Lykers Pond yesterday
I think every farmer has one. Every seed you plant, every harvest you begin, every calf you raise or cow you breed is a gamble. Yesterday morning we woke up to a killing frost. Laid the tulips right flat on the ground and turned the asparagus in the upper bed to limp green spaghetti. (Dang it, I love asparagus and this is the first year I could harvest that bed.) So of course I planted potatoes, squash and giant sunflowers yesterday afternoon. Last frost date here is the end o' May. (Last year it was in June.) They may send up thick green shoots only to be cut down like blades of grass in front of the lawn mower. However, they may also survive and give us early vegetables. What with paying over two bucks for a cauliflower the size of a softball the other day I want early vegetables.So I took a gamble.
If everything freezes I can plant more.
I would be nervous if I were one of the big farmers though. They have hundreds of acres of corn planted in ground that is cold and wet....will it come? Probably. If it doesn't they are out big bucks. However, they have hundreds and even thousands of cows to feed and ditto that many acres to get over. they HAVE to plant early and hope for the best. We have all our grass seeding in and the guys are fitting ground for the corn. None in the ground yet though and I am not sorry.
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7 comments:
Good diagnosis Dr. Threecollie!
Does that make all us farmers optimists or pessimists?
Every year farmers get their hopes up and they may be dashed in the blink of an eye.
But maybe it is the small stuff that keeps everyone going. That perfect birth, the succulent asparagus, the smell of the new mown hay, or your bossman's best sausage spaghetti made with your own ingredients...
Thanks for an excellent post AS ALWAYS! (Maybe a treatment facility that functions as farm could be a side income for the farm.) HEHE
I think farmers are where we learn to keep hope alive, too.
It's certainly the perfect day when everything goes the way you want it. But then again that would surely dull your instincts and your drive. I wish I could sprinkle in a few of them in for ya though just for variety. Hoping the veggies spring up quick for you. Very clear look at what you face in the East. Best to you, TC!
It's hard for me to imagine how devastating Mother Nature can be when you depend on her the way farmers have to.
I'm gambling in the garden this weekend but my gamble is small scale. I'm not sure I could take the risk on the huge scale that farmers do.
Nita, You are so right about the small stuff! My life is being immensely enriched by a pair of mockingbirds. They are almost as tame as chickens and keep me company while I am out there gardening.
Stacy, that is a good thought. I sure am glad we are small enough to wait a little on the corn, although it can slow up on the rain any time it wants to.
Steve, we do get them and thanks for thinking kindly of us. You know one thing that makes every day more fun for me....a lot more fun...
Jan, you know you really take it kind of for granted when it is what you do every day. I am sure hoping the frost didn't cook the apple blossoms and lilac buds though. A spring without lilacs would be....kind of lousy
Apple, my garden isn't all that large either, although I am going to try to do more this year. That two dollar cauliflower was an eye opener!
Reminds me of a friend I have-her Dad was getting on to her about gambling-and she told him it wasn't any different than her brothers taking part in every fishing tournament for miles around!
Amazing what farmers deal with-that the rest of us take for granted.
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