This blog is going to be the last one you'll be reading from me this summer. Today is my last day before I head back to K-State for my senior year! I've loved working here in Harveyville this summer and have been exposed to so many different opportunities that most summer interns miss out on. I'm beyond thankful for my time here and to have met each one of you who has stopped in!

The past few weeks I was slacking off a bit and didn't get a blog out to you. I moved into my house in Manhattan the week of August 1st and woke up that Monday with a temperature of 104.6! Needless to say my 4 day weekend turned into 6 days pretty quickly. Outside of my unintended week off, things around here have been good! I've been working on wrapping up all of my projects, and the guys are getting to a point of being caught up on all their jobs as well. 

Our Enlist plot is doing well! Matt and I went out to take some "drone" pictures of the entire field last week. It's pretty amazing how quickly the soybeans canopied over to fill the 1 row on each side that was affected. After watching this project  unfold, it is easy to see that Enlist is one of the best new technologies out there. It truly doesn't drift over like so many other products tend to, and from what we've seen it's smoking the weeds it hits too. Come stop in to see one of the guys about how the Enlist system can help you. (And check out my pamphlet on it as well!)

I've also been working on some trials with Nitrogen stabilizers throughout the summer. After looking at the fields treated with ContaiN and NZONE GL, I have been able to see the difference by comparing the root structure I've posted about in the past. Also, now that we have some actual corn to look at, by comparing the ears. Below you'll see pictures from just two of our fields; however, you can already see the difference in size and maturity between treatments!

My final lesson for the summer is for you all- To pour information into my college classmates whenever you can. We can learn so much more from talking to employers, farmers/ranchers, and just everyday customers than we can sitting in a classroom. I believe that's why good internships are so important in gaining the knowledge of whatever field of study we go into. Thank you to everyone who took the time this summer to sit down and talk to me! I look forward to seeing many of you at the customer appreciation dinner next week!

 As promised, this week I'm telling you about some projects I've been working on this summer! Last week I taught you a bit about our new tech, Enlist. We have multiple Enlist fields planted, but one in particular I've been checking up on frequently. This field was planted with straight Liberty Link soybeans (a single stack liberty trait system) and a few passes of Enlist E3 soybeans through the middle. The main idea we were hoping to witness and better understand was how little Enlist drifts off target. For those who don't know these two chemical mixes.. When we spray Enlist, we potentially will see 2, 4-D damage to the Liberty beans, on the other hand when we spray the Liberty we shouldn't see any effect on the Enlist E3 beans.

This first picture here is taken on the line of the upwind sides when we sprayed. Walking the line we're seeing between 0 & 1 rows of damage to the beans, and very rarely a second row. The wind when we sprayed was blowing from the right of the pictures to the left. 

Looking at this picture, we see our downwind side of the line from spraying. This side has some more drifting, In general we're seeing around 2 to 3 rows of damage. Overall I am impressed with the results we're seeing! I think that Enlist is going to be a good new chemical on the market for farmers to consider! Seeing the small amount of damage on these beans is a good price to pay so we can learn how much this product really stays home. 

Lastly this final picture is one of the taller weeds we've found in the Enlist beans that we wanted to track and see what the full effects were!

I also had a chance this week to check out some of our ContaiN fields! AgXplore has formulated ContaiN to increase the availability and use of nitrogen, and is considered a nitrogen urease inhibitor. From what I've witnesses thus far, the key difference we see in our corn samples is the root structures and lengths. More than likely I won't be around to see the ending results of this product, but I'm excited for our company to have some higher yield results to offer to you next year!

Looking at the above photos, Our first field on the left side has a check/untreated corn on the left and a treated ContaiN corn on the right. The second field is showing the same on the right side of this photo with the check/untreated on the left and treated ContaiN on the right!

Other than my projects, this week was full of lots of random projects! I got some major cleaning and spraying done in the garden that I had been procrastinating. Kyle and I cleaned a ton of dirt and stuff out of the corn building so it looks organized now! Thursday we had lasagna day (and it was national intern day!!). Essentially lasagna day consisted of me bringing lasagna and pie for everyone to eat for lunch...and breakfast Friday. 

One of my lessons from this week is to not limit yourself to being inside all day. Get out and do something after work if you've been inside the whole day. Even if you're exhausted at the end of the day, you may make a memory you'll never forget!

Earlier in the week I went to a cool place in North Topeka called Iliff Commons. It's a really cool nature walking area that has lots of swings, benches, picnic tables, a pond, and some Kansas history throughout! One of my best friends, Tori, and I took my dog up there and got to explore around and take some cool pictures! I highly recommend this for a fun evening if you're ever up in the area!

Hello everyone! This week has turned into an Enlist week!

Monday we put signs up in our plots! Go check them out if you've driven past any! It wasn't the coolest week to do it, but after the third try of getting them in the right places they're in!

On Tuesday, Dustin, Michael, and I drove over to Holden, Missouri to attend an Enlist field day. Enlist is one of Corteva's newest technologies on the market! Enlist is approved for use in Corn, Cotton, and Soybeans. One of the things we were shown in Missouri was a scenario where there was some tank contamination. Using Enlist on Roundup Ready soybeans there was little to no damage with 50, 10, and 5 gallons left in a 1,000 gallon tank when looking at the level of sensitivity to Enlist.

In turn, when they did the same test with Engenia there was damage every time. With this trial they were able to show us that using Enlist is generally safer when you're going to be spraying from field to field as well as the high importance of tank cleanout.

Another major issue that many deal with is drifting. With their new Colex-D technology we've noticed that drifting is much less of a concern than in years past. The new technology is specifically formulated to keep the droplet sizes the same but reduce those small fines (and keep them on target) so you don't kill grandma's garden--or mine! We have created our own trial locally to better understand how this technology works. There is a field full of Liberty beans with a section of Enlist down the middle. We were able to go out and spray this field on Wednesday, by the next afternoon we were already seeing some of our weeds curling and bending over at the tops, while the weeds in the liberty beans were not doing too much. As far as drifting, we again are only seeing 1-2 rows of damage down wind of the beans. I'll have more pictures for you all next week to show the progression of this project! 

There's still so much to be learned from Enlist since it's new to our market. However, I think it's safe to say that we're impressed so far and excited about what the future brings us with this product! 

Our Garden is still looking great! I've noticed quite a few people have been coming out to pick things which is great! All the kids except one should have their tubs by now. Also, make sure they're out there watering and taking care of them!

Lessons of the week:

Don't turn and go off the side of the road, even if you're sure there isn't a ditch down there... On the bright side it took me 9 weeks to get myself stuck and have to call for help! 

When I was younger I think I took for granted all the relationships my dad had exposed us to. Those relationships with his coworkers turned out to be a huge blessing this summer. Having that immediate connection to some of the people I've known for over 10 years has been very helpful in my entire summer experience. 

This week was one of the busier weeks I've had this summer. Starting out on Monday, Dustin gave me a very cool opportunity. I was able to go up to a meeting with him through KARA and sit down with KDA to discuss some things within the future of agriculture. I met our new Secretary of Agriculture, as well as a few others with KARA and the KDA. Being able to sit in on a higher importance meeting and watching the interactions was a different experience than most college students have the chance to be part of so I'm very thankful for it!

Wednesday another one of our Mycogen reps, Brook, came out to look through our Enlist fields with me. What we saw wasn't expected there, but we're very glad we did see it! If you haven't heard of webworms yet, it's a good time to learn! Here is a link to a small article that K-State wrote on them... 

https://entomology.k-state.edu/extension/insect-information/crop-pests/soybeans/webworms.html

Hopefully these guys will get under control around here soon but, we have been seeing/hearing about quite a few affected fields through East/Central Kansas. Brook was very helpful in teaching me a little more about some of the insects in our crops since I haven't had too much exposure so far this summer. (Which is a good thing!) The big thing with them that we learned is they tend to feed on alfalfa, pigweeds and waterhemp. This is why we're seeing such an increase after haying or spraying by a field. Be on the lookout so you can get it controlled quickly! The picture below was taken only a week after being sprayed. 

The garden is still doing well! Our vegetable number is going up a ton, so please go grab anything you need! We have Zucchini, Cucumbers, Beans, Peas, Okra, Lettuce, and soon we will have a ton of tomatoes! Now that it has dried out we are planning to get tubs delivered to kids this week sometime! 

Friday I was lucky enough to head down to Beaver Lake with my dads side of the family. Going to Arkansas every summer has become one of my favorite memories! It's usually full of learning new water-sports, falling hard trying to learn them, bad sunburns, and lots of memories with family. This year was even more special since CJ was able to come with and spend some more time getting to know my family better. 

This weeks lesson is a bit different. I've had a lot of people ask me throughout the summer about my plans for the future and after CJ and I get married next May. My answer is generally "I don't know" or a series of options we may have. It's hard to get caught up in the planing and dreaming but not for sure knowing a reality.

So, my lesson is it's good to have people in your life reminding you that this isn't our plan, as long as we have some faith it's all going to be just fine. 

Have a good week, and stay cool!

This past week was our last week of garden camp! I've enjoyed camp so much this summer, and I really hope the kids learned as much as I did! This summer I wanted to emphasize some of the different areas and ways that plants grow-- as well as what is going to help/hurt them. Our main topics through the weeks were growing seeds, identifying your different plants, pests in the garden, parts of the plant we eat, and pollination. I felt the majority of the kids were able to learn something and were able to tell me some things they remembered on our final week! 

We were able to harvest quite a few vegetables from this past week! The kids took home lettuce, peas, carrots, cucumber, and zucchini. The garden is still plenty stocked so come grab some veggies if you need some!!

I think my favorite part of camp was just watching the kids who were wanting to learn and I felt were engaged in what I taught. I believe it's always better to have fun with the kids and not just sit and talk to them all day. Occasionally I would ask the kids what they wanted to do that day. The majority of the time I got a response of "Can we pick ____?" or asking to pull the weeds in the large weed patch we had. Those comments were so reassuring that most of the kids were enjoying what we were doing! 

Other than camp last week I did actually do some other work! The Mycogen/Corteva intern, Ryan, and I went out to look at some of our other Enlist bean fields. We saw some fields that were looking tough from flooding, some fields that looked more like pastures, and some that looked absoutley amazing. We're excited to share some of our before/after pictures with you once we get those fields sprayed!

CJ texted me the morning of the 4th and said they had 4.5 inches of rain so far and he had a chance to go home for the weekend! I got packed up, picked him up, and off to McDonald, KS we went! We were able to surprise his parents and show up just in time for the party that night. Over the weekend we got to spend a lot of time just being out around the farm, checking cows, and seeing family. My dog, Brynn, got to come along as well! She found plenty of ponds and puddles to jump into when she got hot. Some of this water was clean...some was dyed green. Needless to say, she got in the green pond more than she got in the clean ones.  McDonald, KS has a place in my heart and even if CJ and I don't end up here some day, it's still such a special place for us both to be. 

On a fun office note- I learned and accomplished some new things last week! 

• I learned to do the bridge after you shuffle cards
• I got the golfball on the tee that's inside a snow globe on Jo's desk (go try it, it's so hard) 
• I stumped Kyle with a card trick!
• I learned to always ask for directions on how to get to a field before you go..sometimes you take the wrong way in.

Finally, my lesson of the week: I am going to marry into an amazing family and I'm so lucky to be able to have such a great and supportive In-law relationship.

It's my 6th week here and the summer is flying by, almost halfway done! It has been such a fun summer so far, even with this new hot and humid week. My farmer's tan is getting so much more visible though, and my face is getting more burnt every day.

We had a guest come and talk with the kids at camp this week about bees! We all learned some fun facts about them and why they can be good for our garden! The kids got a chance to touch and look at all the different equipment used for bees. We even got to try some of their crystallized honey and some pollen!

Now that the ground has dried out, you can really see all the plants starting to take off and grow some of our vegetables. We even found some okra in the garden that we had given up on! I'm hoping next week we may be able to harvest some of the potatoes we've grown so that the kids can help with that before camp is over. Nick and I also did some major tilling, weeding, and replanting in the garden since we've had some dry and hot days!

I started my week off going out with our AgXplore Rep to look at some of our corn fields that have NZone GL applied. Seeing results in such a short period after application and planting was a cool lesson to learn. I also had never gone out to pull up samples before; so learning about looking at those differences, determining which plants to pull and how to properly clean them off is going to be beneficial in the future!

This was also another good learning week! I'm so thankful to be working in an internship that is actually willing to teach me about everything rather than just doing "grunt work" 24/7. I feel more confident about the whole process of seed treating than I have during the past times I've helped. I'm beginning to understand so many more topics that are being discussed than when I first began!

My lesson of the week- Having good people around you who are willing to selflessly help is a huge blessing. 

This has been the longest and shortest week I've had so far! Flying back into Kansas City on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning our flight was delayed two times. Instead of landing at 1:15 in KC, we landed around 3:30. CJ and I got back to my house at 5:00 in the morning and went to sleep. I woke back up at 7 to come do garden camp for the kids. Needless to say I went home and took a nap after camp was over! Colorado was so much fun and I got to meet a lot of CJ's family however, it is nice to be back home and in a normal schedule again. 

In camp this week I thought it would be fun to emphasize the different areas where we have plants growing. We learned and identified plants that grow as a root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, and seed! The kids thought it was cool that broccoli is actually considered to be the flower of a plant. Some also learned that vegetables like cucumbers, peppers, and squash are considered to be the "fruit" of a plant. A huge thanks to Judy Thomas who took her morning off to come out and help us pull weeds and harvest! She taught the kids some ways that velvet leaf can be useful, ask your kids what they learned!

On Thursday my younger brother, Jarrett, came to visit HSC! He's one of the interns with Syngenta this summer so he and I are going to be working on a project together. We're going to be putting a mixture of a fungicide and insecticide onto some beans to hopefully see an increase in the yields. I'm excited to be working on a project with him!

 Friday, I had another intern, Ryan, with Corteva come out to look at some of our communities' fields planted with Enlist beans. A few fields weren't quite up yet; however, we did see a field with quite a few beans emerging! Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have some good side by side pictures for everyone so we can learn a bit more about this newer technology with Enlist.

Side Note: HSC has Twitter now! Go follow us! @hsckansas

Hello again! This week is a little bit shorter, I got the chance to go on a trip with my fiancé's family! 

Our third garden camp was a great week for teaching the kids how to keep a garden clean! I taught them all about our main types of pesticides. I was able to show them an area they weeded last week and compare the weeds coming up in there to an area I sprayed with Roundup. We also talked a bit about the benefits of using insecticides, fungicides, and different traps for raccoons or other animals. The kids seemed to know quite a bit about these so it was easy to expand on their knowledge and ask them questions! We were able to pick a ton more lettuce (If you need any lettuce, please come grab some yourself! There is way too much for all of us to eat ourselves.) After our lessons and picking some veggies, we worked hard to weed all the tiny weeds around our plants so that they can hopefully start to grow better.

I'm starting to sink into a bit of a routine at the office this past week. It's been fun to get to go out and help with some of the things around the yard! I spent most of the week preparing for camp since I would be gone and helped with sorting out some returned seed. I also learned how to mix a large batch of fertilizer and Henry taught me how to clean out some of our chemical containers. 

CJ's sister got married on Saturday in Denver, so he and I flew out of KC late Wednesday night to help with the preparations for the wedding starting on Thursday! It was a very cool ceremony since her (now) husband is from Scotland! They were able to have a “bagpiper” at the wedding as well which was so much fun. Sunday CJ's mother’s side of the family all drove up to Estes Park for the week for a family reunion. That side of the family is pretty large but it was fun to get to meet everyone and go through the National Park! CJ and I will fly back into Kansas City very early Wednesday morning, just in time for me to get back for camp at 9 am! CJ also turned 21 this week so we got to celebrate his birthday, his mom’s birthday, Fathers Day, and a wedding all in a couple of days! 

In case you were curious, it rains just as much in Colorado as it does in Kansas—I'm pretty sure.