Spring in Iowa

I woke up yesterday morning to a world covered in white.  Since I left Kentucky with the pear trees in glorious, full bloom and every house surrounded by yellow daffodils, it was a bit of a shock.  Spring in Iowa sure is different!  Actually the snow melted off by the afternoon and today has been lovely, but in the low 40's. 

However, it truly is spring in Iowa.  Everywhere you look you see fields being plowed or prepared for planting.  It won't be long until the huge corn planters will be working their way through acres and acres of spring planting.  It's a time when farm wives kiss their husbands good-by and prepare to handle everything else by themselves.  When the weather is right then the corn must be planted even if it is done by moonlight!  Fathers tend to see their children by the glow of the nightlight and communicate with cell phones from the cab of a tractor.  Wives learn that unless it's a major emergency involving lots of blood, don't even call.

Iowa has suffered through a couple of years of terrible crops.  Last year was the worst flooding in years.  The talk in the Walmart check-out line was that the long range forecast is for an even wetter spring this year.  Everyone is worried about getting the crops out.  There probably isn't a job that is much more stressful, where success is dependent on more things that are completely out of your control.  This is no board room business where you can juggle statistics or tell a Jr. VP to just fix it.  Yet these business are just as major and deal in large numbers but depend on the whims of the weather to decide if it will be a profit or loss.  Will it rain so much that they can't plant?  Will it rain so much that the little seedlings will drown?  Will it quit raining and the corn wither in the field?  Will it frost too late or too early in the fall?  Then add in the problems of market ups and downs and trying to decide if they will be paid enough for their crops to offset the huge expenses of increased fuel cost, equipment, fertilizer, and labor.  I read somewhere once that the only job with a higher stress level was an air traffic controller. It makes you wonder why anyone would choose to farm!

However, farmers don't just get up one morning at the age of 20 and decide that they want to become farmers.  It's something that is bred into them. It may even be something in their genes.  If you talk to a farmer, you'll find that while they may grump and moan, there really isn't anything else that they would like to do. And it's not because they can't do anything else.  These are intelligent, highly motivated businessmen.  Men and women who are able to manage large companies, solve problems, oversee large workforces and work independently.  Men and women any company would love to have on their payroll.  So why do they decide to do a job with so many heartaches and problems?  Most of them can't articulate the reasons, but it has a lot to do with being very independent.  They also have a great love of the land and the process of getting that land to produce.  They love the lifestyle that involves the whole family in a joint endeavor to provide, not only for themselves, but for the world.

I guess there is a reason this is called the "Heartland" of America.  This is where the American dream still lives on with the ideals of hard work and strong families.  Thank you farmers everywhere, for working in the cold, the wet, the heat and the sun so we can have food on the table, clothes to wear, and all the hundreds of things we use that you grow for us. Thanks for everything!