Farming in the shade

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. Isaiah 33:6 In honor of our oldest daughter's college graduation tonight.

We are receiving rain after rain after rain in our area. The earth is a soggy mess, and each new wave of rain makes us a little more nervous. May is typically our crop planting time here in Michigan. May is just around the corner. Last week we spent an evening trying to drain off a couple of wet spots in a field. This is what things looked like before the recent rains. It's a low corner of the field, and we might not end up even planting it. But we don't need standing water there, either. What's the best way to get water off a field? You guessed it. A shovel and some grunt work. We'll probably be crying for rain in late July and August. Wish we could spread things out a bit.

We have a saying: "If you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait 15 minutes." These photos were taken this afternoon, when much of this morning's snow has already melted away. I have faith that spring is still on its way, with just a bit of a delay.

Etsy does a feature on its blog every so often focusing on a certain decorating style. They show photos of someone's house, and then pick out items for sale from random etsy sellers that match the style of the house. Today, one of my rugs was featured on the etsy blog (scroll down, down, down--it's on the right). I'm honored!

We know it's spring when the load limits finally come off the roads and we can get a couple of semi trucks in for loading out the compost. Here the driver takes advantage of the wait time to check his oil, maybe? We rent a loader from a excavator friend and The Farmer gets to play with it while he's loading. Not worth owning one ourselves just to use it a couple of times a year. Must be the oil level was okay--now the driver's going for a walk. Nice day...