Just after we survived a spring freeze a few weeks ago, last weekend our trees were being whipped by 20+ mph winds. We barely had time to check all the orchards for possible limb loss before the forecasters were saying possible hail is now headed our way.
Mother Nature seems to have a bad attitude lately!
Farming is not for the faint of heart. You have to have big shoulders to carry the worries of things beyond your control and you have to have tough knees to constantly be in prayer to God for Him to watch over your entire livelihood.
And it isn't just pecan farmers. Everyone in the farming industry faces similar challenges on a daily basis. We are all at the mercy of things we simply have no control over. Most farmers I know put in well over 40 hours per week only to at times see all their hard work destroyed in the minutes and hours it takes a single storm to sweep through their area.
But when the storm has passed, these men and women who have dedicated their lives to growing crops for the world to eat do what they know to do. They work. And they work hard. Sometimes to salvage what is left. Sometimes to start again. And sometimes to merely clean up the aftermath so the next crop might stand a chance.
Farming is not like other industries. We can't just crank up the motor on the factory to produce more of a crop. We can't add night shifts and weekend shifts to increase productivity.
We plant the seeds. We water. We cultivate. We wait. And we pray. And when the time comes we harvest all we can of what we have grown.
And then we do it all again the next season.
For some of us, like pecan farmers, we only get one harvest a year. If that harvest is destroyed by a freeze or a hail storm or bugs or some other type of natural disaster then we are finished for the year. There is no replanting. There is no other crop. It is only the one and done.
So tonight as you park your car inside the garage and while you are bringing in the delicate flowers and the breakable porch decorations please say a prayer for the farmers who are sitting by the window...watching the skies and their weather apps...and praying for God to have mercy on their fields and future.
