 |
| Snow crop, 2021 |
This year’s snow harvest started in mid-December and continues. Market prices have declined and the futures market has been steady to slightly higher for July but with no storage facilities, that would make it tough for us.
This winter’s harvest has been interrupted with machinery breakdowns and limited repair parts available which means a typical year for the most part. A neighbor, Don Wills, has taken multiple loads to markets as far south as Arkansas for weeks and we wish him well.
This is only the second season in the past seven winters that we’ve had a decent snow although the 2018-19 season was hampered by ice. The snow markets discounted several of our loads that year and times got a little tough during those cold nights.
Old Timers still talk about the snowstorm of ’71 where five-foot drifts made roads to the markets impassable for weeks. There was so much snow they refused all loads for nearly a month and the snow was left to melt in the fields. Another opportunity lost for many farmers and I’m reminded of Deke Williams losing his farm to auction that spring.
The bankers demand their due
How can we pay the bills
When the hills of snow turned blue?*
*Ballad of the Lost Harvest – Hank Jenkins Band. From Bend Your Ear, 1973
Another two inches of snow today – we’ve been blessed.
 |
| Taking our snow crop to market |
(An early April Fools Day?) 😉
Linked to Poets and Storytellers United: Writers’ Pantry #53: The Bicentenary of Anne Brontë’s Birth
