It’s Over

Sometimes we become sad when things end.  Friends and Dawson’s Creek come to mind, or a much-needed massage.  Some people are sad when the holidays are over, some when high-profile celebrity marriages end in divorce.  I’m sad when a nap comes to an end.

Other times, “the end” is a time to celebrate.  How about the end of bad weather, or the end of a boring shoot-em-up movie that someone guilted you into watching?  I’m happy when a dentist appointment ends and when pregnancy ends.  There’s a lot of ladies out there who probably celebrate the end of deer season!

This year, we celebrated the end of harvest.  It was an interesting year on the farm, and by the term “interesting” I lean more towards “Hmmm, that spot on your nose is interesting” and less “That painting is so interesting!”

The summer was achingly hot and dry.  The Drought of 2012 was the most severe drought in at least 25 years and its impact will carry on well beyond the calendar year.  Farmers who find joy in working their fields and cultivating growing crops were better off staying inside the house, where the AC was cool and the depressing crop stands were “out of sight, out of mind.”  Hundreds of acres failed to even produce a crop, and the crops that did grow never had the opportunity to meet their genetic potential.

Many started the harvest process in August.  The corn which had been planted in early spring and toasted by the summer sun was dry enough to combine, although some fields were simply torn up to save on the fuel of running a combine for a poor yield.  Farmers had their combines on the move, their grain bins ready to fill, their augers set in place.

Then the rains came.  And came… and came… and came.  The mud made it impossible to run the equipment.  The crops that were this close to harvesting all of a sudden decided to suck up moisture and try to grow.  If we could’ve spread the inches of rain that fell in September and October over the summer months, it would have been an entirely different year for farmers.

The harvest came to a halt, then came and went sporadically with the weather forecast.  Some farmers harvested crops that weren’t quite ready just because they were ready to be done.  Ruts were cut in muddy fields, bin dryers run to remove the moisture from corn and beans that weren’t quite dry.  There were days that looked promising on the television’s forecast the previous night, then wound up being drizzly and dreary.  Farmers got perturbed.  First, they have a crop that, well, sucks.  Next, they can’t even get the sucky crop out of the field.

Finally, it ended.  It was over.  No more beans, no more corn.  Everything (that hadn’t been mowed over) was harvested and in a bin somewhere.  Wheat was sown for next summer, and ground was ripped for a new start.  And farmers rejoiced.

Their families probably celebrated even more.

Yeah, it was a crappy year.  The toils Mother Nature threw in this year, on top of the regular frustrations like broken equipment, made 2012 rough.  Farmers do what they do because they have a passion for the land and a gift for feeding millions of people on an acre of ground.  But there’s a lot less fun in that passion when, even with your best efforts, things don’t turn out well.

It’s over.  No one can accurately predict what next year will bring, but chances are 2013 will be an improvement to say the least!  Let’s celebrate.