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| 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.
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| 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
Love this twist of perspective. I survived the blizzard of '78 in Boston.
ReplyDeleteThanks Colleen. I'm trying to add a little humor out there after another round of snow.
DeleteOh no! We cannot have snow melting in the fields. I lived through many blizzards ~ 24 years in Minnesota. LOL
ReplyDeleteAlmost neighbors, Helen! Minnesota winters make me glad I'm in Iowa (ours are bad enough).
DeleteThanks and stay warm
This recalled winters of my childhood in central Illinois, when the drifts were high enough to walk over fences! It rarely seems to snow that much anymore. Enjoyed the read!
ReplyDeleteAnother Midwesterner, Beverly, that's right. As a kid, we made tunnels in those drifts after clearing the feedlot, of course.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and please keep warm this winter
Well that might shut the city dwellers up a bit as they gloat about markets and profit. We should never begrudge a farmer a good season for there are boound to be bad ones as well.
ReplyDeleteWe have to do something with all this snow, right?
DeleteThanks, Robin. I hope your summer is going well.
I bet you wish you could market it! (But I wouldn't be buying; you make me thankful all over again to live in the sub-tropics.)
ReplyDeleteExcellent writings joel. Wonderful story (haibun). Engages one to think. I am pleased to join in at P&SU in this new year. Hope it’s a good one for all
ReplyDeleteMy corgi would be thrilled if we had a way to store snow and bring out any time he wanted a good romp!
ReplyDeleteThe idea of snow going to waste in the fields--with so many children in the Caribbean starving for snow--is heartbreaking!
ReplyDeleteThis was so much fun to read, Joel. The tone made me miss very early mornings in the village I grew up, where the first thing we always listened to was the agricultural news.
Wonderful!
ReplyDelete