This spring has been a wet one for the record books. About two weeks before the last frost date, we thought we were prepared. And we were. But nature wasn’t. So neither were we.

Fast track to the present day, over a month past the last frost date when many early crops should have been long in the ground, and you see a bunch of anxious farmers staring at three different weather apps, trying to change the skies by sheer willpower. Do we need water to grow things? Yes. But this isn’t a bayou or rice field. Dad even joked the other day that he would have to go buy a pontoon boat to pull the hay baler. Not that we’d be able to pick up soaking bales anyway, nor would they keep. 

In terms of grass, many farmers have already started reconsidering their plans for the year and switching to green silage and haylage. First cutting of hay is more or less a wash, no pun intended, because much of it has grown past its prime before ever being dry enough to cut. 

Ironically, this affects the second cutting, which is the more desirable cutting in any year, due to its higher nutrient content and energy for livestock. Unless the grass gets cut once, it can’t grow a second time. So many farmers are less than enthused with more or less futile efforts on that front, but nature waits for no farmer and the world keeps eating.

On the vegetable front, we’ve been having a similarly frustrating time getting our potatoes and sweet corn in the ground. By the end of June, we will almost have run out of time to get things planted, but the ground temperatures have stayed low for a long time this year, which has not been good for the germination of seeds and has stunted some warmer-weather crops. 

What’s more, with the wetness, the soil cannot be worked in new areas to accommodate tillage, soil amendments, etc. Some of our vegetables, such as beets, which we try to start by direct seeding in the field, have even been stunted by flooding in their areas. We might have been harvesting some of our first beets around now, but instead the patch is half gone and the other is half grown. 

There’s a saying, “Men make plans and God laughs.” While I attribute no blame to God for any misfortune we face, it is a healthy reminder that, for all our skill and intellect, we still rely on His grace to apply any of it.

That being said, I go now to the silver lining of our ongoing rain clouds. Cole crops. My wife and I have struggled to grow cole crops for many years. They are not particularly difficult to grow; however, they require cooler temperatures and a decent amount of time without pest pressure. In the past, our two main enemies have been spring seasons that are early and hot, and deer or insect damage. This year, it would appear that dues have been paid on this front. With the cooler temps and regular water, these have done well compared to other crops. We even finished our new and improved perimeter fence around the field where we are growing them, to limit the pest damage. What’s more, we actually got these in the ground relatively on time. Lord willing, we may end up with a cabbage or two and some broccoli before the summer season begins to kick in for real. We had planned on hoeing these and other transplants into a furrow, but with the wetness it’s just been a muddy trowel all the way. 

The way out here, we plant our veggies like a bricklayer slathers mortar. Mud, trowel, plant, repeat. We’ll see if this mess turns beautiful if the sun ever comes out. In the meantime, at least the boys can make a surplus of mud pies for the market.