By Kim Baldwin, McPherson County farmer and rancher
Another school year has wrapped up for my children and summer on the farm has officially begun. My husband and I saw major growth in both of our kids this year personally, academically and athletically.
We saw our kids experience successes in their classrooms, perform in concerts, march in parades, discover new activities of interest, build friendships and saw how consistent hard work during practices pays off during competition.
It was a fantastic school year for both children, and I’m thankful that my husband and I were able to see and experience so much of it together with them even though that wasn’t what we had planned for at the start of the school year.
We had not planned for my husband to attend the majority of my son’s football games this year given our typical fall farming demand and schedule. Instead, we had planned for his presence during winter events when the farming schedule is generally calmer than in the fall, spring and summer.
We figured that he’d be watching a number of the games online from the cab of a tractor or combine. But because of an incredibly wet fall, which kept everyone in our area out of the fields for extended periods of time, my husband got to sit in the bleachers of every home game and all but one of the away games this fall.
The unusually wet fall also allowed my husband to join me for other school activities like watching our daughter participate in a special concert with other students from schools throughout our region. I don’t think any of us expected to see my husband at so many of the kids’ school activities, but it’s safe to say that we were all thankful he could.
Following a winter of attending a lot of basketball games, my husband and I again prepared for a typical spring farming schedule that would prevent my husband from attending the majority of our kids’ activities.
However, now a lack of rain has allowed my husband to attend every single track and field meet this spring. It’s been too dry to get everything planted. We’ve been waiting for the spring rains that have simply not come.
An unusual year of weather gave our family the precious gift of presence we didn’t plan for. But what this atypical weather means for a summer wheat harvest, haying season and getting our fall crops in the ground is something that continues to concern us.
Over the years, I’ve learned many lessons about being a farm family. This year has reiterated that we are not in control and all we can really do is make adjustments based on what the season presents. We also have to recognize the gifts we are given and continue to fervently pray for rain.
“Insight” is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.
