Counting the time it took to stop and fill up the boxes, we were easily tying up five to six hours a day in labor. At $15/hour, you're talking $75-90/day. It's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. But why pay it if you don't have to?

In our case, we like a longer season variety. The index showed that with a starter, we'd likely get a yield boost in just one year out of eight. We figured we'd have a better chance of getting higher yields by focusing on getting our entire crop planted earlier.

You hear people saying starter will give you a yield benefit no matter how high your fertility. The question I kept coming back to was, 'How much of a bang am I really getting for my buck?' I absolutely hate to spend money when I don't need to.

Anytime you have fertilizer around metal, rust is going to be an issue. The way I see it, the planter we just bought should be around for as long as I care to farm.

Procastination is the thief of time.

Many people feed their birds but don't know exactly who is coming to their feeder. This is a good time to find out who these birds are.