"wondering when was a good time to apply"

It's probably best to apply during the day because it's easier to see then.

Hardy har har!

It doesn't matter when. Day or night, rain or shine.

Well, notwithstanding the comics above, good work guys, it is always good to water it in well. A good soaking rain can do that. Of course, a hard washing one might wash some away.

Of course, on fertilizing in general, you want to have a good schedule. I usually try to apply fertilizer in mid May, Sept, Oct Nov, with the Nov app being a urea after the first hard freeze. Most recommend against fertilizing cool season grasses before or during hot weather months. Around some trees that seem to compete with the grass, I've been adding a little more.

Never a perfectly clear answer in lawn care. ;)

When it's almost time to fertilize, I look at the forecast and see if there's any rain coming. I try to do it before the storm comes. I have millions of roly poly bugs in my lawn so I'm afraid they will eat all of them...

where do you get your soybean meal?

In New Jersey, I found it at Belle Mead Co-Op in Hillsborough.

That's where I go too - nice folks. Call ahead by a day or two so they can bag it up for you.

Keep in mind that soybeans are one of the crops that have been genetically engineered and that gene will be in the meal, unless you get certified organic soybean meal. This stuff is probably not something a real organic gardener would want to use.

Considering that genetically engineered soybeans are in the food I eat everyday, I'm not concerned with putting them on my lawn.

For those that don't know, Monsanto genetically engineered soybean seeds to resist roundup so farmers could spray their fields and not have to worry about killing the soybean plants. A majority of soybean groups in the US now use this seed.

Trying to find various grains to put on a lawn in New Jersey is difficult enough, trying to find organic grains, oh my.

Then an organic person would not use soybean, or cottonseed, or any of the others that are genetically eingineered, meals anywhere on their property.