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www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
THE LAND — FEBRUARY 5/FEBRUARY 12, 2021
Perils of home repairs: “Clean-up on aisle five!” There comes a time in every homeownunderneath doors so it wouldn’t run out er’s life when something breaks or doesn’t all over the basement; hosing down the work the way it’s supposed to work. room and scrubbing the floor with plentiSome repairs take just minutes, while ful amounts of strong bleach water. others gobble up our time and leave us as That mop no longer lives here. wide-eyed as laborers without pantlegs When peace and calm had returned, my tied shut on corn shelling day. husband began to clean himself up. He It’s the woman of the house who often peeled his socks, t-shirt and jeans off, brings household problems to light. She and stood right out in the front yard in TABLE TALK typically stands next to the man of the his underwear in the middle of the afterhouse, handing him the tools he needs to By Karen Schwaller noon, hosing the sewer water off of those wave over a clogged garbage disposal or a clothing items. broken vacuum cleaner and bring them Our mail carrier must wonder what back to life. goes on around here. But it sometimes comes at a high price. When he would talk about it after he showered, he This past late winter, my husband discovered a strung those familiar expletives together again drainage issue in the house. Something wasn’t right; before saying, “…I had toilet paper in my teeth.” and upon the several investigations that followed, it Truth be told, he did not experience that. But his turns out there was some kind of issue that was point about grossness was made. keeping the sewer line from flowing. Here’s a guy who raised hogs for 25 years and Given the job ahead of him, my husband spewed his usual string of curse words and started in on the never once flinched at the thought of having his jeans splattered or even caked with hog poop. They job of fixing that problem. He checked every place just came off at night and went into a pile of chore where he might gain the easiest access to the line, but eventually it led him to the basement where the clothes that were my responsibility to deal with. sewer pipe protrudes from the wall. And here is where our story begins. He grabbed a five-gallon bucket and placed it For the past few years, Minnesota farm families underneath the end of the pipe and slowly began to and their checkoff investment have helped support unscrew the plug. He turned slowly and the coninsect trapping networks in Minnesota for several tents ran just as slowly out of the pipe and into the corn insect pests. We would like to continue and bucket, which he would periodically dump into the expand this network in 2021 and would appreciate sump pit. This tomfoolery continued for a few minyour help. utes until it happened. He turned the plug a little Black cutworm – This insect cannot overwinter in too far, he guessed, and the pressure behind it was Minnesota and the moths migrate into Minnesota released. My husband was in perfect alignment for the bath each spring. The larvae attack several crops including corn and soybeans. from you-know-where. Spring weather patterns usually lead to early-seaAnd it didn’t miss. son migrations of moths mainly into the southern Of course, he was as grossed out as the person half of Minnesota. A network of pheromone traps can feeling the ‘brains’ at the haunted house, not to help predict when and where damage from black mention furious. cutworm larvae will occur. We started in cleaning up sewer water — hauling For previous year’s results of the black cutworm rugs up the steps and outside; putting old towels reporting network, see https://swroc.cfans.umn.edu/
Apparently, I handle mounds of clothing that has seen the back end of a farm animal better than my husband handles household ending stocks on his person. It took me back to the days when our children were babies. My husband managed to change a dirty diaper once or twice, but listening from the other room during the process, you would have thought he had just stumbled home from a college frat party — with the dry heaves, he would broadcast — and all at the very thought of getting some on his hands. He has never been a fan of people doo-doo — especially as a fashion accessory. I do have to hand it to him — this time especially — for taking one for the team. A sewage bath was a poetic symbol of how 2020 had gone. I bet he trades places with me the next time I say, “Hey dear, the toilet won’t flush.” But I’ll have six years of baby diaper experience behind me to give me the strength. Karen Schwaller brings “Table Talk” to The Land from her home near Milford, Iowa. She can be reached at kschwaller@evertek.net. v
Volunteers needed for insect trapping
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research/ipm/bcw-network. U of M Extension is in the process of lining up 2021 cooperators and trap locations. For black cutworm, we would like to get two pheromone trap locations per county — particularly in counties in the southern half of the state. If you are interested in running a trap or would like more details, contact tvollmer@umn.edu. The true armyworm is another migrant moth pest which can be captured with pheromone traps. The larvae are pests of corn, small grains, grass seed fields, grass hay and pastures. Because of armyworm infestations in the past few years, we plan on including this insect as part of the black cutworm network. Extension is also seeking cooperators to monitor corn rootworm beetles with yellow sticky traps during the summer of 2021. The results can help determine the risk of corn rootworm damage to corn in the following year. This project will attempt to pool data across Minnesota with the goal of better understanding spatial and temporal changes in corn rootworm populations. Individual field locations will be kept confidential. If you think you might want to participate in this project during 2021 or have corn rootworm trap data from 2020 you would be willing to share, contact bpotter@umn.edu or tvollmer@umn.edu. This article was submitted by University of Minnesota Extension. v
