Gamble

Farming is a gamble. A HUGE gamble. A necessary gamble. If all farmers decided to give up whenever a gamble went bad, the rest of the world would surely go hungry. This year was our first year growing peas. They are a risky crop because they don't necessarily make you money, but they are great for the soil as part of crop rotation. So, Grant was more than thrilled when his pea crop was one of the best in our part of the country. He has some 7 and 8 peas per pod pods. That is a big deal. (Or so I am told).

So, you can imagine how devastating things were around here yesterday when two major hailstorms made their way through yesterday. 

 This is one of the windows on the north side of our house. There are six sets of windows along the front of our house. Five of the six are now broken. Not good.

But this is worse.

This is Grant in his pea crop. Hours before it was above his waist. Now is doesn't even cover the soles of his shoes. This is what tens of thousands of dollars that you could have had, looks like when it is ripped out of your hand. 

Grant was surprisingly cool, calm and collected when he called to tell me what had happened. This photo was taken two hours after the storm ended. He sent me the picture and said it was funny that the hail was higher than the crop was.... I didn't think it was THAT funny... :/

So, here is the gamble. Farming is all about relying on things that are completely out of your control... it is about hoping you get rain at the right time, sun at the right time, hail never, frost never, and then hope that your crops fill out, the flowers bloom, and that there is money at the end. And all of that can be wiped away in a matter of minutes.