Farming in the Rain
~guest post by MRS
I wish I could tell everyone how wonderful the weather has been. How HandyMan and his dad have been able to get all their corn and beans planted. I wish I had cute pictures of Blue riding in the buddy seat of the tractor “helping” his dad or grandpa work ground. In fact, I’d like to tell you that we are excitedly planning to get in the field this week, but that isn’t the case.
When you can't plant corn, you plant flowers, right?
Right now, I just wish the rain would stop and give the ground time to dry out so we could hope to get in the field in a week or two. According to the extended forecast, that probably won’t be happening this week. But that is the life of a farmer and a farmer’s family. Always watching the weather, hoping for a break in the rain or hoping for it to rain at just the right time. Hoping for the temperature to be perfect for seed germination or pollination or harvest, etc. It’s amazing how much more I pay attention to the weather since I married into my farming family.
Every year, I’ve learned so much more about farming and how much the weather really does affect the yields during harvest. HandyMan has taught me to look for signs of stress in the plants, specifically in corn when there hasn’t been enough rain; the leaves tend to be sharp and pointed upwards. In contrast, when there’s too much water, the leaves on the bottom of the stalk tend to turn yellow. HandyMan has also taken the time to point out to me how fast corn can grow in ideal weather, and I’ve learned to pay attention to these details. Before marrying HandyMan, I never would have thought I could even have a semi-educated conversation about any kind of farming!
Still pregnant!
While HandyMan and his dad are dreaming of being able to get their crops planted, I’ve been doing a little farming of my own. Instead of growing corn or soybeans or even tomatoes, I’m working on growing a baby. A few weeks ago, I posted about having complications with our pregnancy. Those complications have continued and I have been on bedrest for almost 5 weeks now. Thankfully baby reached “viability” a couple of weeks ago and I am now in my last week of the 2nd trimester. Every day that I am still pregnant is a huge blessing, even if bedrest is not!
We’re hoping that our baby won’t make her appearance until the middle of the summer and we’re also hoping that by the time our baby comes, all the worries of a wet spring will be nothing but a fading memory.
But, if this rainy pattern continues, HandyMan and I might be able to make money by turning our field into a lake; after all, it’s almost a lake already! Boating anyone?!?!
