Reminiscing with Carlson at NARC

This past week, I attended the Northern Agricultural Research Center tour. All the wagons were loaded and ready to roll when a downpour hit.

Everyone ran for the tent and witnessed .6 inches of rain fall in 15 minutes. I have to hand it to the staff, though; they did a rotating presentation in three groups in the offices until 7 p.m. when a steak dinner was served. It was a great meal for around 200 folks.

I ran into a number individuals that I’ve either worked with or played with over the past 40 plus years.

One encounter was with Gregg Carlson, who was head of the cropping program in the 1980s and 1990s. Judy and I collaborated with Gregg and the Center on plot tests on our farm.

That was early days of re-cropping and nitrogen use. Gregg reminded me of a practice I had tried in those years, termed “Westside Theory,” where we re-cropped west edges of the fields to recapture moisture. This was opposed to the standard of farming narrow strips to hold down wind erosion. Now we have chem-fallow to solve the wind problem.

I had never attended a State of Montana Republican Convention before this past weekend. It was nice to touch base with other legislators who I worked with during session.

I asked Judy if she would like to take that in or drop me in Billings and go on to Douglas, Wyoming, to see the grandkids. Since Saturday was a birthday for our grandson, Kaiden, and our granddaughter had a dance recital, Douglas was not a hard decision for her.

On our way home Sunday, we stopped in Fort Benton to attend the finale of the “Art on the Levy.” Again, we ran into old friends, met some new ones, and had great visits.

As we approach the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, have fun celebrating the anniversary of our country’s independence and please remember to be safe.

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Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, can be reached at [email protected]