There is the news story,
the facts,
the rains that fell
Early one evening
on the first day of June
in an area of Manitoba.
There is the weather,
the winds, the rain,
The torrents of water
and the flooding. Then
there is real life,
Dealing with the aftermath,
going on the best
one can
With life in a land
which sometimes seems
so very extreme.
Our communities rely
on production,
On tiny seeds
growing in the fields,
On the feeding and selling
of livestock fed
from those fields,
Our lives revolve
around the seasons
We depend on adequate rainfall, heat, an
adequate growing season, sunshine
Good management practices, so that weeds
and insects don't
Destroy our crops
Some years we watch the sky and hope that
the next cloud will bring rain
Two years ago that did happen, but the
clouds came and the clouds went
All too often
But talk to anyone who has been around any
number of years growing crops On the prairies
and they will say that they lost more crops to
excess moisture Than to drought
After seeding is done, we adopt a wait and see
attitude. Some of the seeds Will rot. Some of
the young seedlings will die
Maybe the high spots will be areas of high
production even if the low spots Are lost
It is a hard lesson in acceptance and realizing
that much is beyond our Control. It is a lesson
in being thankful for what we have
Instead of angry over what we don't
How do you approach this as a pastoral
situation? I'm still learning from the Folks
around me, people who have seen the seasons
come and go,
Who have been through this before
and will go through it again no doubt.
Conversation constantly turns to —
how much rain did you get?
What are your fields like? Where were you
at in your seeding?
It is about survival. It is about doing the things
you can do, like pumping Water out of your
basement, or away from your house,
Like raising the electric fence so that the wire
does not touch the water.
It's about fixing the fence that got ripped out as
a torrent of water roared Down the ravine to the
river. It is about putting on your rubber boots
The tallest pair you have.
It is about recovering what you can
And it is about waiting; it is about going on
with the everyday things of life The best you can
It is about hoping, hoping that
Next year will be better
After all we live and farm in next year country
