You think farming is easy.

Tonight, I cried about wheat. Tonight was not easy nor will it be easily forgotten. But that's part of farming. We watch a crop fail right before our eyes. It might happen fast, like tonight, or it might slowly wither and die, like it did last year from drought.

Farming isn't easy.

I flew home from St. Louis today, landing in Amarillo around 2 p.m. I was quickly inundated with thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches. On my drive to Pampa to fetch my dogs from the boarding kennel, I drove through heavy rain and small hail. That isn't unheard of this time of the year, although this is my first "normal spring" in the Texas Panhandle since it didn't rain at all last spring when I moved here. I retrieved the dogs without delay and hurried home, arriving minutes before hearing of a tornado on the ground about 15 miles away. Since our 1940s tiny house does not have a basement, I determined a trip to Granny and Granddad's was in order. Four short minutes later, Ranger, Rori and I had arrived safely at Granny's to wait out the impending storm.

Soon, the front of the storm hit, bringing pea-sized hail, heavy winds and rain. Granny and I drank our wine and watched the proceedings outside, both praying for that to be the end of it.

It wasn't the end of it.

The hail quit for a few short minutes, only to return with a vengeance. Pea-sized turned to quarter-sized. Quarter-sized turned to golf-ball-sized. Before long, Granny's yard is covered in hail stones, making it look like it had snowed. Eventually, the hail died away, but the damage had been done. That's farming. We rely on Mother Nature to bring us rain. We know Mother Nature can also bring us much worse. Tonight we got both, the rain and much worse.

After eating supper with Granny and Granddad, I drove the two miles home, right passed the field of wheat I had admired a couple hours before. I probably shouldn't have stopped. I knew I wouldn't like what I saw, but I stopped anyway. As I trudged out through the mud, I saw what was left of my beautiful wheat. A crop Royce and I had nurtured, applying extra nitrogen when it needed nutrients and extra irrigation water when it was thirsty. Now half of it is broken over or shredded from hail. The other half will have had severe bruising of the soon-to-emerge grain heads, damaging yields greatly. It isn't so beautiful anymore. All of our hard work ruined in 30 minutes by a force greater than all of us and that none of us can control.

Farming isn't easy, but it is what I love and what my husband loves. We are both passionate about farming and feeding our neighbors. This was the first great-looking wheat crop we've had since Royce started farming in 2011. Thanks to tonight, I'm not sure we will make any money back on this crop, despite all of our efforts. I'll give wheat credit. It is a very resilient crop so it might recover more than I'm giving it credit for tonight. But no matter what, it won't be the same as it was before this storm.

Farming might look easy from where you're sitting, but from where I'm at tonight, farming is the farthest thing from easy I've ever seen.

This would have developed into the grain. Now, not so much.

Grow Up: Farm Week in Review

"Grow up!" is a phrase I can remember calling out to many of the boys during elementary school. It is also a phrase I use with my husband some days, and it generally goes something like this: "Stop acting like a child! Grow up and pick up your clothes from the floor." In all seriousness though, why is it so hard for men to use hampers instead of the floor? I just don't get it.

On the farm this week, "growing up" has taken a different meaning. Our wheat is coming out of the ground and growing up, thanks to a shot of rain and a quick pass of the irrigation sprinkler. The cotton, despite a very challenging season, is finally beginning to reach maturity. Yesterday, three cotton strippers (yes, you read that right - strippers) drove by my house so someone's cotton must be ready in the neighborhood. We have also been watching the calves growing up, and once corn harvest wraps up, they will be expected to act like real "grown ups" and start their new lives away from their mamas. After the rain shut the planting and harvesting down, the guys had time to fence a field of corn stubble in preparation for the cows once the calves are weaned off. The cows really love cleaning up any corn left behind, and I'm guessing a full stomach helps them keep their minds off their bawling calves.

Much like last week, the middle and end of this week have seen the combine harvesting corn, and the wheat drill running full force. Our early corn should be finished soon (next couple of days). Most of the early wheat will be planted by next week, attempting to take advantage of the little bit of moisture we got over the past weekend. Hopefully, we will have lots of wheat to tell to "grow up."

Hotwire running around a field of corn stubble. The cows will get turned out on this field once their calves are weaned.

Baby Wheat! Baby Winterhawk Wheat to be exact!

We have plenty of emergence left to happen, but so far, so good.

Cotton boll opening up - almost ready for the strippers!

Red Dog Rori in the cotton field. She had to accompany me while I went out to take wheat and cotton photos. Such a good helper!

Reaping & Sowing: Farm Week in Review

Autumn. Time for pumpkin-flavored everything and sorority girls exchanging excited "OMGs!" about getting to wear their Ugg boots and leggings while sporting their pumpkin-spiced lattes in their right hands.

Here at the O'Neal farm, autumn is a glorious time for us too, but it doesn't have anything to do with pumpkin-flavored coffee (I do, however, partake in the Dairy Queen pumpkin-pie Blizzards - they are fantastically delicious!). We are bringing in another harvest, and at the same time, sowing wheat in hopes that it will have a favorable growing season. This wheat crop is a little more special than every other wheat crop has been for me for a couple of reasons. First, it is the first crop since Royce and I have been married, like I'm actually invested in this crop. Hello financial risk! Second, I convinced him to give a WestBred wheat variety a try (I work for WestBred so win for me!). Let's hope Winterhawk doesn't let me down. Otherwise I'll never get him to plant another one of my products (kidding... well, kind of).

As for harvest, it is always my favorite time of year, no matter if it is wheat harvest in June, soybean harvest in September, corn harvest in October or cotton harvest in November. The actual harvest process has always amazed me - I must be my father's daughter - and the most rewarding feeling in the world is to look across a field of stubble and know you did your part in feeding, fueling and clothing the world.

Harvest is the perfect time to reflect on the growing season and all of the trials and tribulations the crop has overcome. Even though prices are down this year, it is always reassuring when you actually get to harvest a crop. That is what we as farmers are here for - the harvest. Without a good harvest, we struggle. Harvest is when we (hope to) make money to keep the farm going for another year. Sometimes, we expect a great harvest and our yields don't meet our expectations. Other times, it is the opposite, and we are pleasantly surprised by abundant yields. Either way, harvest takes away a little bit of the uncertainty we face daily with farming. We know how we did, and we can start making a plan on how to prepare for next year. Although like Robert Burns once said, the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry, like I talked about back in July. 

This is my first fall-crop harvest in Texas so I'm looking forward to it. So far we are just combining corn, and to be honest, Texas corn harvest is pretty darned similar to South Dakota and Michigan corn harvest. Except it is Texas so it is obviously better (How'd you like that total Texan attitude? Good, huh?). Eventually, we will move on to milo harvest (which is incredibly itchy) and cotton harvest (which involves strippers). I'll provide updates as those happen, but until then, I'll leave you with a few photos of drilling wheat and harvesting corn that I captured this week. Because who doesn't love a harvest sunset? They are my favorite!

Royce does a great job making his tractor look good. He might have been laughing at me as I was sprawled out in the dirt to get just the right angle. #photographerprobs

A closeup of the drill - the disks on the left open a furrow for the seed, which is dropped in and then covered up by the closing wheels on the right. It is a pretty cool process, but to get good photos it requires getting super dusty and having a patient husband driving the tractor. 

And they say Montana is "Big Sky Country." Obviously they've never ventured to the Texas Panhandle.

5 points to anyone who can guess what this is!

Unloading corn from the combine to the grain cart, which will then take the corn to the truck.

Did you guess "corn header" two photos above? You did!? 5 points! Then you obviously know that header belongs on that large green machine, also known as "Greenie the Combine."

Taking harvest photos is a very dusty job. Also, watch out for flying corn cobs! #photographerprobs

See what I meant about harvest sunsets? They are the best! 

The only thing that would make these photos better is a Gleaner combine.
Dad, if you are reading, you can rest easy knowing they haven't totally converted me to Green yet.

Eat that corn, Greenie!

This corn has no idea what is about to happen to it. An unsuspecting victim. 

"Did you just say corn?! We love corn!"

What is your favorite part about autumn/fall? I promise not to make fun of you if you say "pumpkin-spice lattes," or do I?? :)