Praying for Rain

Many aspects of our lives we base on expecting the weather to act a certain way. There are averages for everything that effect what you wear, outdoor activities, and how things grow. Being in the agriculture industry the weather is a daily factor in my routine. May and June are typically some of the most actively growing months of the year for turf under normal weather conditions. However, for the past month it has been extremely dry meaning the turf is not growing. Even turf that is irrigated doesn't seem to grow quite as well as that from rainfall. Turf that is not irrigated has reverted back into a state of dormancy, meaning it doesn't need to be maintained by me. Its feeling like a winter work schedule with some of the frequency I'm doing things. There are no restrictions on watering yet, but we are early in the summer. Fortunately, less time at my job means I can help Rebecca more with her business. Coming through he busiest month, there is plenty to do with her photography.

I know the rain will come and the Lord will provide.

"He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills." -Psalms 147:8

Thesis Defense

I'm reaching the end of my thesis work (finally) and its kind of a weird feeling. I'm been so ready for it to be over for so long but to reach the end you have to go through the defense. Something I'm not looking forward to. From what I know, its basically a 3 hour questioning of all your knowledge on your topic. Its sort of an academic hazing. The professors like to find out how much you know and exploit what you don't know. The other side of it is, I've only heard of one guy not passing his defense in our department. So, my motivation to really prepare is lacking. I've scheduled my work load to be light this week so I can have some time to prepare. 

I've had this hanging over my head for a year and the end is finally in sight. My professors and I have gone through 9 revisions, most of them major. Towards the end it started to get frustrating because it got to be "picky" things for a paper that no one will probably ever read again. Oh well, after this week it won't be a big deal.

Green Side Up

Two days of this past week were spent laying sod for a client. Another first for me now that I'm on my own. They have a great back yard area that was recently landscaped with stone retaining walls. They also just finished adding on to their back deck. The turf area, or what was left of it, was bermudagrass. However, it was way too shady for that species thus the reason for there not being much there.We decided to go with Emerald zoysiagrass, a much more shade tolerant species. The leftover bermuda and weeds got two doses of round-up before the new turf was put down. I prepped the soil bed a little and started laying sod around noon on the first day. I had to wheelbarrow each load of sod down a small hill to the backyard. I got a little over a pallet down the first day. I got the rest down early afternoon on day two. I spent a couple hours cutting it in and thoroughly watering.

Emerald Zoysiagrass

The first wheelbarrow load

One Pallet

Two Pallets

Three Pallets

The only mistake I made and it was almost a big one, was greatly overestimating how much sod I needed. I ordered 4 pallets and only used exactly 3. How could you be so far off you might ask. Laziness. I measured his backyard twice to figure out how much I needed. The first time I just stepped off to get an estimate, which came out to 2000 square feet. The second time was with an actual tape measure. In my head the number didn't seem that much different from what I had calculated the first time. One pallet will cover 450 square feet, so I ordered 4 pallets. As I approached a slight panic about what I'm going to do with this extra pallet of sod,  I went back and checked my real measurements and sure enough, it came out to 1300, pretty much exactly 3 pallets. What an amateur thing to do and I should have known better, especially when I can't afford to be absorbing a whole pallet of sod into my profit for the day. Fortunately the Lord was being gracious to be and allowed me an escape. My parents next-door neighbor just happened to be resodding his yard the next day. So I called him and he said he would take it. Other than having hand load and unload an entire pallet of sod, it turned out okay.

I definitely learned my lesson.

Wasteful Wednesday - Gutter Trouble

This installment hits a little close to home and hate I have to point out some of my own. I have seen this all over campus the last couple of weeks. Campus landscape has been putting out fertilizer in all the turf areas. They actually borrowed the Turf Program's tractor to spread it. If you've looked down while walking anywhere on campus you've probably seen it. The green prills indicate it is probably polyon, which is a slow release type of fertilizer. They have 'layers' of nutrients that are slowly released as the coating is broken down. A good fertilizer that doesn't burn the turf and requires fewer applications.

The problem comes in with the amount of fertilizer that ended up in non turf areas, namely concrete. By using a broadcast spreader it is very easy to throw fertilizer out of turf areas and into the street. However, all this street fertilizer is a waste of money and looks bad.

Turf is often finger pointed as a wasteful means of land use with all the maintenance requirements and chemicals needed. I most certainly disagree with that accusation, however seeing piles of fertilizer does not help our image. A little more care could save a lot of bad publicity.

Deep Rooted

The past couple of days I have spent a little time in the greenhouse emptying out my pots I used for my research this past Spring. I was growing 'A4' Creeping Bentgrass in the pots, a common species on high end golf course putting greens. The pots needed to be used for another experiment, but not the grass, so it ended up in the trash. The soil was still good, so I had to shake off the sand from the roots. As I pulled out each plug I was reminded of the extensiveness of the root system when compared with what you see above ground.

The turf itself may be an inch tall, but the roots extend all 12 inches to the bottom of the pot. Developing this deep root system allows the turf to utilize water and nutrients from all depths of the soil. If a time of drought comes, the plant is able to survive by having those deep roots. I have heard this numerous times in the classroom, but it always puts a greater emphasis on it when you actually see it.

This feature of turf reminds me of what should be our faith nature. We need a strong root system so in times of trouble we are anchored securely and have plenty of nutrients to get us through tough times.

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." - Jeremiah 17:7-8

One of the things I greatly enjoy about working with turf, plants, creation, is getting to see the beauty of God's handiwork. The fact you can put a tiny seed into soil, add water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, light and the right temperature, and it will soon turn into a much larger plant. Its a beautiful and amazing thing. Its easy to break it down into formulas, components and processes involved and think you have a handle on things. Yet we can't recreate these things. I often see two reactions to creation that are understandable, but only the beginning of the real truth.

• People see creation and want to worship the creation itself, not the creator of creation.
• People see the science of creation and want to worship the science, not the creator of science.

 When you worship these things you are only seeing the a small aspect of a much grander picture. Creation and science both point to the Lord. Whether it be artists, musicians, athletes, architects, etc. we praise the talents of people. None of these things we praise we assume happened on their own, there was a creator behind what we're praising. Why is nature the exception? Rather than worshiping the creation itself, it should point us to the ultimate creator. Science attempts to explain all the aspects of creation.  What is the ultimate goal here? If we got to the point of being able to explain everything that happens what then? If each experiment is in hopes of getting through another window of science, what happens when you run out of windows? The order of nature and the fact we can study it, points to a design, not a random chance of events.

I think man wants to be able to create. The sin of Adam and Eve, wanting to be equal with God, is still rampant today. If you become 'one with nature' or 'understand nature' then you can consider yourself equal with it. Just like our ancestors, that is our nature today, whether realized or not.

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." - Romans 1:20