Just got back from over winter in Bonaire. The ponds are as low as I have ever seen them from it being dry. So the overall rainfall has to have been very low, although we went in to the winter when we left also with low pond levels.

That said, I talked to one of my nephews yesterday and ask him if the corn went in too dry. He said all but one field top seemed to have enough moisture and should be ok. They had finished planting corn the day before. We usually started in March when the weather and ground was fit, but always finished in April. This is the first year I know of that corn planting in our area was finished in March. He said they have had small showers throughout the winter so the surface moisture for the most part was fine. It is just that we have had none of the big 2-3 inch rains that cause runoff and fills the ponds and make the creeks run.

So corn planting went ok. Should come up ok. We have a clay pan subsoil which saturated and releases moisture so slowly it is hardly a subsoil. Acts more like a plastic sheet about 8-12 inches under the ground. Oh it does soak up and release moisture but extremely slowly, hardly enough to do the crop much good at all. So we are almost totally dependent on a rain shower every week or ten days. The roots penetrate down to the acidic clay pan and about an inch into it and give up. So all our roots are in the upper foot of soil.

Being in the wettest little corner of Kansas, with half the annual precipitation going down the creeks as runoff, this is extremely dry for us. But a dry winter is very beneficial for getting maintenance like fixing terraces and dirt work done. So that part is welcome. Not sure how the cattle guys are getting along. The very low ponds would not be a positive.

But how the crop turns out is not much different for us, dry spring or not. We just need timely rains. Some years we get it, some years not. That is why our ground doesn't sell for ten thousand or more dollars an acre for crop land.

What I have seen multiple times in my lifetime is an extreme drought gets the rainfall averages brought back to normal by a flood. A foot of rain in a day or two. That is never any fun. A wet spell following an extreme dry spell. Hope the rain increase is more gradual this time.

Overly wet springs (and cold) are as much if not more of a problem for us normally. Probably  more often planting is delayed by being too wet in March instead of too dry. Not this year though. Dry and very warm this year. Corn should be up soon.