grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

F is for Farm

By

There are four distinct farm seasons. Planting, Growing, Harvest and WaitingRestlesslyToPlant. Today we are at the tail end of WaitingRestlesslyToPlant season. 
During the long cold season of WaitingRestlesslyToPlant, farmers drive along muddy turn rows, staring at black furrows laid out like fans, willing the weather to warm. They wait and plan and watch the sky counting down to the first day of Planting season when collectively all the farmers exhale, along with their wives and children.
Nurturing crops day and night during Growing season, farmers pray for sunshiny days, then pray for rain, then pray for no rain. So do their wives and children.
Finally, the smell of defoliant fills the southern air. Harvest Season. The most wonderful time of the year. The fields are saturated in white, a sea of snowy cotton.  Golden wheat bends and bows to the earth. Rice hang heavy and dry. Dust flies. Combines roar. Blackbirds watch from a safe distance. The end of another year, another cycle.

At the end of Harvest, farmers are content to have a bit of money left over to plow back into the soil next year.

Farmers toil from sunup to sundown, from can to can’t. They do it because they love it. They do it because they can’t not do it.

talya

The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…” 

Musical Pairing:
Big Green Tractor, Jason Aldean

Be sure to watch this video above of our farmers from home!
Never A Dull Moment…Fishing for Cotton…
(Senter Farms, Holthouse Farms, Mississippi County, Arkansas)

Wanna receive posts via email? Sign up here!

Comments

  1. What a fascinating glimpse into farming down South, Talya. I live in Eastern Ontario in farm country, surrounded by dairy farms mostly so this was interesting to read about. I enjoyed watching the video, too. What a struggle but they finally got the cotton out. I was rooting for them! Hooray!

    Cattitude and Gratitude

  5. Farming is the same in Italy, although we usually planted tomatoes, beans and zucchini, with a number of lesser crops, too. Oh, yeah, I knew there was something else: grapes. And right in the fall came the walnuts and chestnuts that tended to fall on our heads as we harvested the grapes. Ah, yes. I loved it and miss it.

  6. We used to have a static caravan (trailer) in a farmer’s field, and the video reminds me of when my car got stuck in the mud and had to be hauled out by the farmer with his tractor!

  12. I admire farmers and ranchers that have such dedication to their crops and animals. So much work, but you’re right, they can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s in their blood. It’s who they are. Nice, Talya!

  13. Very interesting. I enjoyed the video but why was the cotton in the river? It sounds like farming is a whole lot of praying, too. 🙂
    Manzanita
    Wanna buy a duck

  18. Love your A-Z theme Talya, thanks for visiting my blog earlier and for leaving a comment.
    I have just planted the winter crop in my veggie patch, garlic has surfaced as has the onions and carrots. We dont get snow over winter here so we can grow things like lettuce and spinach.
    I’m looking forward to more of your posts.
    Deb at http://acitrusgroveinthesuburbs.blogspot.com.au/

  19. I truly have a great respect for farmers. It is a tough life, I enjoyed reading your post. The climate can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!