Still on the farming theme….
It is the time of year when we think of harvest. If you travel the nation as we have, you can witness many visions of harvest.
You can hear the pride in the Amish farmer’s voice describing how he and his daughters were up all night butchering 300 chickens for families who are picking up their orders in the morning.
I can sense Grace’s satisfaction as she emerges from the yellow clapboard chicken coop, toting a tin pail full of fresh brown eggs.
There’s the mother’s smile as her three youngsters, for the first time, taste home-made ice cream churned from raw cream.
The elderly woman creaks a bit as she straightens herself and glances over at her grandson gleefully picking strawberries from her garden on a dewy June Missouri morning.
A smile draws across Annabella’s face as she takes her first bite of perfect pie, made from apples just-picked in the Wisconsin orchard at the top of the Mississippi River bluffs.
I witness my son’s chuckle as he stabs his spoon down into his grapefruit, freshly plucked from the backyard tree in Tucson, Arizona; it squirts him right in the eye. A smile emerges nonetheless.
A ten-year boy abides next to his father, in the seat of the Mack Truck, as they wait in line at the Coop elevator to empty the load of newly cut wheat; he wonders at the sheer volume of grain accumulating across the High Plains on that single day.
Of dryland wheat harvest, I wrote:
“All in all, the whole experience is a combination of dust, stifling heat, fabulous aromas, and stunning visuals—spellbinding. Wheat harvest is the sight, smell, and sound of victory, culminating ten months of uncertainty since the seeds were first drilled into the ground. For me it was an opportunity to learn of bounty, the triumph that comes from an abundant harvest, and the importance of graceful living.” (p.85)
