Falling flat, in this post, references our 2013 Sweet Corn crop and, well... ME! You might consider this a modern-day parable of the corn patch. It might also be subtitled, Mourn for the Corn. Here we go. Back in May, things were great, the corn was lush and green. The weather was tolerable, mild, not too dry, not too wet. The kind of atmosphere where you want to whistle and smile when you walk to the garden and inspect things.
Shall we forewarn about the plight of the corn? |
The corn in the photo below is healthy, fertile, standing tall, flowering, and bearing fruit. Sometimes we, as individuals, can be just like this. Things are going good and we have a little 'pep in our step' and are standing tall, arrogant, oblivious, or out-right ignoring the coming storms. Oh, the corn crop had its difficulties. We explained in an earlier post that Nellie, the goat, had discovered she could put her front hooves up on the fence, crane her neck over and eat the tops out of the corn. I tied tin against the fence to try to stop this and it was only partially successful. I'll admit that several times I envisioned Nellie on the barbecue pit because of her penchant for eating the leaves of the corn.
But this wasn't really defined as a crop failure. It was merely a nuisance and something that required some extra work and time to fix.
Walking Tall |
The winds must have come from two directions as you can see some of the corn laying down in an eastward direction and others in a westward direction. Sometimes, in storms, your corn (and you) are pummeled from every direction. Sometimes, you get knocked down. You fall down flat on the ground. We all get knocked down. The question is - will we get back up. I've read success is defined as "Getting knocked down six times and getting up seven."
Forlorn Corn |
After the storm comes sunshine... but it is not over. |
Picking up the leaning corn |
The boulevard of broken dreams (Dramatic? A little bit!) |
Cows enjoying heirloom, non GMO, sweet corn. |
Wow, what a treat! |
From a farming standpoint, storms come, pests come, weeds come. Although it is much easier said than done, that's just the way it is and we have to learn to roll with the punches and keep pressing on.
The sun will come up - tomorrow |
And there you have it, because of the curse, you have to TOIL in the garden and yes, there are weeds and yes, storms will come. So what do we do? Well, we work hard - we press on...Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you shall eat the plants of the field; (Genesis 3:17-18)
And God blessed them [man]; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28)Not an easy task for sure. But we have to trust that hardships produce patience. Patience produces character. Character produces hope. Our corn crop may not be a bumper crop this year, but we're counting on a good harvest of Hope! Hang in there...
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