As does every April, this past April's planting brought yet the promise of a good growing season with a plentiful harvest come August and September. So plentiful that we would struggle with where and how to store all the crops. Grain prices so high they would have to open banks just to store all the money. This is the dream of every farmer when the last seed is planted into the ground. This year was no different.
A timely rain earlier in the spring fueled this promise and things were looking good, it was going to be a good year. Until......
The first incident happened mid-May when they had a windstorm of biblical proportions. Sustained winds in excess of 70 miles an hour creating dust storms, like of which that have not been seen in decades. Disrupting school bus routes, causing accidents and the stripping topsoil of recently planted farm fields. Along with this topsoil went seed and seedlings. There were actual drifts of dirt in ditches along the roadway!
The majority of the damage was to exposed hilltops where they lost hundreds of acres of newly emerged crops. Not the start to the season they were hoping for.
The next storm hit in early June, a bright sunny day that we all dream about. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and you could almost hear the crops growing in the fields. The yellow of the canola blooms were just starting to pop.
Then ominous clouds formed over the farm. This storm threatened to bring even stronger winds. And it followed through with that promise with winds which reached 80-100mph. They called it a derecho bringing not only wind, but hail.
Unlike the storm the month before, this one hit when the crops were at their most vulnerable stage. Right when many of them were flowering and creating the blooms which in turn creates the grain or seed.
Locally, on the farm itself, trees were ripped out by the roots, doors askew on buildings, grain bins moved from their foundations.
While this was devastating, it was nothing compared to what they saw when they drove around to look at their crops. Beautiful yellow canola fields were totally wiped out.
Over 2,000 acres totally wiped out. The promise of a bountiful harvest gone overnight. There's the thing about losing your crops. You cannot just call it a day and wait for next spring to plant again. You still have to spray to keep the weeds at bay, you still have to harvest what is left to clear what remains for next years planting. Basically the same expense you would have if the crop were viable, with no income to offset it. There is some insurance, but it does not even come close to what was lost.
But it is now August and time to harvest the remaining crops. I arrived on Monday after an 8-hour drive. 20 minutes later I was in a semi driving it out to the field. 5 minutes after that I was in a tractor driving within 3 feet of Chris and Farmer Bob's combines as they unloaded peas into the cart I was pulling behind the tractor. And so begins the harvest of 2026.
We were busy harvesting three pea fields. While two of these fields may not have been hit with either of the storms, they were hit with the heat dome that seemed to cover much of the nation. Pea pods that may normally contain 5-8 peas, contained 3-4 drastically cutting the yield. Again, same expense to harvest, about 1/2 the income to cover this expense. Because it was a lower yield, I was able to put my feet up between dumps. Ah, life is good!
When we were not in the field, I spent my time getting the bins cleaned and ready for in the coming grains cleaning 12 grain bins that day. Boy, was my body sore that night!
But it was a good sore, and it is good to be back up here with what I consider my second family. Good to see Bob and DeAnne, Chris and Holly, as well as the newlyweds Dylan and Sydney. And I cannot forget Ty a nephew of Bob and DeAnne's who is on his third year working fulltime at the farm.
Week 1 of three almost in the books, three fields done many more to go. There is no way we will get them all done before I head home, but three weeks is about my limit nowadays. Even though we have been married over 40 years now, it seems the older I get the more I miss Barb when I am away from home. That math just does math in my head but that is the reality of it.
I talk to her a couple times a day and get updates on puppy life. She is focusing her time on potty training which she is not sure if it is progressing or not. She takes Maisie outside to do her business every hour or, which she does, but Barb is not sure if she yet understands the connection with being outside and going to the bathroom or if she just happens to go while she is out there. Because if she was inside, she would have no qualms about going wherever she is when the need hits.
She did have one traumatic incident when she got stung on her hand by something while she was outside. Her hand swelled up like up like a balloon. She said she is pretty sure it was a Murder Hornet so at least she still has a sense of humor about it. Three days of pain and itching has been keeping her up at night, of course in addition to Maisie waking up every couple of hours.
A work in progress, but I have all the confidence that Barb will get there. We too will get there at the farm. We are done with peas and ready to move on to wheat, but the wheat is not ready yet, there is still some green on the stems, and they need them to be totally dry before harvesting. As such, we have a couple of down days, from the field at least.
One morning I headed out to a field with the riding lawn mower to recut a line between two fields. Because they are a seed dealer, they need to make sure their seed is as clean as possible with no cross contamination. They cut a swath between fields to make sure one variety does not bleed into another.
I also spent a couple of days picking away at a mess behind one of the buildings eventually getting it cleaned up and somewhat organized.
This post showed some of the things that were not all sunshine and roses in the farm life. But there is always the promise of tomorrow. The promise of next year, the promise of the next field doing better than expected and the promise of puppies that will bring a smile to your face.
