Life at Our Farmhouse (June 2019)

What was it about May?  Rain.  Oh, June had that covered too.

I realized as I went to download all my pictures from June that I didn’t have a single one of the farmhouse for this month.  I must have been looking out at the rain… or not wanted to stand in it.  Above is the one picture of some of the farmhouse as I put my flowers out ready for the rain… because I didn’t need to water this month, that’s for sure!

Here’s pretty much my conversations with my dad and brother every day.  Comparing the rain gauges is how we bond.  So.  Much.  Rain.

And while at moments on a walk it looked beautiful like this picture.

Overall, it was just sad like this.

Peonies!

Changing tunes.  But let’s get into this month and all the fun we did have.

We played lots of baseball this month… in the rain.

Okay.  Okay, we did have a few sunny days.

But this was pretty much baseball this month.  One boy would wait and try to stay dry while the other one played in the rain.

We didn’t let the gloomy weather keep us down.  My in-laws came to visit and so did my cousins from Virginia.  They were headed to Ohio for a big family reunion we had!

We ventured to Holmes County, Ohio which is in the heart of Amish Country. You know I love a good white farmhouse so I’m in heaven among the Amish.  We stayed at Uncle Tom’s Cabins and it was amazing.  They were the best hosts, taking us on a hayride through the area.  I highly recommend you check it out if you visit there.

We also took a day trip with my in-laws to the Neil Armstrong museum.  It’s pretty amazing to me that someone born in Ohio in a farmhouse was the first person to walk the moon!

We ventured to a little town nearby for their festival mid-month.  My boys tried their hand (head?) at bobbing for apples.  They were not successful.

But my niece was!

And in very productive and exciting news… my parent’s strawberry plants produced an abundance of strawberries for us to enjoy.  I made 48 jars of jam!

In between the fun the boys ran lots of errands with me.  We got new tires on our van which they were super pumped about as we waited in the waiting room…

Waiting was kind of the theme for farmers in our area, as well.

Last year I felt like I could talk about planting and all the excitement of a new year.  This year was all about the stress of just getting the seed into the ground when you can.  I brought my brother out a piece of cake from the birthday party we hosted for my kids late one night as he worked to get beans planted.

Just to have some of his crops like this field corn covered in water…..

I really took that picture because on a walk I spotted water pouring out of the ground into my brother’s field.  Apparently there was a blown main.  Whatever that means.  Above is what I sent my brother.  Just doing my part.

All in all another month went by where long walks were on the schedule when the weather and baseball allowed.

And despite the rain, we had amazing sunsets.  Such hopes it fills my heart especially when I think of all the farmers including my brother.

It’s bad, you guys.  Many fields are still not planted.  Acres and acres of crops that finally were planted went under water.

But, here’s what I know.

Farmers will continue to work.  They will continue to pray.  They will continue to move forward because that is what they do.  You have years like this one where it doesn’t stop raining and you think about the years before when there was drought.

My mom shared a story of her and my grandfather and how they went to church at night to pray for rain one year.  And when they returned home he called for her to come to the front porch (the very front porch we now watch the rain) and they watched as a single dark cloud came and brought 1 inch of rain on their crops.  And their crops were saved.

That’s the faith of a farmer.

To put this year in perspective.  We re-created that picture of my mom and grandfather last year.  My mom and my brother stood in the same space just a little after July 4th, 2018.

And here’s the same field this year at this point.  Not only did the crops get in (very) late and are therefore short but so much is under water.

Sad, right?

I just don’t have any other words for this month except to share that it’s important to know the impact of a season like this and to thank a farmer for not ever giving up.

Thank you, farmers.