It's been done for a few weeks. We breathe a sigh of relief. Planting season is always a lesson in stress management and optimism. A time to hope the weather cooperates and the machinery keeps all of its parts working. It's a time when a farmer remains optimistic that no matter when planting is complete, that those tiny seeds will germinate and grow into the feed that we need to nourish our cattle. It's a time to place total faith in God that the rain will come at the right time, and the sun will provide the warmth needed to make our crops grow.
This Spring made for a dry, dusty planting season. Even TV host, Mike Rowe, would consider this a "dirty job". I had the easy job. I was in charge of bringing the seed to the field when the planter was running on empty. You see, some of our cropland is five or more miles from our farm, so before John leaves to begin planting, he loads several bags of the seed corn into our van, and when my phone rings, I tear over to the field.
I pop open the back hatch, Farmer John backs up to the van with the planter, opens the seed hoppers, rips open a bag, dumps it in the planter, closes the covers, and he's off and running again. All this in short order so he can get right back to planting.
Just as all of the seeds were nearly in the soil, the rain came. And I mean it came! But a week later, when the mud was nearly manageable, it was time to finish putting those little gold nuggets in the ground.
Now all that's left is to stand back, watch it grow, and be optimistic that it's a great crop. Oh, and one more thing, pray.
