by Kim Riedel
NP Columnist

It is summertime.

Well, not officially, but the temperatures have been nice and warm and even a little too warm; yet I am appreciating the beauty all around me. Flowers of all colors and shades are blooming, and early crops are coming in. Since all of my family (besides three of my kids) lives half the country away, I decided to share the beauty and excitement of my garden through Facebook, which I have never done before. It has turned into a fun learning experience as I have been getting comments and questions about different plants, flowers and crops that I have in my gardens. I found out that my purplish pink flowers that I have enjoyed for the last eight years are actually hardy geraniums; I had never thought of taking the time to find out what kind of a flower it was before, but now I am pleased to know that I love perennial geraniums. It has been fun seeing pictures my family has posted of their own plants in their gardens; sometimes it makes me feel that they really aren’t so far away. Read More

By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist

I’m sitting al fresco at an Indian restaurant on a trendy street near Fudan University in Shanghai, a cold draft Carlsberg in hand. As the well-dressed, handsome Shanghai residents stroll by, young parents with their one child in tow, I think to myself maybe I understand China a bit, but I don’t.

I recall that Napoleon once warned about awakening the sleeping bear that was China. The bear has been startled awake by the economic reforms of 1979. Hang on for the ride. Read More

by John Golden
NP Columnist

What has happened to the simple act of knocking before entering through a closed door? Have the little things like respect, common courtesy, and over-all good manners abruptly disappeared from today’s lexicon? I was born in the eighties and was raised with a heavy emphasis on good manners and constant respect for everyone equally. And knocking before entering a room was common practice. Read More

by William C. Bailey
School of Agriculture Western Illinois University

Each spring, it is a real pleasure to see corn poking out of the ground. We all can anticipate the harvest that will follow in the fall, but seeing the thin green lines of corn across the fields provides a clear indication that summer is on the way. And, if you are like me, you notice some of the rows of tiny corn plants are perfectly, and impressively, straight while other rows tend to wander a bit. The straight rows were probably planted by farmers using sophisticated global positioning systems (GPS) while the more traditional rows were not. Read More

Submitted by
Kara Kinney
MCFB Manager

The Moultrie County Farm Bureau recently sponsored an Agriculture in the Classroom event that we are very proud of.

The first was the annual Ag Education Farm Tour on Friday, April 4 at Mike and Joel Reedy’ farm in rural Lovington.  

Close to 250 students went through Farm Machinery, Farm Safety, Chemical Look A Like, Seed and Livestock stations.   Read More