Input Costs

This is for all the "ethanol haters" and people who think that us farmers are just cutting the fat hog. On Wednesday, Jason order a tanker load of diesel. This is red (actually it looks more pink to me) fuel and it is not legal on the roads. It has always been cheaper than gas. Well...... the price on Wednesday was $4.22 a gallon, by today, when we actually got the load, it was $4.32 a gallon! It went up .10 cents in 1 full day!!! My bill was $17K! What in the world is going on?!? And Jason and I are small farmers compared to a lot of people, so you can only imagine their fuel bill. Fuel is always one of our lower costs as well, but, you know, these farmers are just getting so rich with these high corn prices. Did I mention that Jason and I aren't even growing corn.

This is a shout out for all of you Aggies. In the Farm Futures magazine there was a report on study done by Texas A & M. The study found the high oil prices, not ethanol, is the driving force behind higher food prices. The TAMU study dispels the food-vs.-fuel debate. I knew that I liked A&M!

I don't know how people farm who are not Christians. There is not a day that goes by that I don't find my self "on my knees" casting my anxieties upon God. Besides our input costs going through the roof and praying that we will be able to pay the bank back, the weather has been strange. The last 3 days we have had wind up to 50 mph, which is very hard on little chile that is trying to grow. We are behind anyway due to the cold weather this spring, and we have already lost some of our crop to the wind. Last night it started to hail, not a lot, but it made it hard to sleep. I'm not sure at this point how the chile survived, I'm afraid to ask!

A few days ago, when I went on that field trip, it was about 96 degrees. Today we have reached a high of 64 degrees, the wind is blowing, and it has been sprinkling on and off all day. We did get about 1/2 inch of rain, which wasn't a bad thing because, luckily, Jason decided not to cut our hay until Monday. Sometimes the only thing that brings me comfort is knowing that God knows our needs, and He is going to take care of us. It may not be how we have planned, but He is still in control.

On a little happier note, I did discover a very cool cleaning tool today! I used Pledge with lemon on my shower door, and it removed the soap scum like you would not believe! So since it worked so well on the door, I used it on the whole shower. It removed all the soap scum that I have tried to remove with a number of different cleaners. Also, it's kind of like giving your shower a "spot free rinse" like at the car wash. My hope is that it will help keep my shower cleaner, longer! You should try it!

For Janette, this verse is simple but I like it.
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."
John 14:1