The Farm Paparazzi

Yes, I realize what a bad blogger I’ve been. Three months is like 30 years in Internet time. But, I always wanted this blog to be a fun outlet, not a chore. So, whenever I dread sitting down to write, I just don’t. It gives me a sense of power and freedom in at least one tiny part of my life. I’m such a rebel.

Instead of blogging I was doing things like celebrating the 10 year reunion of my State FFA Officer Team! The “cockroach face” came from a training we did early on in our SO year and it lives on today.

It’s been a hard spring to want to blog about. It’s fun to tell you about the years where we get our crops in on time and they grow like mad. It’s not so much fun to tell you that we started out really dry and had trouble getting our barley to grow. So, we turned on a pivot and the pump got struck by lightening.

Then it started raining in April and it felt like it never stopped. Since the end of April we believe it’s rained 14 inches. Our average precip for the whole year in Wheatland is 13 inches. We’re not equipped to till and plant in such muddy conditions, so this put a big chunk of our corn and dry bean planting behind. Some of it never got planted because it was too late.

I got Tyler a weather station for his birthday in March. We got it up the end of April, just in time to start watching it collect rainfall data.

Then, as it started to warm up, the severe weather started. There for about a week we had severe weather warnings every day. We got damaged by some hail and even had something tear through one of the corn fields shearing stalks off at the ground. Our best guess is that it was a tiny twister. We also still have standing water in some fields and the corn is literally drowning and dying.

Assessing hail damage.

No, that’s not a wheel track. Our best guess is a tiny little twister went through the corn field and the hail it gathered sheared off the corn at the ground.

This leaves a farmer and his farm wife a bit down in the dumps. To put it simply, it’s been a tough farming season so far.

Poor corn.

But, enough complaining! The crops we got in do look pretty good. And, a lot of folks have it way worse than us.

Getting corn planted in between rain storms.

The sun has been shining for two days without severe weather warnings. We’re going in the fields again at full speed. And, we’re going to do our best with what we’ve been given. We know as farmers that we are at the mercy of the weather and we know as Christians that God cares for us and will provide all we need.

There are days when we feel defeated by our dependence on the weather for our livelihood. But, we also know we’re in good hands for the bigger picture of our lives. Our faith in Christ as our personal Savior gives us strength and endurance through the difficulties. We just laugh and quote Mother Teresa… “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”

Please say a prayer for those dealing with natural disasters all around the world. And, go spend some time in the sunshine!

God Bless You & American Agriculture,

Liz

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? – Romans 8:31-32

Tags: ag weather station, farming problems, FFA, God's provision, hail damage, Mother Teresa, planting delays, rain delays, Romans 8:31-32