Judith Reppert

Last week, I visited the University of Missouri's Southwest Center Agricultural Experiment Station. That's quite a mouthful, so I'll just call it the Center.

The Center has been around since 1959. Their mission is to perform continuing agricultural and horticultural research on an 898-acre site just south of Mount Vernon, Missouri.

For the last 46 years, they've held an annual public Field Day, and this was my first one. I had a wonderful, educational time.

Various professionals from the Center, other branches of the University, and other universities made short educational presentations and gave tours covering a variety of topics. The general areas of discussion were Beef, Dairy, Forage, Horticulture, and Grapes. Questions were welcomed.

This was a great opportunity for me. My husband and I grow and enjoy a large home garden and are starting a tiny orchard. We definitely wanted to check out the horticultural information. I also try to learn whatever I can about local agricultural production so I can do a better job of presenting local farms to buyers and for sellers.

The very good turnout included students, cattle ranchers, dairy farmers, hobby farmers, vegetable producers and home gardeners. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and learning a lot. We even got a little sunburned after the clouds cleared up.

There was definitely something for everyone. Here's just a sampling of the 20+ wide-ranging farm and garden topics that were addressed:

• Home Fruit Production
• Interseeding Legumes
• Economic Models for Pasture-based Dairies
• Show-Me-Select Heifer Program
• Use of Rootstocks in Grape Production
• Walking Tour of SW Center Horticulture Projects
• Organic Options for Small Fruit and Vegetable Production

I made it through several of the horticulture and dairy tours and sessions. There just wasn't enough time for anything else! The morning horticulture sessions were very well attended. I was very impressed both with the helpful presentations and with the crowd. At the end of each presentation, people asked good questions, others chimed in with helpful answers from their own experience, and the experts did a great job of coordinating it all, giving their own answers and clarifications.

My dairy sessions were as part of the final group, so there weren't that many people in those sessions. That was OK with me since I was just trying to soak up the basic information. I'm not sure I could have processed any additional input!

If you are anywhere near Mount Vernon, consider finding out more about the Center. You'll find them on the web at http://aes.missouri.edu/swcenter/. They offer seminars throughout the year on various topics, plus they're a great source of information. I already have a followup email in my inbox with some solar greenhouse information that I requested.

Another of my favorite Missouri garden and farm information spots on the web is the University of Missouri extension service, http://extension.missouri.edu/. Click on "Programs by Topic" on the left-hand side, and you'll find a wealth of information.

So mark your calendar for early next September. Whether you're a new or long-time Missouri gardener, a hobby farmer, or a full-time farmer, come on out and have a field day at Field Day!

If you've been living in the city all your life, you may not have thought too much about where your household water comes from.  Out of the faucet, right?  That's what I used to think, too.

Once you start planning to buy property in rural Southwest Missouri, there's a little more to it than that.  Unless you live within reach of the rural water districts extending around the local small towns, you're going to be getting your water from a well.

Well Basics:

There are some basic well questions you'll want to ask when you're buying rural property.  Start with these:

1. How long is the rope?  OK, just kidding.
2. How deep is the well?  How old is the well?
3. Who drilled the well?
4. How old is the well pump?  What size is the well pump?
5. Has the water in this well been tested?  When?  What were the test results?
6. Have there been any health problems related to the water?
7. Are there any non-health related issues, such as hard water, bad taste, etc.?

As always, check the seller's disclosure statement too.

Note:  Don't drink water from vacant properties!  See "Shocking a Well" below for why this is important.  If the well is old and shallow, or the owner doesn't know much about it, I wouldn't sample the water there either.

Shocking A Well:

If the rural property you're purchasing is vacant, you'll need to plan on having the well "shocked" and the water tested. 

Shocking a well is adding chlorine, turning on all the taps to carry chlorine through the system, and then allowing it to sit in the pipes overnight to kill any nasty things that have grown in there while the water has not been used.   

The next day, the chlorine is run out of the system and the water is sampled and sent off for testing. 

Sometimes systems have to be shocked twice.  More than two bad tests?  You may be looking at drilling a new well, or at installing a water-treatment system.

Even if the home is currently occupied, get the water tested anyway, for your own peace of mind.

Give Yourself Enough Time:

The well-test process takes time.  Consider this:  You schedule a well shock, the next day they put in the chlorine, the chlorine sits overnight, they sample the water, the sample gets mailed away for testing, it's bad, you start over. 

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the inspection clause of your contract.  So you must start the well-testing process as soon as the contract is signed, and make sure that your inspection clause includes enough time to complete it.  I recommend a minimum of two weeks.

Other Ways to Find Out About the Well:

In a given rural area, there are probably only one or two well-drilling companies.  If the current owner doesn't know much about the well, ask your Realtor who the local drilling company is.  If you or your Realtor contact that company, you'll find that they probably drilled the well.  Even if they didn't, someone is sure to know the details.  That's the beauty of living in the country.  No luck?  Call the DNR (see below link).

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has a lot of useful information as well as records of all contractor-drilled wells from 1985 forward: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/wpp/wellhd/index.html

Your tax dollars have also brought you the following very helpful general well information from the EPA:  http://www.epa.gov/privatewells/index2.html

Don't Be Shy, You're the One Who Has to Drink The Water:

Water is crucial, so address this topic right away with any property you're considering. 

Don't be afraid to ask questions.  After all, a well is a topic you may not be used to dealing with.  Be polite, be pleasant, be honest about what you don't understand. 

Don't be nervous about having a well.  Just get it tested and make sure you know as much as possible about it.  I was very concerned about the idea of well water before I moved out here, but now I'm a convert. 

Our water tastes great.  It travels a total of less than 2000 feet from one of the best aquifers in the country, through pipes that we control, straight into my drinking glass.  It doesn't get any better than that!

The area of Missouri where I live is full of smaller towns with limited restaurant choices. There are some real gems hiding in these little towns, but the opening of a new restaurant always makes me very happy!

Mt. Vernon is not so small, with about 5,000 people, and it certainly isn't without restaurants. But many of them, particularly along the easy-access business loop just off Interstate 44, are the standard fast food outlets.

So I was quite excited when a previously empty restaurant building re-opened as the locally owned Red Barn & Grill. It's home cooking, but not bland cooking. Nice atmosphere, lots of cheerful sunflowers in the decor.

Extremely high quality roast beef on the French dip sandwich. Blackened chicken on a salad, big thumbs up. Good burgers, hand shaped patties. Fresh-made sweet tea. And sweet potato fries, one of my all time favorites. If they had chili mayo to go with them like BBs in St. Louis used to, I'd be even more thrilled.

The only complaint I have is that it can be a little slow, because they really are making everything fresh.

When you go, get there a little bit before or after standard lunchtime, and you'll be happier. I was over there just now at 12:30 my time, to recheck the opening and closing times for this blog and the place was packed! I can't speak for the breakfast or dinner rush, since I haven't been there at those times.

I haven't yet tried one of their slices of pie or huge sticky rolls. I'm guessing that if I have one, I'll want another the next day, and so on, and so on until an entire upsized wardrobe is required. I'll leave it to all of you to take the risk. Enjoy!

The Red Barn & Grill is easy to get to. The address is 107 W. Mt Vernon Blvd, but you don't really need that. Just leave I-44 at the main Mt. Vernon exit, and head west into town on the business loop, which is Mt. Vernon Blvd. You'll go most of the way through town, which frankly is not that far. Pass all that fast food, and look for the sign on your right. Open 7 AM-9 PM every day but Sunday.

If you're worried that the Red Barn might take more time than you have, continue on down the business loop a few hundred more feet. Look on your left for the Mt. Vernon Family Restaurant sign in a shopping plaza on a little hill. Their food is plainer, but good.

They do great breakfasts, fried chicken, and their specials are reasonably priced. You can even get frog legs, but I'm not that brave. Things generally move a little more quickly there, except on Sunday if you find yourself among the large after-church crowd. Since the Red Barn isn't open on Sunday, this makes a great alternate choice, just be a little early, a little late or a little willing to wait!

Come on over and enjoy some good food in Mt. Vernon!