On the surface the “Lessons from The Farm” reveal a simple application to life, we will always harvest what we plant. But underneath, it’s a very complex system of details, balances & synchronization. Over the next few TGN’s I will attempt to highlight each of the 5 Essentials of the Farm: The Sun, Air, Water, …
Category: Lessons From The Farm
Basic Facts of the Farm
God's orchestrating ability never ceases to amaze me. One Sunday morning in August before Covid, I was greeting at church with a man I only knew as Bob. I knew Bob was a farmer, so I said, “Bob, I guess you are getting your combines in the shop preparing them for harvest…replacing the beater bars …
Puppies & People
It dawned on me as I stood in the rain with our new dachshund puppy, Lizzy-Farrar, how much I have in common with her. In short week we have had her, she is still learning to mess (pee & poop) in the yard & not in the house, that gnawing on the electrical cord cannot …
New Ground…The Process
Much of the beautiful farmland in Arkansas was once forest. When it was cleared, we called it “New Ground”. I remember the process. The first stage, the huge D8 Caterpillar bulldozers, came to cut & pile the trees to burn. That took a few weeks. It may have looked like the field was cleared but …
The Rice Shovel
There is nothing more basic to a rice farmer than his shovel. It goes where he goes. If it’s not over his shoulder as he walks across the field, it’s in his pickup. He uses it to open the levies to flood the field, to repair broken levies, to drain the field, and to kill …
Simpleness of Focus
For a farmer it always begins here…the field and his shovel. For the farmer there will be no clock to punch in & out to get paid…no vacation break or boss to complain about. The farmer must relentlessly put first-things-first by not allowing any distractions. For the farmer knows if he misses the narrow window …
Which Are You…Cockleburs or Soybeans?
One of the things a person learns from the farm is that the ground does not care what it grows. Even though the farmer intends to grow soybeans, grass, weeds, and those pesky cocklebur seeds find a way to the ground. In the summer that became my job…Cocklebur Killer! We walked the bean rows before …
“Maybe He Won’t Know…”
Growing up on Andy’s Farm in the late 1950’s and early 60’s was very different than farming today. The primary weed & grass control method of that time was cultivation. This method was to drive a tractor pulling a cultivator between the rows digging up the grass & weeds. Cultivating soybeans is like threading a …
Farrar, The Farmer’s Helpmate
In Genesis 2:18, “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” God did a fine work in both of them. They lovingly made each other strong…they filled each other’s blank places. Just like God intended. Farrar & Andy were married 65 …
A Farmer’s Hands…
One of the unique traits of a farmer is their hands. They were usually scared, sometimes missing a finger or two, callused and strong. This was my dad’s hands + they were large. So large that one day after I popped off and told my dad he was too old to catch me, he only …
Today's Good News 