Sow in Faith?

“May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!” Psalm 126:5

2022 was all about sowing in tears. Western Kansas had an historic drought—less than eight inches of rain on our farm and ranch in an area where average yearly rainfall is around 18″.

I’m not a person who has ever noted “depression”, just one who pushes on, sheds a tear now and then, yells at her husband…

Looking back over the year 2022 I began to realize that, even though I was getting all of my work done, I was struggling. Nope, not going to say I was the “D” word. But I do understand what the pioneers of this area went through during the Dirty Thirties, and we had air-conditioning, electricity, water, and plumbing the whole time!

Western Kansas weather…

Western Kansas weather turns the art of gardening into a fight for existence. I am a gardener in soul and spirit, yet I have had less than a handful of successful gardens in the 40 years we have been back on the farm. Last year, I totally gave up.

I had tried for 30 years to get someone in the area to come and install an underground sprinkler system with no luck. Our yard and garden are rather large and we’ve always pulled hoses and sprinklers to wherever they were needed. 2022 took care of the lawn. My purpose became to keep my perennials and ground covers alive, but the grass wasn’t worth either the effort or the water.

The greenhouse suffered too.

Those of you who know me are aware that we built a greenhouse from a kit in 2011. It has been a place of joy—“My Happy Place” as it were. My tussle with the drought affected my efforts in my sanctuary also. What is the point of starting seeds when everything you place outdoors will suffer from drought and high winds? Yeah, not much point.

Drastic measures.

Gardening, or the lack of, really isn’t any important part of dealing with the insufficiency of moisture. Not when you have 250 pairs on pasture and the water sources on two of those acreages go dry. In my lifetime, we had never lost stock water on any of our pastures, nor do I ever remember my father saying they had been lost in his lifetime. This is what “historic drought” means.

We began the procedure to drill water wells on those two pastures, added work and great expense. All the while, we were watching our neighbors liquidate their cow herds or send them by truck to Eastern Kansas. We hauled water by truck for a couple of months, but we were able to maintain our cow herd. Praise the Lord.

What to do?

About the time we started calving in mid-April, I came to the conclusion that the only way to proceed was to shake it off. Vigorously. That’s how I came up with my new mantra, “Sow in Faith”. The gardener spirit in me began to reawaken, but it has been a slow process. There is still a very long way to travel, especially as we hit our busiest time of year and my physical self is tired.

I am filling the greenhouse with trays of seeds—seeds that I’ve had for quite awhile and need to be used. It’s an experiment really. Hopefully, with the beginnings of some moisture, the literal sowing in faith this year won’t be totally in vain.

So, in Faith…

So, in Faith I am starting this blog to talk with all of you, but also to share once again with friends. I hope you will discuss things here with me, and that you too will find a way to “Sow in Faith” and Reap in Joy!