Making Hay and Rain

I don’t know if you have noticed but it is hot and dry outside. It seems like every chance of rain we have builds up and comes our way and just as it gets close enough to hear the thunder and smell the rain, it evaporates.  I read that my immediate area is over eleven inches of rain behind the average for the twelve-month period and that is the third driest ever ranking ahead of all the “Dirty Thirty” years. That, folks, is historically dry and is officially a drought.

I have been amazed at how long the crops have hung on, it has just been this week when some of the fields have past the point of no return, but for the most part, the crops have hung on. All in all, the fact that we have not had another Dust Bowl is a testament to the technology we have in agriculture and points toward how we care for the soil and environment around us. Without advances like no-till, gmo crops and soil conservation, we would be seeing large clouds of dust and enduring a year with no crops.

If you want to know just how bad this drought is I can give you a personal example. Last Thursday, the weatherman had predicted a “good” chance of rain. We had baled up all the hay we had mowed down and were trying to decide what to do next. Normally, mowing hay with a “good” chance of rain would not be something we would even think about, but this is not a normal year.

While we pondered what to do, I went about changing a few sections on the sickle mower. It was a, most unbearably hot when I started, the sun was beating down on my back (why I did not think about moving it to the shade defies all logic), and soon I was covered in sweat. Suddenly I noticed a cool breeze and then I heard the faint rumblings of thunder. When I turned around I saw big black clouds all around me. A quick check of the radar showed a good area of thunderstorms on three sides and closing in fast and more storms lined up in the same path. I picked up the pace and felt a few stray drops hit the back of my neck.

Soon the new sections were installed and the mower was in working order. That was when I noticed that; first, it was not raining and second, the horizon was starting to lighten up. Honestly, after this year, I am not sure why I expected anything different. It was then and there something snapped in me and I decided I was not going to care about what the weatherman had forecasted or what the radar said was coming. I was going to do what I wanted to do.

I needed the stock trailer for the next day and it was parked at the bottom of a hill in a grassy area that gets muddy with even the littlest of sprinkles. I had planned on running home and hooking up to the trailer and pulling it up on the grass to make sure I could get to it the next morning. Instead I took off with the tractor and mower, leaving my pickup with both windows down and feed on the back. The radio crackled with lightening and black clouds could still be seen on the horizon.

I was not going to roll my windows up, put the feed under cover or do the smart thing by getting the trailer and not mowing hay. Rain be darned, I was going to mow hay no matter what. No amount of rain, lightening or even hail would deter me from doing what I had planned on doing. I mowed without even looking at the western horizon. I made round after round and soon I noticed that the crackles on the radio got fewer and fewer, then the sun popped out through the clouds. That was when I realized just how bad this drought had gotten.

I had never seen a drought that could not be broken by challenging it with newly mowed hay, windows that were down and most of all exposed feed. I must admit that this has sent me in a tail spin, I am not sure what to do, I have tried all my best tricks and gone for broke. Which, by the way, is where we are headed without some rain. I guess we are down to rain dances and paying some snake oil salesman to make it rain.

I know some of you reading this have had enough rain and for that I am sure you are counting your blessings. However, for the rest of us time is of the essence and we must do everything in our power this is not time for humility. So, I will take one for the team and I will go outside right away and start a rain dance immediately. Will it work? Probably not, but all I am risking is my dignity and I lost that a long time ago.