Wheat Planting on the Prairie

Wheat Planting Time on the Prairie

Mid-September to the first of October is the ideal time to plant wheat here on the prairie. Wheat was always the primary crop that we planted on our farm when we were farming full time. The farmers work all year to raise that crop as that is your main source of income for the year. It is vital to the success of the farm, family and finances. Because of these dynamics it can be a very stressful time of year. Much work must be accomplished on the farm to care for the crops and the animals with the winter months fast approaching. We usually carried over a truck load of wheat from last July’s harvest so that it could be used to plant or drill the new crop of wheat. This seed wheat needs to be cleaned to remove trash and make it as clean as possible to plant.

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

One year the land we were planting wheat on had not been prepared as properly as the Farmer liked it to be. Some of the weeds on one piece of ground had grown too big and we couldn’t get the ground worked with the tractor and sweep machine as much as we liked. So we decided to drill the wheat while we still had some moisture and began the process. The Bride is the Farmer’s only hired man as the sons and daughter were in school.

The Farmer’s plan was that the Bride would help to load the drill with seed wheat with 5 gallon buckets as he was down in his back and couldn’t do all that he wanted to do. This process went along pretty well. It was during the next step that the problems began to appear. The Farmer drove the tractor while the Bride rode on the drill to make sure we could get through the weeds and that the seeds were going into the ground as they should. Because we know from the scripture above, unless the wheat falls into the ground and dies it does not produce and we needed much fruit!

This plan, although a good one did not work well as the Bride got over whelmed with her duties and fell quite behind. The Farmer always has a good plan B ready and we changed spots. The Bride drove the tractor while the Farmer rode on the drill. This was better but the Bride was very concerned that she would knock her precious Farmer off of the drill with her antics as the driver. Also the tractor is very noisy and it makes it extremely hard to hear the Farmer and his instructions. The Bride has never understood Farmer sign language. She did however understand that she was to stop the tractor when the Farmer began to hit the drill with a crow bar with great force. He said he was not angry he was just trying to get the Bride’s attention to STOP the tractor.

Life is like a field, where we must gather what we grow, weed or wheat…this is the law, we reap the crop we sow. – Patience Strong.

Needless to say, it was a long day and there were some marriage issues that arose BUT the wheat did finally get drilled and a very tired Farmer and Bride got home to a nice warm shower after a strenuous day in the dirt.

Farming in Maine

“You know farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the cornfield.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

The farmer and I always enjoy checking out the agriculture whereever we are. Farmland and its use is precious to us. I guess you can send a farmer on a trip but you never get the farm out of his heart. We’ve seen every kind of tree imaginable here and on the way here. As we drive the highways we have often commented on the scenery. “You’ve seen one tree, you’ve seen them all!” 🙂 You can tell we come from the wide open prairie!

On our adventures we stopped at one of those dome houses that was painted blue and was called blueberry world. We felt this was one of God’s great gifts to us as we visited two of the farmers there and sampled some blueberry goodies.

Maine has wild blueberries and we were blessed to visit with a farmer whose family tends to the wild blueberries. We had fresh hot blueberry pie at her store ala mode. Yum! We had a great visit with her about farming and the struggles they face with their product. The wild blueberries are indigenous to Maine and are, therefore, naturally resistant to many pests. One farmer we spoke to said that his family has been tending to the blueberries for 200 years. There are 38,660 acres of wild Blueberries in Maine. They are grown on a two year cycle. Each year half of the grower’s land is managed to encourage flower bud growth and the other half is prepared for harvest.

“The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything wholesale, and pays the frieght both ways.” John F. Kennedy

We traveled north of here this weekend and found more farming communities. We drove along the north edge of Maine right against Canada to Fort Kent, ME. We drove adjacent to the St John River for many miles. Canada was two blocks away but we didn’t try to crossover as we were told it is quite an ordeal to do that.

Finally, the trees opened up and we saw farms and farmland. I had one very happy farmer on my hands. He breathed a deep sigh of total relief. One thing he hates is ground that is unable to be productive. Many of the farms looked in good shape and there were multiple small stands along the way selling new potatoes, peas, cucmbers, etc. Crops of beets, oats, sunflowers, wheat ready to harvest and prairie hay were seen. We even saw one Zimmatic circle for irrigation. The fields are small and hilly compared to Kansas but beautiful. One farmer was working ground in the US and we could see his counterpart in Canada also working ground. We wondered if some farmers have land in both countries.

Rainbow on East Grand Lake (View from our cottage)

“ I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.” Andy Warhol

Due to the smaller fields we saw many smaller tractors, potato harvesters, and blueberry buggies. My IHC guy was so happy to see the older tractors still in use. It was delightful to see agriculture thriving in this state in many ways. Some of the land appeared to be worked with a moldboard plow. The sod turned up and productive is a wonderful sight to see.

Work Together for Good

Projects are being completed and new ones are beginning here in Spicewood, TX even in the midst of the current crisis and social distancing. Tomorrow is the last day of this assignment and some will be heading home sometime this next week. Others are staying for another month. This has been an incredible experience and we see God’s hand in this at this time. We know that His plan for us was to be here in this place, at this camp, at this time in history. We could never find a better camp staff than the one here. Much is at stake for them as they see camp registrations and group meetings being cancelled. It is the same for so many businesses and non-profits. The future is clearly very uncertain and jobs are at stake. We pray that salvations are not at stake.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Farmer, truck and dirt! A winning combo!

One of the projects the Lord placed on my heart was prayer walking this camp each afternoon after we finished our time of work for the project. What a blessing it is to be able to walk and pray for a crisis, a camp, churches, children, schools, and the list goes on. We are praying about staying another month here but are leaning to heading home. This project of prayer walking can continue anywhere we are. Even while we are self-quarantined and social distancing, our wonderful God has called us and equipped us to pray and encourage.

Even though the church buildings may be closed the church is NOT the building. It is us. Let us let our light shine for Jesus and embrace this pause in the fast pace of life and be grateful.

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18.