And We Prayed for Rain

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.    1 Kings 17:1

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.    1 Kings 18:1

Three years without rain!!  That is one heckuva drought!  Our lack of rainfall hasn't gone on for three years, but it has been very dry.  We have been praying for rain every single day.  I even saw this guy out by the garden praying (for rain, I assume?), too.

Rain is so important and unfortunately, we often take it for granted.  Our garden needs it... badly.  Watering with a water hose isn't as good as good old rainfall.  Then there's our pasture.  The grass out in the pasture is parched.  With no rainfall, there's no new growth.  The cows and goats and chickens have eaten it down to the ground.  This is not good.  When they eat it that close to the ground, they pick up parasites.  The only bright spot is that I haven't had to mow the yard a single time during the month of June.  Grass in certain spots in the yard is dying.  Landscaping and small shrubs that we can't get water to are starting to die.

For the past 10 years, I've tracked rainfall at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  Check it out:

So from January - June 2021 it rained 40.4 inches.

Average rainfall from January - June 2013-2021 is 36.63 inches.

Look at what it's rained so far this year:

For the period January - June 2022, it has only rained 17.675 inches.  The weatherman says that around here if you aren't getting an inch of rain a week, you are falling behind.  We certainly are!

If you look at the first two days in July in the above tracking chart, you'll see that it rained both days!  The cows are out eating fresh green grass that has grown.  I even mowed today.  I checked the weather forecast and it shows decent chances of more rain for the next four days.  Maybe the weather pattern has loosened up!  We certainly pray that the drought is over.