Farming in the shade

All the harvesting is now done for the year. We have started putting things away and buttoning up the farm for the coming winter. What a gorgeous fall we have had! As we turn our attention to these things, we take a moment to reflect on our blessings. We are blessed to have the ability and desire to farm. We are blessed to have family and friends who support us. We are blessed to be able to worship in the way that we choose. We are blessed to have enough to eat, clothes to wear, and warm homes. Thank you for being part of our Shady Side Farm family. We are grateful that you allow us to raise food and fiber for you and your families. Happy Thanksgiving!

This makes me happy.  This fall was full of regular, abundant rain, which made harvesting difficult to impossible. Besides the weather difficulties, we dealt with regular break-downs with the combine. We would fire it up, begin to harvest, and it would immediately break. We would spend a week of nice weather fixing it, and just before we finished fixing it, it would rain like crazy. Then we would have to wait for the ground to dry up, and once it was dry, we'd try to harvest again, and the combine would break. Repeat, ad nauseum.  I could go on about how stinky this fall has been. I have tried to have a Habakkuk 3 mindset (though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vine... yet I will trust...), but honestly, it's been hard.  But this--THIS. The combine is working, and has been for over an hour. The corn is dry, and the ground is only a little bit muddy. It looks like we might get a harvest after all. Thanks be to God!