Hiya fruitnut! That picture was taken June 16th, about 2 weeks since our last significant rain. These new corn hybrids are incredible, they have withstood and even set ears in such dismal conditions. It's bad out there though. They have tested the genetic drought tolerance of the new corn hybrids, and we have learned that while the corn is now drought tolerant, it is not drought proof, there still needs to be SOME rain fall for things to grow. This is that same field of green corn from above, taken yesterday: The corn is "firing", dying from the ground up. Even if we got decent rains for the rest of the growing season, the corn cannot come back from it's current condition, it will wither where it stands. My pastures are bone dry While those pictures show decent ears along the outside rows, the outside rows are the only thing cool enough to set and fill ears. Once you go into the field, most plants aborted their ears or kernels... It is worth noting that I have some of the best soils in the country under me, deep black prairie that have productivity indices at the top of the chart. The soils don't get any better than Ipava and Muscatine silt loams. Soils that are not prairie but upland timber have a much lower organic matter content, and a lower moisture capacity, and corn grown on more marginal farms with upland timber soils look like this: That photo was taken on June 15th... near the same time as my pic way above.

Brix studies are highly controversial...especially those dealing with tomatoes. If you're going to compare supermarket ethylene ripened toms to plant ripened toms you're going to get skewed brix results...the plants simply do it better than forcing the ripening, and it does have to do with better micronutrient availability. That said, there's a lot of high brix/low acid testing brix advocates that want people to put a foolish amount of micronutrients in their soil rather than building a soil structure/quality that can better hold and exchange micronutrients. There's a big industry building around selling people extremely expensive bags of micronutrients the past decade which wash their way through the soil profile and/or are over-amended to make up for poor soil. Build your soil quality (holding/exchange capability), apply less, benefit more. They're micronutrients...you don't need a lot, you just need them to hang around. This post was edited by nc-crn on Fri, Dec 28, 12 at 16:21

pnb - from NIH (link follows): Sources of Selenium Food Seafoods and organ meats are the richest food sources of selenium [1]. Other sources include muscle meats, cereals and other grains, and dairy products. The amount of selenium in drinking water is not nutritionally significant in most geographic regions [2,6]. The major food sources of selenium in the American diet are breads, grains, meat, poultry, fish, and eggs [7]. The amount of selenium in a given type of plant-based food depends on the amount of selenium in the soil and several other factors, such as soil pH, amount of organic matter in the soil, and whether the selenium is in a form that is amenable to plant uptake [2,6,8,9]. As a result, selenium concentrations in plant-based foods vary widely by geographic location [1,2]. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Composition Database, Brazil nuts have 544 mcg selenium/ounce, but values from other analyses vary widely [10-12]. The selenium content of soil affects the amounts of selenium in the plants that animals eat, so the quantities of selenium in animal products also vary [2,5]. However, selenium concentration in soil has a smaller effect on selenium levels in animal products than in plant-based foods because animals maintain predictable tissue concentrations of selenium through homeostatic mechanisms. Furthermore, formulated livestock feeds generally contain the same levels of selenium. Here is a link that might be useful: Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Selenium

I am diabetic and will be eating what I want for Thanksgiving -within reason. My doctor told me that I can enjoy myself as long as I don't splurge on anything. I know it will be hard for your guest as he is just newly diagnosed and I remember the panic and super vigilance when I was first diagnosed. Of course, a diabetic should always be careful what they eat but thank goodness over time the panic goes away and you learn to adjust your habits. I agree with those who said that you should just cook what you normally cook. I know that sounds mean but as a diabetic there are normally enough vegetable and protein choices at a Thanksgiving dinner to fill him up. Sweet potatoes without added sugar are actually much better then white potatoes as they are a more complex carbohydrate and really anything that is digested more slowly (carb wise) is best that way you don't get as bad of a sugar spike. You will do great! Karen