Planting seeds in the dark

Hi Friends,

I was driving home in the evening, one of those days where you wonder what you have less of....time or money...and I drove by a field. There was a tractor with its headlights on, in the field.

Now, in the autumn, you will see tractors in the fields in the dark, harvesting the corn, using their headlights to navigate the tall jungles of corn that we plant here in Iowa.

But this was the first time that I recall seeing a farmer out so late, planting in the dark. This made a big impression on me. He had a huge 12 row planter and the task of driving back and forth in the dark, being able to see the scratches of the last pass in the dark, and getting the rows straight and spaced right seemed impossible.

Farmers take operating loans out in the spring, that they can only repay with the sale of their harvest. The seeds are very expensive. The breath was knocked out of me, to imagine the situation the fellow was in, to have to plant in the dark. He had less time, or at least less patience, than even me. The sight drove home how we all feel leveraged and short of resources, and how I can be thankful for what I do have.

It also made me impressed again by the sheer grit that farmers have to hang on to their way of life. His act of planting in the dark may have been an act of defiance against the odds, or pure optimism. I don't know him, but I think of him often this month.

Do you have any recipes you want to share? I would like to feature one of your recipes each week. It would be neat to share the reasons that you eat organically and farmer direct, along with the recipe.

Have a very happy holiday weekend,
Wende