Plant too early and you may lose the crop to a freeze. \u00a0Too late and you limit or lose the growing season. \u00a0 And that is \u00a0just one of the many hurdles Mother Nature keeps in her play book to challenge those who dare play the game. \u00a0Farming is one part sweat and sore muscles, one part strategy, one part planning and ten parts faith.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve never planted those seeds with a deep dependence on the harvest, it\u2019s a miracle you might take for granted. \u00a0(We all know where tomatoes\u00a0really\u00a0<\/i>come from right? \u00a0The grocery store.) \u00a0But if you have, it\u2019s difficult to do the work and not be awed by the process and respectful of the limited role we play, which in all our might as modern farmers is truly very small.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I stand in a field of carefully prepared rows. \u00a0 We have tested the soil for appropriate nutrients and made supplemental changes to raise the pH and add calcium and magnesium to match the scientifically determined targets. \u00a0We\u2019ve planned for crop rotation and plant compatibility (did you even know that beans and tomatoes don\u2019t get along? \u00a0Or that borage not only draws bees in to pollinate the plants, but also repels tomato worms?). \u00a0We\u2019ve put in the sweat and the planning, not to mention the cash. \u00a0Consulted the calendar and watched the weather reports. \u00a0And then we cover those little seeds with dirt and stand there looking at our bare ground.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We have every expectation\u00a0 That\u2019s experience.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We cross our fingers that the weather will cooperate and bring rain as needed, cool temperatures for the right periods of time, warmth when the plants call for it, not too much heat and no hail storms.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s hope.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And then we make dinners from the last of last-year\u2019s harvest to make room for the new. \u00a0As the cupboards become more and more bare, we pay dues at the Farmer\u2019s Market and spend more than we ought on the new water-saving drip irrigation and build a website promising customers fresh veggies in the spring. \u00a0We act on our convictions and stake our livelihood and our reputations on a crop that does not yet exist.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And that\u2019s faith.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ___________________________<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNow faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.\u201d \u00a0(Hebrews 11:1, KJV).<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Reprinted from February 2012. This one seemed appropriate to me, all over again. Hope you enjoy it, too. It\u2019s garden time again in Texas. \u00a0 We\u2019ve already planted cool-loving potatoes and onions, spinach, carrots, lettuce…Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seasworld.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/02\/img_1665-e1330530396168.jpg\" "\\"IMG_1665\\"")
<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nfrom prior experience<\/del>\u00a0that something will grow, no matter that we can scarcely explain the microscopic physical and chemical processes that must occur and we have absolutely no control over the macro-environment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n