FROM THE CORNER

First things first! It's that time of the year that some people hate. It’s time to turn our clocks ahead for Daylight Savings time, which begins on Sunday, March 13. Make sure you turn your clock ahead one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night, March 12. *** It was interesting to note a couple of things related to the Cloverbelt Playoffs. For those of us who watched Stanley-Boyd play Neillsville for second place via You Tube, it again showed that the Neillsville School District is far and away the best in broadcasting sports events. The videoing is great and the screen also includes the score and time remaining to be played. You may recall that I commented in this column, after watching S-B vs Neillsville football game, what a great job they did and in my judgment, the best job of any school, in doing this year’s football games. There would be a lot to be learned by other schools, including our own Stanley-Boyd, which this year started out extremely poor, but did improve over the basketball season. My other observation is that the Western Cloverbelt won 6 of the eight crossover playoff games. Winning were Fall Creek, S-B, Bloomer, Regis, Thorp and Cadott. The only losers were Mc Donnell and Osseo-Fairchild. *** This is one of those times of the year when you are fortunate if you live in Stanley vs Thorp. Thorp residents who have property facing streets that are being upgraded this coming summer have received notices of a special cost assessment for some of those street and infrastructure upgrades. A Public Hearing on the special assessments is scheduled for March 14, per a public notice in the March 3, issue of their local newspaper. Stanley has no such assessments. *** When we think of agriculture we typically think of milk and cheese production. While milk and cheese production are substantial, the growing of farm crops and vegetables contrib- ute major income to Wisconsin farmers. Wisconsin ranks first in the nation for: snap beans for processing, cheese, cranberries, ginseng, mink pelts, dry whey for humans, milk goats and corn for silage. Wisconsin agriculture is a big economic factor contributing $104.8 billion annually. Food processing contributes $82.7 billion to industrial sales. What do these crops provide in terms of jobs? Annually, 435,700 jobs. On-farm production contributes 154,000 jobs and processing crops contributes 282,000 jobs. Wisconsin is home to 64,100 farms on 14.2 million acres. The average farm in Wisconsin is 222 acres. Wisconsin has only 6,500 dairy farms, more than any other state, and 1.28 million cows. The dairy industry contributes $45.6 billion to Wisconsin’s economy each year. *** Wisconsin is #1 in cheese. Our state’s nearly 1,200 licensed cheese makers produce over 600 types, styles and varieties of cheese –nearly double the number of any other state. Wisconsin cheese makers make 26% of the nation’s cheese, producing 3.39 billion pounds in 2020. In 2020, the state led the nation with the production of 796 million pounds of specialty cheese. *** Wisconsin is a top state in the production of processing vegetables. In 2021, Wisconsin grew 6.69 million cwt of snap beans, 1.48 million cwt of carrots and 1.20 million cwt of green peas, that were harvested from 26,300 acres. Sweet corn growers harvested 9.58 million cwt from 53,200 acres last year. The state ranks third in the nation in potato production, harvesting potatoes on 68.500 acres in 2020. Wisconsin is also a big cranberry producer. In 2020, Wisconsin produced 4.64 million barrels of cranberries from 20,800 acres. Producing 59% of the nation’s cranberries makes Wisconsin the top state in the country. The state also processes a large tart cherry crop, producing 10.1 million pounds in 2020. Wisconsin exported more than $3.37 billion of agricultural and food products in 2020 to 145 countries. The state’s top agricultural export markets include Canada, China and Japan. Wisconsin ranks first in the export of ginseng roots, pre pared/preserved cranberries, raw fur skins, and bovine semen. (Information from: Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection) *** Since I am taking a look at the cash crops grown in Wisconsin, I have recently also learned about kidney beans, that are also grown in Western Wisconsin. Did you know that kidney beans are a super food? Kidney beans are an excellent plant based source of protein, fibers, antioxidants, and other unique plant compounds. Beans aid weight loss, promote colon health, and moderate blood sugar levels keeping you fit and healthy! For farmers, they are an excellent rotation for all crops in our region and offer a great return on a farmer’s acres. Chippewa Valley Bean Company, that operates out of a Menomonie location, is one of the largest contractors for bean acreage in our area. Overall, they have contracts with more than 100 family farms in four states. Besides selling a considerable amount of production of kidney beans to Bush Brothers in Augusta, this company has de- veloped markets across the United States and exports to more than 30 countries every year, which makes it the largest kidney bean exporter in the world as well. The aforementioned information came from a pamphlet developed by Chippewa Valley Bean and distributed at the July 2021 Farm Technology Days held in Eau Claire. *** Did you know? The Wisconsin Lions Recycling Center at Rosholt, WI is one of only 18 Lions Clubs International Certi- fied Recycling Centers in the world. Annually, 500,000 + pairs of used eyeglasses are processed at the WLF Recycling Center to be sent to developing countries across the world. If you have contributed your used eyeglasses, you have contributed to this humanitarian effort. *** Smile time. I came. I saw. I forgot what I was doing. +++ Retraced my steps. Got lost on the way back. Now I have no idea what’s going on. +++ I’m at a place in my life where errands are starting to count as going out. +++ I don’ always go the extra mile, but when I do it’s because I missed my exit. +++ I don’t mean to brag, but I finished my 14-day diet food supply in 9 hours and 20 minutes. +++ Having plans sounds like a good idea until you have to put on clothes and leave the house. +++ It’s weird being the same age as old people. +++ It’s probably my age that tricks people into thinking I’m an adult. +++ Never sing in the shower! Singing leads to dancing, dancing leads to slipping, and slipping leads to paramedics seeing you naked. So remember … don’t sing! +++ I see people my age mountain climbing. I feel good getting my leg through my underwear without losing my balance. +++ We all get heavier as we get older, because there’s a lot more information in our heads. That’s my story anyway. +++ One minute your young and having fun. Next, you’re turning down the car stereo to see better. +++ Some people are like clouds, once they disappear it’s a beautiful day.

BY DAVID JANKOSKI