Matt Reese

I am pretty sure that I am the only guy in the county with a Pepto-Bismol pink barn. Cars drive by really slow now and the neighbors are starting to talk, but that is the price for my policy of NEVER turning down free help.

It all started when we bought our old farmhouse more than two years ago. We were set to close on our home when the economy when down into the dumps. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in crises mode and all lenders panicked.

We had been pre-approved for several months, but when President Bush held a special press conference to address the economic collapse, we suddenly had a number of new requirements from our mortgage lender before we could close on the house. One of those requirements was to paint the barn (with the potential for lead based paint being cited as the reason). It was funny how the possibility of lead-based paint on the barn was not a problem prior to the economic issues that had surfaced in the economy.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

During the summer grilling season when meats aplenty and fire are united for top-notch seasonal dining, a favorite in the Reese house is slow-cooked pork tenderloin on the grill. While otherwise God-fearing law-abiding folks, the Reese family’s grilling techniques for pork tenderloin, though, have long been a dark secret due to our blatant disregard of federal government recommendations.

Three burners are required on the grill. The outside two burners are left on low and the middle is turned off, with the pork raised up slightly off the grill surface above the middle burner. The low temperature and slow cooking allow for apple wood smoke to penetrate the meat rubbed with ample seasonings.

The key, of course, is not over cooking the meat so it remains moist and tender. After about 45 minutes or so, the pork needs to be checked fairly regularly with a thermometer so it can be promptly removed from the grill when it is just under 145 degrees.… Continue reading

Prevented planting? Preventative planting? Preventive planting? Which one is it?

As you may have noticed, we have done quite a bit recently on the OCJ Web site about the hot topic of crop insurance and this question came up numerous times in the last several days. I was unsure about this, so I looked it up. The Ohio State University sources I found use “preventative,” (http://ohioagmanager.osu.edu/farm-policy/crop-insurance-what-are-the-preventative-plant-rules/) so I went with that.

I posted a story on the Web site on this topic and, soon after, got comments from others in the ag community about how this was incorrect. The others said “preventive” was correct. In response, I did a bit more searching and found that the University of Illinois called it “preventive planting” as well (http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news5764.html).

Now vexed, I decided upon an excellent way to decide which was correct by making a quick visit to the USDA’s Risk Management Agency Web site.… Continue reading

They arrive in mid April of each year —

One more reason to celebrate.

Another wonder of spring to cheer,

But the purple martins are one day late.

Maybe they’ll come tomorrow.

Then their throaty cries will resonate,

And bring spring’s joy to winter’s sorrow.

The purple martins are two days late.

The sugar peas in the garden have sprung.

The daffodil bloom is first-rate.

The wheat fields are green beneath the sun.

The purple martins are three days late.

The insects are buzzin’ with no Martins to eat them,

Gnats have begun to congregate.

I just can’t imagine what would keep them,

The purple martins are four days late.

The martins have arrived on the very same day,

For more than 45 years — now this wait.

My old martin house by the pond is crumbling away,

And the purple martins are five days late.

They fly up here from far down south,

From the Amazon to our northern state.… Continue reading

For a story in the Mid May issue, I had the chance to talk with Dawn Combs who farms a little differently than most farmers in the state. She has a very small herb and honey farm that adheres to the principles of biodynamics that combine old-school herbal knowledge, folklore and science. She admits that some of the components of this type of closed-loop farming system may sound a bit kooky. The phase of the moon, constellations, old wives tales and strange crop inputs all come into play in biodynamics, but there is a sound dose of science and common sense mixed in as well. Companion planting, soil science, chemistry and biology are all part of the farming practices.

The bottom line is that it seems to be working for Combs and, a result, is garnering some attention from local agriculturalists that are likely baffled by some of her practices. But, no matter how conventional they may be, I think any farmer would admit that there are just some things that we still do not quite understand in the annual struggle with Mother Nature on the farm.… Continue reading

We are fresh off of the Ohio FFA State Convention, which never fails to reinvigorate the spirit and the hope for the future of Ohio agriculture. The event once again highlighted the immense talent, dedication and drive of Ohio’s young people in many ways, from the fantastic retiring address from State President (and national officer candidate) Amy Jo Frost to the ingenuity and work ethic of the many proficiency winners.

Also, the event marked the unofficial kickoff of our new FFA page on the Web (https://ocj.com/ffa) that serves as a forum for FFA reporters around the state to post their chapter news and a way to highlight and recognize the many great FFA-related events throughout the year. As a part of our massive effort to pack this full of all things FFA, we relied on the help of some FFA students for Convention this year. Stacie Seger (Ft. Loramie), Eileen Gress (Triway), and Devon Alexander (Anna) did a fantastic job of getting interviews, providing their “behind-the-scenes” insights and sharing the students’ perspective of convention.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

My daughter has always been energetic and I was excited when we had the chance to harness some of that energy for something constructive when she started playing soccer at three years old. What I have since discovered in her (and her teammates’) exploits on the field of play is somewhat less than constructive, though certainly entertaining.

Last fall and this spring, her team took to the fields in epic battles of post-toddler soccer struggles. More often than not, multiple players from each team are sidelined due to crying, distractions or potty breaks. And, most generally, if the players stay on the field and reasonably engaged in the game, it is a great victory worthy of celebration with a post-game ice cream cone (a favorite for both daddy and daughter).

The season has wrapped up for the spring, and needless to say, this weather has been less than ideal for the mud-covered little kid soccer leagues due to the steady deluge of rain, brisk winds and cool temperatures.… Continue reading

After last week’s tornado hit our Fairfield County home, we have been busy picking up a mountain of limbs from the four large trees that blew over (two of them narrowly missing our house). My friend with a landscaping business (Priceless Landscaping) came and helped us one day and brought his tractor, which fascinated my 20-month old son. Other than his nap, my boy insisted upon being on or within five feet of the small John Deere with a loader. My friend hauled away two huge trailer loads of limbs and stumps and we used the tractor to make a massive brush pile in our pasture.

My son had a grin plastered his face as he got to ride with anyone who was driving the tractor and would protest vehemently if anyone tried to remove him, even when the cold winds picked up and it started to rain. Because his trailer was full of limbs, my friend left his tractor through the next day and parked it behind the garage when my son could not see it.… Continue reading

Wow! What a storm last night. For the first time since we have lived at our new home, we gathered up the kids and headed to the dank basement because of a possible tornado. It sounded fierce outside and we thought it would be best to take the safe option.

I do not know if there was a tornado here or not, but the morning light revealed quite a bit of damage. Two electric poles down from our house, the pole was snapped off about three feet up of the ground. The pole and electric line are out in the field.

We had four very large pine trees that uprooted and fell over, narrowly missing the house. We had countless pieces of slate blow off of our old roof. The wind shattered an old glass window in the barn and blew off part of the barn roof. There were also several places where siding had been blown off of our house.… Continue reading

While cold, wet weather persists, corn and soybean growers can only sit and watch their soggy fields hoping for sunnier days ahead. Because we plant most, and usually all, of our Christmas trees by hand, we can get out in the fields comparatively early to put our Christmas tree seedlings in the ground. We use a 6-inch auger to drill holes and then four or five of us follow behind, kneeling down in the dirt to plant the trees.

This year we are planting 2,800 trees or so, mostly Canaan fir, but also some white pine, Concolor fir, and Black Hills Spruce. We started planting in earnest on what was the first semi-warm day this season on Saturday. We worked from 8:30 to 8:30 crawling around in the dirt and got about 1,100 trees in on our drier ground. We are still waiting on our wetter ground to get fit, hopefully sometime this week.… Continue reading

My family had the opportunity to meet the first ever Ohio Wool Queen, Elaine Leightey, and her husband Franklin, from Upper Sandusky. Leightey was crowned in 1955 as the first queen. The dress was handmade and she was treated like real royalty, meeting celebrities including Phil Donahue and Neil Armstrong. She had number of other great stories to tell that I will include in an upcoming story.

It was fun for my wife to meet Mrs. Leightey because Kristin was the Ohio Lamb and Wool Queen in 1999 and is the current coordinator for the contest. Our daughter Campbell was extremely excited to meet the “Queen” and has royal aspirations as well, with hopes of one day being a Lamb and Wool Queen herself.

All in all, it was a very royal afternoon.… Continue reading

Much to the dismay of Buckeye fans, Ohio State was not No. 1 in basketball or football. Ohio is not the top corn or soybean producers in the nation. Nor is the Buckeye State at the top of the list for the production of many agricultural commodities. But I do think a case can be made that Ohio is near or at the top of the nation in another very valuable category — farm and agricultural leadership.

From the FFA to the commodity organizations to the Federal Government, Ohio has a rich history of producing leaders with agricultural backgrounds. One of the most recent additions to this storied history is Bob Gibbs, the first-ever former state Farm Bureau president to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Gibbs graduated from The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute in 1974, and then started raising livestock at his Hidden Hollow Farms in Holmes County.… Continue reading

“Pork chops.”

“I think we’re going to have pork chops tonight. I love pork chops. We’ll probably have some sweet corn and some iced tea too. Mmmmmmm.”

In college, I worked for an old guy who refinished high school gym floors in the hot summers. On our long road trips to and from jobs, we would often have long discussions about one of our favorite subjects — food. Whenever conversation of the day’s work trailed off into long stretches of silence, he would inevitably blurt out the name of one of his favorite foods, usually whatever his wife was making for dinner.

I too love talking about food, and his dinner discussions would always result in resumption of lively conversation for the duration of the trip. People love talking about food and, in recent years, it has become clear that they also love to talk about the rising prices of food.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

How will you be celebrating Ohio agriculture week?

Just last week, Governor Kasich signed House Bill 89 designating this week (the second full week of March) Ohio Agriculture Week. HB 89 was passed unanimously by the General Assembly and is intended to increase public recognition of the vitally important role agriculture plays in Ohio.

I will be spending part of the week in Washington DC with the Ohio Farm Bureau on their annual lobbying trip with the county presidents from around the state. My wife and children will be going to a couple of local elementary schools to talk about agriculture on our small farm and in the state of Ohio. They may even be taking one of our sheep with them (which has always proven to be an adventure in the past). In addition, my wife is planning an agriculture activity for our daughter’s class at church. … Continue reading

With spring planting on the horizon after a long cold winter, Ohio’s farmers will once again plant Ohio’s rich soils to produce abundant food for the state and the world. Unfortunately, despite this unprecedented bounty of agriculture, people around the world continue to suffer from horrors of hunger, some right here in Ohio.

“[Hunger’s] cascading impact goes far beyond just the pangs and physical discomfort that accompany it. Hunger also affects the human spirit…This horror gnaws at the heart, perhaps even more than it gnaws at the stomach and it colors every other aspect of life,” wrote Richard Stearns, president of World Vision U.S., in his book, “The hole in our gospel” (which is definitely worth reading if you have the chance).

Fortunately for many, Ohio agriculture has long been at work on this vitally important issue of local and world hunger through a variety of efforts. Here are a few recent examples.… Continue reading

Don’t tell my wife, but amid the extremely busy schedule of Commodity Classic in Florida, I have found another girl. This friendly female parrot gave me a kiss at a BASF event held at Busch Gardens. As you can see, she is very pretty and is quite a talker. She is also on a similar intellectual level. We were instant soul mates.
Other than this brief fling, Dale and I have been very busy compiling many interviews and quite a bit of great information to share in the next few days. Bart, on the other hand, has been more infatuated with a tall, leggy red-head giraffe he met on the Safari later that night.… Continue reading

Kudos to Shawn Conley, University of Wisconsin Extension soybean specialist, who presented at last week’s Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference in Ada. Conley’s energetic presentation featured volumes of great soybean information in Friday’s session of the meeting. While the presentation was well done, one of the top things I took away as a writer was his appropriate use of the term “bailiwick” — not a word typically used in an agricultural presentation.

Conley used the term in response to a question that would be covered in a later presentation by a different speaker, as the topic was that speaker’s bailiwick. The term means: An area of activity in which somebody has particular responsibility, or in which he or she has specialized knowledge or ability.

As one who has attended many farm meetings through the years, I really appreciate unique words when I hear them used amid the usual crop lingo. This also appeals to me because I too aspire to integrate unusual words in my writing on occasion just to spice things up a bit.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

I have younger twin brothers who caused more than double the amount of parental consternation as young children through their cooperative efforts. On one occasion, the twins were around four years old and had gone upstairs to bed. My dad heard several strange noises outside and went to investigate. He was somewhat surprised to find a pile of toys, clothes, sheets, shoes, and just about everything else from the twins’ room in a pile below their open window.

As it turns out, the four-year olds, rather than going to sleep, decided it would be fun to work together to remove the screen from their window and throw the contents of their room outside. My concerned parents rushed upstairs to find the mostly empty room and the twins both straining beneath one of their mattresses that was partially shoved into the open window. They discovered early on that a cooperative effort could be very effective.… Continue reading

Ohio Farmers Union is the yin to Ohio Farm Bureau’s yang. They are the voice of the left in the often right leaning politics of Ohio agriculture. So many times it seems that if Ohio Farm Bureau has a position on something, Ohio Farmers Union (OFU) is just the opposite – often a lone swath of blue amid a sea of Republican red.

This voice of Ohio’s blue-collar farmer, though, has been mostly silenced in recent years after the OFU’s former Secretary/Treasurer was caught embezzling money from the organization. The bottom fell out for OFU in spring of 2009 and the organization scrambled to maintain the viability of their insurance programs and other necessities. The tremendous financial loss from the crime severely crippled the OFU and forced the organization to cut staff and close its Columbus office. Heroic volunteer efforts of OFU president Roger Wise and others managed to keep the Ottawa office open, though their work in the Statehouse was all but eliminated.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

My wife and I try not to have a long list of silly rules for our children to follow, but sometimes, their actions warrant rules.

Here are a few of the strange rules in Reese family law.

1. Do not stand on the table. There are clear safety issues when an 18-month old is standing on pretty much anything. Plus, no one wants the feet of anyone (even a cute kid) in, on, or around the food.
2. Do not unroll toilet paper for any reason. There are, of course, very important reasons why toilet paper needs to be unrolled. But, due to our children’s seemingly insatiable desire to unroll the entire roll onto the floor and around our home on a regular basis, we had to enforce very strict guidelines. For now, mom and dad do the necessary unrolling to prevent an in-house TP party.
3. Do not pet the dog.