aunt Laura who lives in nearby New Hill, N.C. Finding her house proved remarkably easy, thanks to the little blue dot on our iPad. The roads in this area have a tendency to change names whenever they feel like it and straight through an intersection means it's generally less than a 30-degree turn. Many intersections have five or more streets coming in at all kinds of angles.

My cousin Sherry also came down to visit from High Point, N.C. and we were able to catch up. This side of my family gets together every two years somewhere in the country and we have always been very close. Laura is my mother's youngest sister and she moved to North Carolina after marrying a pilot who was training in Nebraska during World War II. Laura served us a vegetable beef soup, with zucchini bread and Moravian spice cookies, one of Barb's favorites, for dessert.


That night we walked from Chris's house to the Geer Street Garden. This is a bar/restaurant in a former gas station. The food is simple and down home and the atmosphere is relaxed. I had a bratwurst/sauerkraut sandwich and Barb had an oyster po-boy. Chris opted for butternut squash soup and a spinach salad topped with fried oysters and warm dressing. What a treat to have this kind of food within walking distance of home.

Friday morning we left Durham with an ice storm coming. We left early and went a different route than we had planned. More on this next time.

Eating our way across the South, Part 1 Going East

The past couple of weeks Barb and I have been on the road, literally. By the time we got home we logged over 3,550 miles on our Ford Edge and passed through 12 states. On the way we have been eating very well, there will be many trips to the YMCA after we return. We drove to Durham, N.C. to visit my brother, but we took our time visiting friends and family along the way. We have tried hard to not eat at any national chain restaurants, unless they featured southern specialties.

Our first day we made it as far as Hartsburg, Mo., to stay with my sister and her husband. That night we dined on venison and wild turkey. The next morning we headed to Nashville via I-70, 64, 57 & 24. We had planned to eat at a Bob Evans, a southern staple, at Mt Vernon, Ill. However, construction at that exit changed our plans and we headed on down the road. Thanks to the iPad we decided to get off interstate at Benton, Ill. We went past all the typical fast food establishments and went downtown. The Franklin County Courthouse sits in the town center at the intersection of three state highways and the streets around the courthouse have become a roundabout.

One of the small shops around the courthouse housed a coffee house called The Buzz. For those familiar with Lexington, it was a slightly larger version of Madeline's. They have 7 or 8 sandwich choices, 3 soups and 4 or 5 salads on the menu. You can mix or match any of them for a great light lunch and according to Barb the coffee was excellent.







From there we headed on into Nashville to meet one of Barb's college friends for supper. She had a couple of suggestions, one downtown and one out by the airport. We decided against the downtown restaurant since it was close to the Ryman Auditorium, which was hosting the Grand Old Opry that night. We also discovered that Justin Bieber was having a concert downtown as well. So we headed to Monell's at the Manor, a southern family style restaurant in an old southern mansion. The food, atmosphere and company was great. As guests arrive they are seated at large dining tables. Food is served family style and passed around the table to the other diners. We dined with four college students and a couple of visiting engineers. Food included three salads, 3 meat choices, 5 vegetables, plenty of biscuits and cornbread, topped off with banana pudding for dessert. All was great.

Saturday we drove on down to Chattanooga to see Barb's cousin. Dinner was at a small pizza house on the north side of the river which is being redeveloped. We also went sidewalk shopping and took a trip across the Tennessee River on an old bridge.

While at Konnie's we enjoyed a pork dinner with a roast vegetable plate, breakfast brunch and finally Sunday night was everybody for themselves. Somehow we expected a great pork meal from a former Nebraska Pork Queen.

Monday morning we moved on to Asheville, N.C., to tour the Biltmore House. Lunch was at the Biltmore Bistro on the grounds around the Biltmore House. The tour of the house was fantastic. For those who don't know, the Biltmore House is the largest house in America with 250 rooms built for George Vanderbilt in 1895. These include 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces and a 70-foot tall ceiling in the dining room. During the 42-room tour we were reminded several times of the PBS show "Downton Abbey." While the gardens in the winter are fairly low-key at Biltmore House, locals and others who have visited assure us they are nothing short of fantastic during the spring and summer. But even in winter the Conservatory just below the main house is filled with plants and we did enjoy the orchids in bloom.

Supper that night was at a local Greek/Italian restaurant, the Apollo Flame Bistro. Again we enjoyed great food that is different than we can get at home. Barb had a gyro combo and I had the pasta combo. Yum.

Tuesday morning we shopped at Biltmore Village, a quaint shopping area designed by the same architects who designed the Biltmore House. The highlight was oil and vinegar tasting. For those of you scoffing, you really do need to try this sometime. We brought several bottles home including chocolate balsamic, which is out of this world when drizzled on vanilla bean ice cream. Lunch was at the Village Wayside Bar & Grille, which is in the old train station. We were told we had to try the onion rings, great choice.


Tuesday night we finally arrived in Durham, N.C. I'll talk about the Durham food scene in the next segment.

Farming and kids

Barb and I have been Ag Pen Pals with a classroom of Lincoln students for many years. We have had several teachers from several different schools over the years, but have generally had 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade students to write to.

First graders are a little difficult to write for because you know they don't have the language or math skills yet to comprehend much about farming. But they do enjoy talking about our animals. They are always amazed that farmers don't name every animal on the place, but when faced with a picture of 1,200 steers, they admit that would be hard to keep straight. We always loved the pictures they made for us to start the year.

Some of the schools we have written to are in areas of Lincoln with a high immigrant population. Not just Hispanics either, as one school had 25 different native languages represented in the student population. Many different backgrounds made our job a lot of fun, as usually one student in the group had been on a farm at some time.

When possible we schedule a visit with our classroom when we are in Lincoln for one of our many meetings there. That is where the real fun happens. Our students have spread the word through the school that we are coming, so when we show up everybody knows why we are there.

The current teacher we work with is a real gem. She has her students totally under control. They are learning manners, as well as numbers and letters. As an example, this year when we visited we were escorted to their room by two of the students who very politely asked us to follow them. When we got to their room another boy got up and asked us for our coats to hang them up and then escorted us to our seats of honor in the front of the room, all without any prompting from the teacher who was working with another student.

This class is a 3rd grade class and as you might expect is a little more fluent, but we were not ready for the level of questioning we got. The very first question was, "What is your favorite crop to harvest and why?" Another difficult question to answer was "What is alfalfa?" It is hard to describe without visual aids, and we had not brought any alfalfa pictures with us. At least several students had horses and knew what hay was so that helped. One bright young man noticed I am short one finger and asked about that. And so on.

We always try to bring a gift or memento for the students and one popular and easy to come by gift are farm caps. It took no time at all to locate 35 extra caps around the house, which were boxed and delivered to the classroom. While our class didn't have 35 students, we brought extras so the students could have a choice. You never know when they have a grandparent or aunt or uncle still on the farm and have already taken sides in the red-green controversy or someone in the family has an affinity for one seed corn brand or another.

When the 40 minutes that we were allotted had passed they sang a little song thanking us for coming to visit. How sweet. There is a good chance we'll get back one more time this year and one can only guess what questions they'll be able to come up with.

This is all part of the Ag Pen Pal Program, which in Nebraska is coordinated through the Ag in the Classroom program. If you are a farm family or a retired farm family and have time to write just three letters during the school year, you too could be an Ag Pen Pal. The program is always looking for more volunteers and will start you out with a class next fall. Just look up Ag in the Classroom on the internet and you can be connected or contact your local county Farm Bureau for more information.

If you are a teacher that would like to add this to your curriculum options let me know and I'll get you in contact with the right people. If you are a Nebraska teacher, you don't have to have a class in Lincoln or Omaha to be connected with an Ag Pen Pal. Any teacher in any classroom in the state may request a Pen Pal as we realize the need is just as great for ag education in rural areas as well. If you are reading this and live outside Nebraska many states have similar programs that we can put you in contact with.

2012 Year End Review

It was another interesting year in agriculture. It always amazes me that no matter how long you have farmed, God can always surprises us with what He has in store for us. 2012 was no exception.

The year started off dry and stayed dry, very dry in fact. While I didn't keep precipitation records, some of my neighbors had to for their feedlot waste records. Around Lexington the totals ranged from 5-10 inches of precipitation for the year, about 15 inches below normal.

Planting went well in the dry soil, I thought. We started early with the warm dry weather. We were able to plant some of the wet holes that have been left idle the last few years. However I did have some issues with two fields that had been in soybeans the previous year. The soil was so dry that the seed trench didn't stay open long enough for the seed to get to the bottom of the trench into moist soil. I ended up with seed depths all over the place, most in dry soil. Germination was poor in those two fields.

Weed control was spotty. Some herbicides worked well, others not so well. Most herbicides need the weeds to be actively growing to work. With the drought the weeds grew slowly and were able to fend off the herbicides. We had to resort to hand rouging some soybean fields to get those stubborn weeds out.

Irrigation season started early this year, also due to the drought. In fact we started irrigating on June 13, a full week earlier than we had ever started before on our farm. Irrigation really saved us this year. We had a few small areas that were non-irrigated or rain-fed. They yielded very little. Our irrigated fields looked great all summer, and then...

Late in July we finally got some much needed rain, unfortunately it also brought some hail with it. About 2/3 of our corn fields were hailed on. We lost 20-25% of our yield potential in just a few minutes on those fields. Ouch.

The trends of starting early continued with harvest. Harvest began two weeks ahead of normal. Yields were generally good, but we could really see the effects of the drought on some fields. We were not able to keep enough water flowing in some fields and the yields suffered as a result. And then came the wind.

Late in harvest we had two horrible days of wind, 60-70 mph wind. Many corn plants blew over. Others stood up to the wind, but then the ears of corn fell off. We lost 20-40 bushels per acre in those two days on our unharvested corn. Another 10-20% loss on top of the hail loss.Some neighbors had much worse results, up to 50% losses.

With all these bad things happening to us, I still praise God for his benevolence to us. Prices were record high at some time during the year. Our production was good, not record high, but good enough to produce record revenues. Expenses were also high, but well within expectations.

We were able to improve our farms this year as well. We installed two center pivots to irrigate the crops more efficiently. We installed drainage tile under a couple of fields that have been too wet in the past to farm properly. We hope to continue this trend in the future if the income stream continues.

So what made this year different than the last major drought in the "dirty thirties"? Irrigation was definitely required to raise this crop. While there was some irrigation in the 1930's, it was limited to mostly surface water irrigation; diverting water out of rivers to the fields to water the crops. Now we have added ground water to our arsenal. Deep wells pull out water that had soaked into the soil in previous decades. We use a lot of technology to deliver that water to the crops when and where they need it, wasting little if any. We have also learned how to control our pumping to maintain the water levels in the ground so there will be water for future generations.

Our crop production practices have also drastically changed. We use little if any tillage while planting the crop, conserving what moisture there is in the soil. We use GPS technology to apply fertilizer and herbicide at the right time, at the right place and at the right amount to be most effective. We adjust how many seeds are planted per acre and how much fertilizer is applied, both to match the yield potential of the soil.

And then there is the seed. Times have really changed what genetics are in the seeds we plant. No longer do we just grab some of last year's crop and plant it. Seed companies have used all kinds of technology to enhance the yield potential of their seeds. They have inserted genes to increase our herbicide choices, resist insects, use water more efficiently and this just makes the plants healthier all around. The yield potential of these seeds has doubled in the past 4 decades.

So what will 2013 be like? Truly only God knows. Will it continue to be dry? Or hot? Or wet? Or cold? Or...? We can't know, but we can plan to do our best. We are working on planting and fertilizing prescriptions for our fields to maximize the yield potential of each. We are installing more drainage tile to handle our wet fields when it does start to rain again. We are upgrading our GPS technology. We will improve our efficiency in applying herbicides and fertilizers next year.

It is our goal to leave this land in better shape than we received it, as with prudent stewardship we can continue to raise healthy crops and provide a safe food supply for our country and world. And we will survive and thrive, God willing.

Irrigation Wrap Up

I haven't posted for awhile, alright a loooong while. It is hard to believe that fall is approaching and schools are starting.

This has been the summer of the drought. All growing season has been early, planting in mid April, etc. Irrigation was not different. We started running the pivots on June 14 and started the gravity soon after. I have never laid out pipe before June 20 and ths year we were across most of the corn the first time by June 20.

We will be starting our 6th rotation on the gravity irrigation on corn on Monday, yikes. Hopefully this will be the last time for the corn crop. The soybeans will take two more shots. Normally we run at most 4 rotations, usually we can get by with 3 rotations with a few rain events helping out. Not this year.

We received a total of 1.5" of rain at our home place in June & July combined. August has been a little more kind, but still has given only about 1" so far. Through all this we have not had one day off irrigating somewhere since June 14.

The rain in July did not come without its terrible relative, hail. The corn around our house had about 60% defoliation of the upper leaves. Luckily the lower leaves are still intact and will feed some to the developing corn ears The crop insurance adjuster is estimating a maximum loss of 25% on much of our corn. He hopes it will be less but estimates on the high side.

We do carry insurance on all of our crops, since that is all the income we have. We carry both multi-peril insurance that is subsidized by USDA and production hail insurance.

For those who care, multi-peril is for catastrophic losses. They pay up to 75% of your average historic yield. We hope to never file a claim on that, but did last year on one field. The hail insurance is just for hail losses. It covers from the expected yield down to the 75% level that the multi-peril covers. Crop insurance is very complicated and even I can't keep all the details straight.

We have ben out pulling a few ears, estimating what our yields will be when the combine starts through. What we are seeing is very encouraging. Ear sizes are good to great. Now if the kernels will continue to fill out and get long. The cool nights we are having right now are great. That is what the corn needs to finish off the crop.

Soybean pod counts are also looking good. They are still  blooming and setting more pods. More water and sun is needed but should be fine.

We are expecting an early harvest, why should things change? We will start on high moisture corn for a neighboring feedlot around Labor Day. That is 2-4 weeks early. Soybeans are about 2 weeks early as well, which is a huge surprise.

Soybeans are a light sensitive crop, they use the day length to start blooming and setting pods. The large amount of sunlight we have had this summer (no rain=no clouds) has sped them up.

In a couple of weeks we will be picking up our irrigation pipe. If any of you want to tone up your upper body, come on out and we'll give you a free workout. :-)

Tile Plow

This winter we embarked on a new adventure on our farm, we bought a tile plow. Now for those of you in the "I" states or Minnesota or Ohio, this would not be that unusual. But here in the middle of Nebraska, it was instant coffee shop talk. There has been little or no tiling done in this area for many years. The tiling that was done was to correct an issue with leaking irrigation canals.

But recently our ground water table has been raising, so much that some of our fields are now water-logged. The water table is only about 6" to 12" down in a couple of fields. After much research I purchased a Gold Digger plow. It is a 3-point model that can install tile about 6' deep. We are using our RTK GPS system on it to regulate the depth.

Of course we also had to purchase a tile stringing cart, since we had no way to lay out the tile. Here it is with a roll of 4" tile on it. There is about 3,200' of tile in a maxi-roll like this.

The company rep. came down from Sioux Falls, SD to train us on the plow and the Intellislope monitor. There are no dealers in Nebraska yet.

He put the plow in the ground to start the calibration. I couldn't believe he left the tractor at an idle. At 5' depth it was still OK, but at 6' he killed the tractor and had to give it a little fuel.

Here I am tiling. We are about 3' deep at this point. My drainage ditch is only 3' deep so I can go no deeper than that. I am also running as flat as I can at 0.1% slope, that is 1 foot in a thousand feet. I have set the limits at 2.5' to 3.5' of depth. That is much shallower than many do back east, but it's all I can get. Another reason for the shallow depth is that these fields are gravity irrigated and we don't want to dry the fields out too much. At this depth the corn can still get to water.

You can see how much the ground is heaved by the plow. It certainly is breaking through any hard pan we might have! I am spacing the tile lines at 30', nothing magic about that number, it just fits our row spacing well. I have no idea what the ideal spacing should be. We will do some experimenting this spring and will know more later.

This tile line was installed only an hour or so before the picture was taken. Later we installed a 6" steel culvert over the end to protect the tile line from damage or burning.

Time will tell how much tiling will help, but I am very hopeful that this will pay for itself in only a couple of years. In 2011 we only got half a crop of this field. In 2010 half the field was not even planted, and the half that was yielded very poorly.