So much of the country is impatiently waiting for spring to come and to stay — while we, farmers and ranchers in the West, are anxious to see a few more days of RAIN….even snow! And today, looking out my window, I’m feeling hopeful — smiling broadly — that a soft but sterling rain is coming down and is forecast for the next day or two 🙂
Weather for the rancher is a matter of daily concern and enterprise. While many look to the sky to judge what their recreational activity may or may not include, the farmer looks to the sky to determine where he is in the cycle and seasons of life….
When winters are dry, anxiety about summer kicks in. When spring is late or doesn’t bring spring rain, there is concern over the germination of grain or grass or crops.
When frost comes late in the year, there is fear that blossoms or crops will be damaged or lost.
Summer storms are welcome but fearsome…..grain can be leveled in a day and crops hammered into the soil.
All in all, weather is a topic of daily discussion in the home of any farmer or rancher! It signals the possibility of a good or great or terrible harvest season — or the possibility that water will be scarce come summer and the dry, hot months that follow!
When people speak about sustainable living or what makes for sustainability, RAIN is part of that equation. A rancher’s sustainability depends on his/her access to weather, rain/snow, and water.
So RAIN, RAIN, come NOT again — but now! The West is dry and getting drier!! Or — if Nature would agree, bring spring to the Midwest and the East and more rain to the West…..IF only we had that kind of weather control!!
Yes, it’s spring….but oh, the rain coming down is a blessing!
Have you ever considered how much has been written about rain?
“The rain to the wind said,
You push and I’ll pelt.’
They so smote the garden bed
That the flowers actually knelt,
And lay lodged–though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.”
― Robert Frost
“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.”
― Vladimir Nabokov
“Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy.”
― Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
“The only noise now was the rain, pattering softly with the magnificent indifference of nature for the tangled passions of humans.”
― Sherwood Smith
ENJOY THE DAY! RELISH THE RAIN AND THE NURTURING POWER IT BRINGS…..
Rain is always a Blessing….it brings HOPE and PROMISE….
It brings the harvest!
