Well, it won’t be
organic (costs too much and takes too much time to get the certificate), but it
will be all-natural, chemical-free, pesticide-free, and fertilizer-free.
It won’t be
gluten-free. (Couldn’t find any
gluten-free seed wheat.) So I can’t help
the gluten-free folks much. But anyone
who wants 100% natural good-milling wheat, say for a home flour mill or a
countertop grain mill, or maybe a nice-cracking grain to brew a good hefeweizen,
I might be of some help.
Maybe. If Mother Nature helps out a little. Or a big.
Raising a crop of wheat with less than three inches of precipitation
falls into the fantasy category.
But “hope springs
eternal” as Alex Pope wrote. It’s not
too late yet! So, here on the last scale
of the dragon’s tail (2012 was the Year
of the Dragon), is how it all came about, or at least how it looks now.
In the beginning
was the plow. And the plow went from the
center of the field out. It could do
that by following the chisel marks, which really were the beginning, which
wound about outside-in in one continuous coil, the regular way to farm. And the Goodwife said, “You’re like that old
guy over by Colby who used to farm with horses.”
It came to pass
that Mother Nature was much more beneficent with her gifts of moisture in the
spring of 2012. The chisel first broke
ground on Monday April 2. Due in part to
weather, it took until Tuesday April 17 to finish what should have taken a
week. And the Goodwife said, “What do
you do out there that takes so long?”
And it was not a
long time by comparison, for lo, the chisel knocked out thirteen feet with
every pass, while the plow took less than seven feet in its swath. The plow first turned over sod on Tuesday
April 17. It had to be retired on
Wednesday May 9, for it would no longer stay in the ground and turn over the
sod. The earth was still very wet and
the grass had put forth many roots.
Thus, it was left to the old oneway disk to finish the job—almost-- on
Friday May 11. And the goodwife said,
“Let us go to Ft. Collins for the daughter’s graduation.” And that came to pass, too.
Sometime between
May 14 and May 31, ¾” of moisture blessed the earth, and then the heavens
closed for the summer, just about.
Another oneway disk operation took place, this time using two
oneways. The journey began on Wednesday
May 30 and ended on Tuesday June 5.
There would come
to pass two chisel-rod operations, one with the old Miller Bar starting on
Friday July 13 and ended on Sunday July 15 in clear violation of the Sabbath.
And the second
chisel rod operation with the “new” Miller Weeder commenced on Saturday August
18 and came to an end on Tuesday August 21.
This time, the Sabbath was not violated, except by the baseball
players. And so we played golf.
And all things
for which there is a season, particularly the time to sow, especially if there
was any hope to reap what we will sow, was about to come to pass, so it was
necessary to resurrect the ancient drill, and the ancient truck. And forthwith
it was done.
The trip into the next county to procure seed was fraught
with many Philistines driving gravel trucks. But the trip was completed safely without
incident. And all things were ready save
for—a sore lack of moisture. And
everybody said, “Boy! I sure wish it
would rain.”
And it did, sort
of, in tenths and hundredths of inches, but not enough at one time to do much
good. So as the time drew near, the
seeds were planted into the dry earth.
And many of them arose, miraculously almost, in consideration of the
dryness of the earth. The sowing began
on Thursday September 13 and ended on Tuesday September 21. And some rain did fall the last week of September,
nearly an inch in several showers. And
so the wheat was doing fine.
But October blew
hot and dry, and thus far, winter has produced precious little snow, and even
cattlemen with livestock to feed are uttering rarely used words—“I wish it
would snow.”
So now, I join
all planters on the plains in waiting for life-giving moisture and trying not
to worry about things way beyond my control.
In farming as in life, one must prepare for a future knowing full well
that “the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”.
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