More Paperwork

Today I went to Glasgow with C and J to take in their completed Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) applications which needed to be in to the Natural Resources Conservation Service before Friday.  M and I had successfully navigated the system last fall so I helped them with their applications and went along to help answer questions and make sure they had all their ducks in a row.  The CSP program is designed to reward landowners for conservation measures and to encourage additional conservation measures.  Of course, the workbook and appendices had changed some since we picked up the applications a month or two ago, so we'll have some additional work to do.  The person at the NRCS office was very impressed at how organized we (I) was since no one else had been as prepared.  It helped to have been through the process before--a lot of hoops to jump through!

We also dropped off our certification maps to the Farm Service Agency.  The government has aerial maps of every piece of land we own or lease, and we have to tell them what we have seeded on every acre.  They also require that we have crop insurance and now have extended that to include hay land.  Just like mandatory health insurance, it seems un-American to require us to purchase insurance although I do see the logic of the government not wanting to have to bail out the farmers when there is a disaster.  We've been through many disaster years be it drought or hail.  M and I worked on the maps in the car on our vacation.  I guess that means we can write the trip off as a farm expense.

We also went to purchase hail insurance from the state of Montana.  Usually M picks and chooses which crops in which areas to buy hail insurance on.  All the crops are looking really good right now so we took out insurance on all of it.  With the state plan, if there is premium money left at the end of the year a percentage gets returned to the policy holders, so we're hoping for a slow hail year statewide.  We had to list every tract of land by legal description and county for four entities in two counties.  I was up late last night getting that ready, and it took the lady at the assessor's office at least three hours to input it all.  I think she was happy to see us leave!  She did say that next year we could fax it in, but she would never do it over the phone which is completely understandable.  Last year was the first in at least five years that we had no hail damage at all so we're probably due again.

C and I being together today caused a bit of confusion at both the NRCS and the assessor's office.  It took them awhile to figure out that I was not his wife.  We're used to it since it happens a lot.  M stayed home and sprayed all day and was so happy that we got everything handled without him.  It's good for J to get his feet wet with all this stuff.  M says that he owes me "big time" for all my hard work.  Can't wait to see what my reward will be.  Maybe it will be a secretary!!