ANTICIPATION

"I've never lost a crop in February yet!"

For those in the non farming field this statement probably causes some head scratching.  And, for those who are, you would recognise this as a statement of pure optimism.

The non farmers would say "Of course the crop isn't lost yet.  It's not even planted yet!"

The farmers among us would smile knowing smiles, nod their heads, and hope for the best.

The non farmers think 'farming season' only lasts from May to September.

Farmers are well aware that a true farming season never takes a break.  It's a year round application of work and weather, money and machinery.  In order to make a living at it, all of these things have to come together at the right time.  It's not like a 9 to 5 job, and it's really no wonder why the 9 to 5ers of the world don't understand.

A couple weeks ago a neighbour was over for coffee and at some point in the conversation said "I've never lost a crop in February yet!"  To put it in context, he and my husband had been talking about the huge amount of snow we've had so far this winter, and what that was going to mean in the spring, depending on how fast the melt would happen.  Both men are concerned at how seeding is going to be affected come spring.  The ground was saturated by rains throughout October and November last year and with all the snow piled on top of that they know that even if it doesn't snow another flake or rain another drop the land is going to be so muddy that a) the machinery will be stuck a lot,            and b) many acres will either be under water or unreachable.  When time and landbase are so closely connected to their bottom line, these are serious circumstances.

And yet, his statement wasn't a "woe is me!".  On the contrary, it was stated with hope and optimism for the future.  He wasn't throwing in the towel and saying "There's no use even trying."  It was much more like "It ain't over till the fat lady sings." Both men knew that the challenges were likely to be high and the work hard, but worrying about it in February was a waste of their time and energy.  A lot of things could happen before the ground was warm enough to plant, and maybe, just maybe, some of them would be in their favour.

Winter is wearing on us all, though.  It gets like that in mid February.  We all long for warmer weather, more daylight hours, and the colour green.  In another couple weeks we'll be starting to look out for returning birds - crows are usually the first - and we'll breathe a sigh of relief; spring will be just around the corner. 

We are an optimistic people: we wouldn't live here, or do this, if we weren't.