The Farmer Yaps Some More

That durned farmer is doin' it agin, Ma!  I saw him a yappin' and a showin' them there pickchurs of hissen to another batch o' peoples.

The 2022/23 Farmer Yapping Tour has continued once we crossed the threshold of one year into another.  The end of 2022 was pretty busy and I made the mistake of thinking that it was a little less busy once we got to January and February.

I was wrong.

It all started with a presentation, with an assist from Tammy, for ISU Extension on Backyard Poultry.  The schedule was to be there for an hour and a half, where a chunk of that was intended for questions.  Two and a half hours later, we were getting ready to leave - after lots of great questions and discussion involving people with a wide range of experience with poultry.

It was a good session because I think most everyone invested themselves into the process.  That's a good thing.

The PFI Conference found me wading through a record number of attendees, going from session to session and listening a wide range of ideas and perspectives.  And, there were far more people that I knew and hoped to connect with than there was time.  But I still managed to feel as if I had made about as many connections for that time period as my poor introverted self could manage.

Just ask Tammy what I did on Sunday after the conference.

That's right.  Not much.

Today (January 24), I am given the honor of presenting some ideas that could be implemented in agricultural growing systems that would support the principles of agroecology.  Hey, if you read this soon enough, you could even join us for the event.  

Part 1 featured the authors of the report, Pesticides & Climate Change: A Vicious Cycle, which is offered in English, French and Spanish.  It's a worthwhile work that should encourage everyone that reads it to consider how an agricultural system that relies on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers contributes to a changing climate and is doomed to failure, in part, due to the changes in weather cycles.

Now, I've heard a few rumors that the farmer is also yapping at other times and spaces in the not too distant future.  One of those yapping things has him talking about... postal history?

Well, why not?  He writes Postal History Sunday, so why not talk about it too?

For those who might be curious, I'll be talking about postal history on February 1 for the Collector's Club and you can register here if you are interested.  Now, a quick warning.  This will be a "deep into the weeds" postal history presentation - so if you're up for that, give it a whirl!

I have opportunities to speak to classes at UNI and Wartburg in the coming months and will even get to speak on intercropping (a favorite topic) for the Iowa Specialty Growers Conference this year.  That gets me through early March.  

Maybe the tour will end then and I can hide on the farm for six months.

And talk to the vegetables, trees and flowers.  Or better yet, I can listen to them.