More than weather

My Facebook newsfeed had two themes this morning - Veteran's Day and the first snowfall in southeast Wisconsin. The first theme is very well-deserved - there should always be this many accolades shared for the men and women who have served and are currently serving.

As for the second theme, it made me realize how differently farmers react to the weather as compared to the average person. Today's dusting of snow meant the combines sat idle again today. This is about five days now of being "shut down" during corn harvest because of precipitation. While it won't affect the corn much, it will delay the fall plowing. On our farm, we only have Ben, his dad and a little bit of seasonal help. That means that they can only really focus on one "task" at a time and obviously harvesting the corn is top priority. However, fall plowing is still a crucial task to prepare the soil for spring planting. What does or doesn't happen right now will have a big impact on next year's crop yields.

So the clock is ticking against the invisible wall when the soil will freeze too deep to plow. The little bit of rain the past couple of weeks, snow today and rain again in Friday's forecast are so much more than hot topics of conversation for us. It directly impacts crop yields a full year from now.

Don't get me wrong. We still have those same distain and delight at certain weather, but it usually comes second to reacting through the farm perspective. Through it all though, we are grateful that we trust in the One who controls the weather. What a beautiful day He gave us today!