Drama on The Farm...
The Farmer was working yesterday...which was Sunday.
Usually, we don’t work on Sunday, figuring that God gave us a good example of resting one day of the week, and we should follow it. If we are working on Sunday it’s for one of two reasons: 1) It’s harvest time, or 2) We are trying to beat the rain.
Yesterday, The Farmer was trying to beat the rain. With a forecast of upcoming intermittent days of rain, it was urgent that he get the dirt between the rows of our newest plantings seeded in grass...Oh! The timing is tricky – can’t be too dry, can’t be too wet. A nice rain earlier in the week set us up for the perfect conditions...If we could get the work done in time!
Drama on the farm!!
And therefore, a full day of work on Sunday...
The Farmer first had to complete his prep work...
The soil was worked, and packed beautifully...
But the ends of the rows were not...quite...right...a little ragged, rough...
So the first order of the day was to hand rake them smooth...
No worries...There are only a hundred of them...
Then it was time to put the seeder together – an implement Randy had to design and create himself because hardly anyone else seeds between their raspberry rows, and there's nothing out there for the job. It took us a little while to find all the pieces and get that puzzle put together. Then we trucked the seed out to the field, and he took off...
From that point on, things went swimmingly – and not literally, I might add! Clouds came and went, thickening at times and worrying us...I kept checking out the window to see how far the tractor had come, and what the sky looked like in the west...Until it got dark...In the end The Farmer finished the last round at 1am, just as the rain began.
Miraculous! Dramatic! And such a relief for The Farmer -- a satisfying, successful merge of perfect conditions, and perfect timing...And in farming, you just can’t count on that happening all the time...
Today, The Farmer slept in, to the soothing sound of rain on the roof.
Usually, we don’t work on Sunday, figuring that God gave us a good example of resting one day of the week, and we should follow it. If we are working on Sunday it’s for one of two reasons: 1) It’s harvest time, or 2) We are trying to beat the rain.
Yesterday, The Farmer was trying to beat the rain. With a forecast of upcoming intermittent days of rain, it was urgent that he get the dirt between the rows of our newest plantings seeded in grass...Oh! The timing is tricky – can’t be too dry, can’t be too wet. A nice rain earlier in the week set us up for the perfect conditions...If we could get the work done in time!
Drama on the farm!!
And therefore, a full day of work on Sunday...
The Farmer first had to complete his prep work...
The soil was worked, and packed beautifully...
But the ends of the rows were not...quite...right...a little ragged, rough...
So the first order of the day was to hand rake them smooth...
No worries...There are only a hundred of them...
He’s almost halfway, folks...
Only this far to go...
Yep – crazy lots of manual labor...This is when I shake my head, and think about OCD...but The Farmer hates driving over a bump at the end of his rows, and this is the best way to fix it. He's a long-term thinker...and is willing to pay the price of perfection. (I am SO not like that!!) Eventually, even I was pressed into service...As you know, I am not a fan of manual labor that involves dirt, but I did it – okay, without smiling once until I was done – but I did it. I guess I got caught up in the drama...Beat the rain! Beat the rain!!
Daisie! You're not making tracks out there are you? You know we'll have to fix that!
In the meantime, Daisie being the good dirt farm dog she is, decided it was time to put to death a bundle of knotweed. Besides loving to eat berries, she also loves to rip up weeds and shake them to death. Death to weeds! What a dog!!
Then it was time to put the seeder together – an implement Randy had to design and create himself because hardly anyone else seeds between their raspberry rows, and there's nothing out there for the job. It took us a little while to find all the pieces and get that puzzle put together. Then we trucked the seed out to the field, and he took off...
From that point on, things went swimmingly – and not literally, I might add! Clouds came and went, thickening at times and worrying us...I kept checking out the window to see how far the tractor had come, and what the sky looked like in the west...Until it got dark...In the end The Farmer finished the last round at 1am, just as the rain began.
Miraculous! Dramatic! And such a relief for The Farmer -- a satisfying, successful merge of perfect conditions, and perfect timing...And in farming, you just can’t count on that happening all the time...
Today, The Farmer slept in, to the soothing sound of rain on the roof.
Comments
Oh, and can I borrow Daisy??? She'd have a lot of fun at my house!!