day 5 of farmacology: through rain, sleet, snow and hail

One of the things you may not know about farm folks is that

we deal with the elements. 

Mud, snow, dust .  .  . 

It hasn't rained in days. Certainly not in weeks. Maybe in a month. That means that every time someone drives past our house, or our dogs run down the road, or the wind blows, it's like the Dust Bowl around here. 

The trees are coated in a layer of dust. The grass looks almost silver. It's not the lush green of summer or the fading brown of fall. It's the blegh of grit, and it's coating everything. That whole washing your windows outside thing? Not happening. At least, not for a while. 

When I lived in St. Louis, I got used to walking on nice, clean cement sidewalks. I didn't have to wade through snow in high heels or mud in tennis shoes. I could step around puddles and really had no need for rubber boots, except for the days when it rained and I just wanted cute footwear. 

Here on the farm, though, rain makes mud. Snow makes dirty slush. And when those aren't present, there's a lot of dust.  

But regardless of the weather, the chores still need to get done. The crops still have to be brought in, and the cows still need to be fed. You still have to go get groceries, even if the gravel road has turned to mud, or get yourself to church without getting your shoes covered in gunk.

Your farmer, who is intensely cognizant of the weather and its effect on his ability to even get his job done, may come home covered in mud in the middle of the spring. 

Or he may come home wet and soggy every day for a week in the midst of a snowy winter. 

Or he may come home so covered in dust that his boots turn white. 

Or he may change clothes at lunch because the rain has soaked through every layer he has on.

And let's not even attempt to discuss what your dogs' coats look like in the midst of all this.

But as annoying as it can sometimes be -- for all the times we look to the skies and say, "I sure wish there were rain in the forecast!" or thirty seconds later, "If it doesn't stop raining, I'm going to go nuts!" -- we're also keenly aware of the seasons. 

When it rains, we're muddy. When it's dry, we're dusty. When it's snowy, we're wet. 

And we deal. The work gets done. The animals are taken care of. The land eventually dries out or soaks up the water. 

We're farmers, after all. It's just what we do. 

{Now the laundry, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter. But that's for another day.}

Want to read more of my 31 day farmacology writing challenge? Click here.