#274 - Soil Health: The Foundation of Successful Food Plotting

Published: 2025-05-25
Episode page
Duration: 70 min

In this episode

antler-growth

• Don recalls last year as likely the best antler-growing season of his life, in stark contrast to the previous year, one of the poorest. 4:54

baby-announcement

• Terry announces that friends Austin and Anne Razor just had a healthy baby son this week. 40:16

baptism

• Don shares that his church friend Jordan’s wife was baptized the previous Sunday and offers congratulations. 14:12

biochar

• Don notes one gram of biochar has enough surface area from its crevices to cover half a football field. 28:13
• Don says biochar’s advantage is that it only needs to be applied once and lasts in the soil for hundreds of years. 28:57
• Don explains the biochar he and Green Prairie use today is made from straight chicken manure rather than bedding material. 30:19

chasing-assurance

• Terry credits Brent Henderson for voiceovers and Luke McCoy for video editing on the new Chasing Assurance promotional videos. 38:59
• Terry announces Heartwood Planning Group, via partner Dan Piper, as the presenting sponsor of the new Chasing Assurance podcast. 39:48
• Terry says they’re trying to arrange for friend Emerson Day to provide music for the Chasing Assurance prayer segments. 41:45

clover-mowing

• Terry asks whether a smaller clover plot should be walked instead of mowed to protect fawns. 52:42
• Matt Kendall from Troy, Ohio asks about the correct timing for mowing clover with fawns present. 48:23

cold-weather

• Terry asks why late May weather has been unseasonably cold. 2:32

corn

• Terry asks whether corn truly prefers hot weather. 5:26

deer-dirt

• Don shares that rights to a product called deer dirt were sold to Code Blue, which now markets it as Grave Digger. 46:36

fawn-behavior

• Don explains that a doe separates twin or triplet fawns by more than 100 yards so a predator finding one won’t find the others. 11:05

fawn-mortality

• Don states that more fawns are killed every summer by mowing than any other cause, whether for hay or other fields. 10:02

fawn-rescue

• Terry asks Don for his most creative story about saving a fawn while farming. 42:31

fawn-safety

• Terry notes that first cutting of hay is one of the biggest dangers to fawns, and a wet season is producing a bumper first crop this year. 9:38

fawns

• Terry outlines that the episode will cover fawns, mowing clover, and hay since fawns are currently dropping. 1:23

fertilizer-reduction

• Don’s goal is to eliminate synthetic fertilizer on his farm by amending soil with humic acid, biochar, and cover crops. 32:48

flooding

• Don recalls a Memorial weekend flood that shut down Interstate 70 near Marshall/Martinsville, Illinois, drowning many newborn fawns swept away in floodwaters. 9:06

hairy-vetch

• Don explains hairy vetch is a legume used by organic farms to supply nitrogen for corn without synthetic fertilizer. 33:21

humic-acid

• Don explains humic acid is essentially coal before it becomes coal, formed underground from plant material under pressure and heat. 21:18
• Don says the biggest benefit of humic acid on his property is nutrient uptake, since nutrients adhere to the humic granules. 22:35
• Don recommends applying about 200-300 pounds of humic acid per acre and reapplying every two to three years. 25:27
• Terry warns that mixing humic acid with fertilizers and broadcasting it can make it overheat and turn into clay, so research is needed. 32:04
• Don says his humic acid is sourced from Canada and is among the best quality on the planet compared to other mines. 37:40
• Don warns that humic quality varies significantly by mine source, so buyers should research where their humic comes from. 37:46

jbs-event

• Don announces a June 3 appearance event at JB’s in Millersburg, Ohio. 13:26
• Don says the JB’s event starts at 6:30 and will include a question and answer session afterward. 13:39
• Terry gives JB’s phone number and asks listeners to call ahead due to limited seating. 14:38

marriage-counseling

• Don jokes that he only provides marriage counseling by phone to avoid getting hit with a frying pan. 14:03 (light moment)

midwest-land-group

• Terry says Midwest Land Group has been investing and expanding drastically across Midwest states including Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, and Alabama. 44:25

midwest-sportsmans-classic

• Terry announces the audio versions of the Midwest Sportsman’s Classic seminars will air at the end of the podcast on June 1, 8, and 15. 15:27

miscanthus

• Don shares that his Miscanthus planting took five to seven years to fully establish despite the typical three-year guideline. 7:10
• Terry notes that established Miscanthus that’s slow to emerge is likely just waiting on soil temperature, not winter kill. 58:03
• Chris Tart from Preston, Minnesota asks whether his established Miscanthus stand can winter kill. 56:16

mock-scrapes

• Troy Carper asks whether wax-coated dirt with dough and buck urine could work for mock scrapes and hold scent longer. 45:40

nutricrave-corn

• Don says NutriCrave corn provides more than double the calories of typical ag corn for deer on his farm. 35:50

organic-gardening

• Terry recommends organic gardeners and backyard vegetable growers reach out about soil amendment products for healthier produce. 34:35

podcast-recommendation

• Terry recommends Josh Pretzer’s Kansas-based soil health podcast, roughly titled Singular Agronomics, for listeners wanting to dig deeper. 36:49

political-commentary

• Matt Kendall asks why the far left keeps finding fault with Trump and whether they hate Trump or America. 49:05

prayer-list

• Terry plans a prayer-list segment on the Chasing Assurance podcast, sharing updates about families helped through Lester’s Feet without breaking privacy laws. 41:09

scrape-dirt

• Terry recalls visiting Don’s sanctuary with Patrick and Brian, discussing whether captive-deer scrape dirt could be packaged and marketed. 47:03

seminar-schedule

• Terry announces the June 1 seminar release will feature old-school woodsmanship with Joe Miles and Bobby Worthington. 16:59
• Terry announces the June 8 release covers campfire stories with the Wessel brothers, and June 15 covers Chasing Elusive Giants in Farm Country with Don and Al Foster. 17:07

small-property-hunting

• Don says he only seriously hunts a property once trail camera photos confirm a shooter buck is using it. 53:55
• Don advises that human intrusion, stand access, and wind direction become far more critical the smaller the property being hunted. 55:24

soil-health

• Terry admits the show hasn’t done a good job explaining how humic acid, biochar, and Mike’s Mighty Micros differ and work together. 1:55
• Josh Anderson told Terry that a healthy doe leads to a healthy fawn, a healthy buck, and ultimately a happy hunter. 18:18

sunday-night-prayer

• Terry announces he’ll play an excerpt of his dad’s podcast for prayer time since Daryl Monk mixed up his weeks and is on vacation. 62:13

supplemental-feed-ban

• Don explains that because he cannot legally supplement feed or minerals in his state, deer nutrition on his farm has to come entirely from plants. 35:02

switchgrass

• Darren Kent asks when to plant straight switchgrass versus bedding-in-a-bag on a flood-prone pipeline right-of-way. 58:33

trail-cameras

• Don plans to get his trail cameras out over the Fourth of July holiday. 0:35

video-release

• Terry says the video versions of the seminars will release midweek on the Chasing Giants YouTube channel. 16:22

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (sighting) 8:17
• unnamed buck (sighting) 43:41
• unnamed buck (management) 47:22
• unnamed buck (sighting) 48:47

Listener questions

Question: Terry asks why late May weather has been unseasonably cold. 2:32

• Answer: Don explains ideal antler growth needs temperature and rainfall slightly above normal, avoiding extremes in either direction. 2:48

Question: Terry asks whether corn truly prefers hot weather. 5:26

• Answer: Don says the corn’s sickly yellow look is caused by the cold temperatures, not fertility or genetics. 5:57

Question: Terry asks Don for his most creative story about saving a fawn while farming. 42:31

• Answer: Don recalls repeatedly stopping his tractor to carry bedded fawns to the field’s edge before mowing hay. 43:41

Question: Troy Carper asks whether wax-coated dirt with dough and buck urine could work for mock scrapes and hold scent longer. 45:40 — asked by Troy Carper

• Answer: Don confirms a trapper once made a product called deer dirt exactly matching that idea. 46:09
• Answer: Don says the trapper put deer urine in dirt, waterproofed it with wax, and it worked fantastically. 46:25

Question: Terry asks whether a smaller clover plot should be walked instead of mowed to protect fawns. 52:42

• Answer: Don agrees, saying he walks thick clover plots himself. 52:50
• Answer: Don confirms small plots should be walked to spot bedded fawns. 53:04

Question: Matt Kendall from Troy, Ohio asks about the correct timing for mowing clover with fawns present. 48:23 — asked by Matt Kendall

• Answer: Don says waiting until June won’t help since fawns keep being born through June and July. 49:29
• Answer: Don explains he watches to the side of his next mowing pass rather than ahead, to spot fawns. 50:56

Question: Matt Kendall asks why the far left keeps finding fault with Trump and whether they hate Trump or America. 49:05 — asked by Matt Kendall

• Answer: Don frames it as a battle of good and evil, saying such people lack empathy and reason. 51:31
• Answer: Don points to DOGE and Elon Musk uncovering billions in waste as something anyone should support, yet the left opposes it. 52:02

Question: Chris Tart from Preston, Minnesota asks whether his established Miscanthus stand can winter kill. 56:16 — asked by Chris Tart

• Answer: Don explains winter kill typically happens the first year, before the plant is well established. 56:44
• Answer: Don advises northern planters to cover first-year Miscanthus with straw insulation before winter. 57:37

Question: Darren Kent asks when to plant straight switchgrass versus bedding-in-a-bag on a flood-prone pipeline right-of-way. 58:33 — asked by Darren Kent

• Answer: Don explains bedding-in-a-bag mixes Indian grass, big bluestem, and the same switchgrass sold as Real World Switchgrass, which alone tolerates flooding. 59:16
• Answer: Don says Indian grass and big bluestem don’t tolerate flooding and are better suited to upland sites. 59:53

Prayer Time

Theme: authority of scripture
Terry Peer explains that scripture is God’s self-revelation, so questions of faith, morality, and fellowship should be answered by turning to the Bible. 38:26

Scripture: Genesis
Theme: God as relational creator
Terry Peer reflects that God, as creator, made humans in His image per Genesis 1:26-27 for relationship, and a real relationship with God requires communication through His revealed word. 67:33

The episode centered on fawn safety during hay-mowing season, with Terry noting first cutting is one of the biggest fawn dangers and Don adding that mowing kills more fawns each summer than any other cause. Don explained does separate multiple fawns by over 100 yards to protect against predators, shared stories of stopping his tractor to move bedded fawns, and answered listener questions about walking small clover plots and watching to the side while mowing rather than ahead. A wet spring was producing a bumper first hay crop, and unseasonably cold weather was affecting antler growth and giving corn a sickly yellow look. Don and Terry also discussed soil amendments, comparing humic acid, biochar, and cover crops like hairy vetch as ways to reduce synthetic fertilizer use. Listener questions covered Miscanthus winter kill, switchgrass selection for flood-prone ground, and a mock-scrape scent idea tied to Don’s old deer dirt product. A prayer segment addressed scripture’s authority.

Unofficial fan project. AI-synthesized from public episodes; may contain errors.