Country Life Wednesday, October 9, 2019 • lyndentribune.com • ferndalerecord.com
Dairy • A9 Gardening • A9 FFA/4-H • A9
Willetta Farm honors family tradition, with fun thrown in the Whatcom County Dairymen’s Association, producing Darigold brand milk, since 1938, with a certificate to prove it. A cow bell and milk scale are authentic relics too. Still in 1946 a box of Trojan explosives came to the Ripperda place, also with DuPont’s booklet about safe use, for “blasting stumps” still remaining, according to a saved invoice. Also documented in the little museum is the progression of clothes washing for the farm homemaker, from a wood cranker to a steel Speed Queen. William Ripperda passed in 1989, Etta in 2007. The farm was bought by the DeVries family around 2001, keeping it in continuous succession. Portions of it have different uses or renters. In last February’s windstorm, an old shed on the farm was lost, but damage to the roof of the oldest barn was repairable, and it is still usable for storage, Tim Cramer said. Open hours to the public are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday in October at 1945 E. Badger Rd. Cora Dyson, 5, of Lynnwood, enjoys a ride on the Belgian draft horse Bobby at Willetta Farm. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune)
October is busy time in the Pumpkin Patch By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com
EVERSON — Family history blends with this year’s pumpkin crop at Willetta Farm. And it’s where Tim Cramer gets to exercise his draft horses. What might not be so evident the rest of the year becomes very visible each October when the Pumpkin Patch is an orange-spotted destination for school groups during the week and whole families on weekends to find their favorite specimen to take home, after enjoying some farm fun. The family heritage on this land along East Badger Road goes back to 1913. That’s when Henry Ripperda, a Dutch immigrant via Michigan and Whidbey Island, paid just $6,500 for the mostly cleared 100 acres near Kamm Creek. Upon Henry’s death, son William took over the farm in the 1930s. The union of William Ripperda and Etta Jorrisen produced four daughters, and now the family of second daughter Louise and Rob DeVries, and their four children who run the Pumpkin Patch, honor grandpa and grandma with the Willetta Farm name. This history is recorded, with artifacts and supporting documents, in the “world’s smallest museum,” a converted shed on the property, or it might be told in brief by horseman Tim, married to granddaughter Marissa, as he takes visitors down a lane by wagon pulled by two of his black Percheron draft horses.
Cramer also plows and cultivates the one-acre Pumpkin Patch as field work for his horses in the spring. He uses a plow that grandpa Ripperda used. Sarah DeVries, married to grandson Bryn, supervises the grassy corral area where kids can ride Bobby, the lone big Belgian horse on the farm, for $4 per mount. DeVries said this is already the fifth year of Willetta Farm doing the Pumpkin Patch, with ongoing improvements each busy September. “October is the time to shine. All our work comes to fruition,” she said. Of course, there is a chance to pick out a pumpkin in the patch, or from one of the farm displays, and pay according to weight. “Any pumpkin that is on the property is for sale,” DeVries said. Other animals to enjoy at Willetta are two small goats, a chicken roost and Daisy the rabbit in a hutch. There are play areas with slides off a hay wagon, a slingshot pumpkin launcher to try to hit distant targets, a miniature Club House, a Bug Shack, a Pirate Deck and a double water pump — plenty of places to fire the imagination of a youngster. The write-ups in the “museum” further detail that William Ripperda had a 96-by-40-foot “swanky new barn” built in 1951, headed up by Jake Bovenkamp and his crew. The three-stall milking parlor of Surge machine — one of the first such setups in Whatcom County — at one end of the barn made milking 17 Jersey cows much easier for the grateful farmer. The family estimates that Ripperda kept dairy farming until around 1969. He had already been a member of
This is the supply of small pumpkins for a slingshot-like launcher to try to hit distant targets. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune)
Fall is here in all of its colorful glory; here are some ideas on how to keep your autumn as eco-friendly as possible! • Check your tires’ air pressure. Properly inflated tires help keep your fuel consumption as efficient as possible. • Move objects away from heaters and vents to make sure air flow isn’t obstructed. • Check the seal on your refrigerator door by using a dollar bill. If you can pull the bill easily out from underneath the closed door, the gaskets should be replaced. • Rake leaves up instead of using a blower and consider creating a compost pile for your fall clean-up. • Sort through summer clothes you didn’t end up using or winter clothes that no longer fit and decide whether or not to donate them to a secondhand store. Well-loved clothes can be recycled into rags or fun craft projects. Clean Green Solutions • Yard waste recycling by composting (grass clippings, brush & stumps) • Compost & soil material sales
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Opportunities to learn about farm funding, and restore salmon habitat WHATCOM — Funding a farming dream can be one of the trickier parts of the equation. Yet many farmers may not be aware of resources available for financial support. The Whatcom Conservation District invites everyone to a networking event from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the Ferndale WECU, 5659 Barrett Rd., as part of the Whatcom Farm Speaker Series. Come make direct connection with funding agencies and hear from a panel of local farmers about their successful grant and financing applications. Also, the Whatcom Conservation District
announces a hands-on opportunity to participate locally in Puget Sound Orca Recovery Day, which is Saturday, Oct. 19. A co-host is the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association. From 9 a.m. to noon there will be restoration of critical chinook salmon habitat along the Nooksack River. The gathering point for parking is the Northwest Indian College, 2522 Kwina Rd., Bellingham, on the Lummi Reservation. Overall, more than 70 events are planned around the Salish Sea on that day for creating healthy waters and shoreline for critically endangered orca whales.
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The Fall Fruit Festival at Cloud Mountain Farm Center took place last weekend. Visitors sampled apples and other produce. (Hailey Palmer/Lynden Tribune)
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 • lyndentribune.com • A9
MIELKE MARKET
IN BLOOM
Milk price at $18.31, a 5-year high The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the September Federal Order Class III benchmark milk price on Oct. 2 at $18.31 per hundredweight, up 71 cents from August, $2.22 above September 2018 and the highest it has been since November 2014. The farmer price equates to $1.51 per gallon, up from $1.38 a year ago. The nine-month Class III average for 2019 now stands at $16.11, up from $14.62 at this time a year ago and close to the $16.12 of 2017. The September Class IV price is $16.35, down 39 cents from August and the lowest since May, but $1.54 above a year ago. U.S. cheese prices have been on a rollercoaster. Cheddar blocks shot up to $2.2375 per pound on Sept. 16, highest price since October 2014, then plummeted, wavered some and closed the first Friday of October at $1.9925, 34.25 cents above a year ago. The barrels hit a high of $1.94 on Sept. 16 but closed Oct. 4 at $1.79, 42.25 cents above a year ago. Tight milk supply in Midwest cheese-producing country has affected cheese output. Also, strong domestic demand has added to the pressure, resulting in higher milk prices. Butter closed the week at $2.1850 per pound, up 3.75 cents, but 10.5 cents below a year ago. There is plenty of butter available and the strong U.S. price has attracted imports. Cream
By Lee Mielke
is readily available in the West where much of the butter is produced. Butter inventories, while being drawn down seasonally, are higher than preferred, according to Dairy Market News. FC Stone gives this warning: “The likelihood of seeing sub-$2.00 butter prices by the end of the fourth quarter is growing.” Grade A nonfat dry milk closed Friday at $1.1450 per pound, highest cash price since March 2015, and 28.5 cents above a year ago. Dry whey closed Friday at 32.75 cents per pound, 23.5 cents below a year ago, with a whopping 80 train cars sold on the week. The whey market is heavily influenced by African swine fever, which has devastated the world’s largest hog herd nation, namely China. Whey is a vital feed nutrient for pigs and the U.S. supplies a fair amount of it. It’s also one of the imports that China has removed tariffs from in its trade spat with the U.S., as it attempts to rebuild its hog herd. Meanwhile, finances on U.S. dairy farms continue to improve. A
higher All Milk price and lower feed prices nudged the August milk-feed price ratio higher for the second month in a row. The latest Ag Prices report put the ratio at 2.26, up from 2.16 in July and 2.06 in August 2018. The U.S. All-Milk price averaged $18.90 per hundredweight (cwt.), up 20 cents from July and $2.80 above August 2018. The national average corn price averaged $3.93 per bushel, down 23 cents from July but 57 cents per bushel higher than August 2018. Soybeans averaged $8.22 per bushel, down 16 cents from July and 37 cents below a year ago. Alfalfa hay averaged $179 per ton, down $4 from July but $2 per ton above a year ago. The August cull price for beef and dairy cows combined averaged $68.30 per hundredweight, up $1.30 from July and $5.30 above August 2018, but $3.30 below the 2011 base average of $71.60 per cwt. The Northwest Dairy Association makes these price projections for the Class III price and Pacific Northwest blend price: Month Class PNW III Blend Sept. $18.31 $17.45 (current) Oct. $18.45 $17.50 Nov. $18.20 $17.70 Dec. $17.50 $17.60 Jan. $16.80 $17.10 Feb. $16.50 $16.80 March $16.50 $16.90 April $16.70 $17.10 May $16.80 $17.20 June $17.00 $17.30 Lee Mielke, of Lynden, is editor of the Mielke Market Weekly. Whatcom County has about 85 dairy farms.
Embracing the season of spiders and drizzle Whoever ordered the weather for September deserves a refund. Early autumn in the Pacific Northwest is usually just about perfect: cool, crisp mornings, warm sunny days, and flowers resurging with their last best show of color after a warm summer. This year felt like we went straight from glorious summer to spiders and drizzle — not what anyone ordered, for sure! But as we settle into autumn in earnest, it’s time to show our lawns a little love once again and plan for next spring with a few items on your fall checklist. First, although October falls near the end of our calendar, it’s arguably the beginning of the year for lawns, especially if you choose to let your lawn go brown in summer. Although short days and cool weather prevent grass from growing much above-ground in winter, lawns — and several types of weeds — are awake and growing roots throughout much of fall and winter. One grassy weed that many people battle in their lawns through spring and summer often gets its start in fall. Poa annua, commonly called annual bluegrass, is a coarse grassy weed that creates bright lime-green blotches in a lawn, and because it goes to seed at a very short height, it’s difficult to control since mowing may not cut off the seed heads. Poa thrives in mild, damp conditions, meaning seed can germinate in autumn and get established over winter — when you’re not paying attention. For this reason, I recommend applying a preemergent like Bonide Crabgrass Plus to control poa and other weeds that may grow through winter. Yes, a spring application is helpful as well, particularly for controlling crabgrass, but since poa grows both in spring and fall, make a preemptive strike with an application yet this fall.
By David Vos
A second lawncare task to accomplish this month is treating your lawn with lime. A dose of fast-acting lime will quickly correct a soil’s pH balance, discouraging moss growth and allowing grass roots to properly absorb nitrogen for thick, healthy turf. Apply fast-acting lime to your lawn this month, and following up in late October or November with a winterizer like Scotts Turf Builder Winterguard will wrap up your lawncare regimen for the season. Third, despite the cool weather and rain we’ve had over the last month — or rather, because of those conditions — it’s still a perfect time to plant just about any and all shrubs, trees and perennials in your yard. Unlike spring planting season, plants you install this time of year will require minimal watering (and none once regular rains start) and will get established long before next summer’s
heat kicks in. To encourage rapid root development and minimize transplant stress, water in your transplants with a vitamin solution like Bonide Root & Grow. Finally, October is the perfect month to plant bulbs for spring color. Fill a pot for your front door with hyacinth and tulip bulbs and enjoy the enticing fragrance of hyacinth next spring followed by the classic beauty of tulips. Plant over top of your bulbs with winter pansies for color this fall and winter and enjoy a two-tiered effect of color when the bulbs grow up through the pansies next spring. If deer are a problem for you, plant daffodils as a deer-resistant spring bulb. In addition to being deerresistant, daffodils are also best at naturalizing, meaning they’ll come back reliably year after year. It is true that I feel robbed by our lousy September weather this year, but we did choose to live here, in this part of the world known for understanding the difference between “rain” and “showers.” So, watch the forecast, grab a raincoat if needed, and let’s make the most of this month outside! David Vos is manager of Vander Giessen Nursery Inc. in Lynden.
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Whatcom 4-H youths win at state fair in Puyallup WHATCOM — County 4-H youth entrants in the Washington State 4-H Fair in Puyallup in September came home with various championships, high placings and special merit awards, the county 4-H office reports. These are the results of judging:
Dairy Fit & Show Colten Cuperus, intermediate champion; Shane Sterk, intermediate reserve champion. Dairy Judging Colton Cuperus, Shane Sterk and Tyler Cuperus, third place, intermediate team. Brown Swiss Tyler Cuperus, junior champion; Colton Cuperus, senior champion; Tyler Cuperus, reserve champion; Colton Cuperus, grand champion. Equine Judging Erika Singh-Cundy, Alicia Silves and Courtney Hubbert,
champion senior team. Texas Barrels Race Ivy Thompson, seventh place. Two Barrel Flags Robert Hubbert, fifth place. Pole Bending Ivy Thompson, seventh place; Kyle Long, eighth place. Pole Key Race Bella Olson, third place; Kyle Long, seventh place; Robert Hubbert, eighth place. Senior Equine Judging Erika Singh-Cundy, sixth place; Alicia Silves, seventh place; Courtney Hubbert, tenth place. Pygmy Goat Fit & Show Trevor Kudsk, junior reserve champion; Melissa Kudsk, intermediate reserve champion; Kara Teachman, senior champion; Kara Teachman, reserve senior champion with pygmy goat doe. Sheep Fit & Show Peyton Hanks, intermediate reserve champion and Dorset champion ewe. Livestock Judging
Kaylee Knaus-Wahl, third place intermediate; Kaylee Knaus-Wahl, Maximus DePass, Aiden Seigman, Madison McGary, Greyson Bronkema, Peyton Hanks and Kolten Visser, third place intermediate team; Samantha Johnston, Jaxson Pike, Lucas Kooiman, Jamie Mason, Donovan Hanks and Renae Hoekema, third place senior team. Artwork Gwen Berglund, Special Merit award for still-life pencil drawing portrait; Whittaker Gresham, Special Merit award for still-life geometric scratch art drawing; Edynn Lahr, Special Merit award for still-life ink drop tiles; Simeon Leavitt, Special Merit award for still-life photography; Charles Johnson, Special Merit award for still-life Creative Kids paper-mache dragon; America Oettel, Special Merit award for still-life cinder block planter and sedium garden.
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4-H Reports VALLEY VAQUEROS Christy Douge and Scott Hume, leaders Andrew Carlton, coreporter Valley Vaqueros celebrated the end of summer with our annual picnic and meeting at Lynden City Park at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21. Our club enjoyed hot dogs, chips and salads, along with fruit, beans and cookies. Afterward, we discussed and reviewed this past year, including the fair. During the meeting time, we decided our club should update our decorations for next year’s fair. So plans are to design the decorations this winter and then construct them in the spring and early summer months. After our meeting, we were treated to ice cream by one of our club leaders. Valley Vaqueros is always welcoming new members. If interested in attending our next meeting, it is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Lynden Library community room, starting at 6:30 p.m.
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A10 • Wednesday, October 9, 2019 • lyndentribune.com
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