Labor Day

As harvest season approaches in northern Indiana, farmers like Clay Geyer are preparing their equipment and fields for the crucial months ahead.

County fair, state fair, Learfield Ag/Brownfield summer meeting and Farm Progress Show filled my August. Hot and worn out at the end of many of those days, but my cup is full.

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, and there’s no better way to celebrate than by firing up the grill and treating your friends and family to something truly special.

Trade unions played a crucial role in establishing Labor Day as a holiday. “Union Made” has long been a point of pride for American industries, as in this sign advertising Sweet-Orr clothing, which sold for $7,380.

Berkeley Boehne harvested an excellent wheat crop in July and his corn and soybean crops also look good at the start of August.

A month ago we needed a little rain. We got some, but we’re back to it being dry. In my area, I saw the first field where the soybeans have a yellow tinge, where they’re starting to turn. They probably wouldn’t be if we had received rain in the last week.

It’s a quandary. How do we avoid spending Labor Day laboring in the kitchen, but also celebrate the last hurrah of summer with a delicious meal? Here’s how!

One certain way to raise my agricultural bona fides among farming friends was to casually mention my upbringing on a 100-cow southern Illinois dairy farm. “Oh,” they would say reverently, “that’s real work.”