In the Heat of Summer…
Could this summer get any hotter?? Here at Cross E Ranch, we are all but melting in the heat. It’s been a while (ok years) since our last blog post. But I am here to change that, because farming is so cool! Plus, it’s more fun when we get to share it with you all.
Last year we were SO blessed and witnessed many miracles that allowed us to keep our land and expand our business. We concluded that because we were blessed in essentially every way possible last year, that this year we are being tried and tested. Boy oh boy, it’s been real doozy, let me tell ya.
We were able to put on our Spring Festival this year and I want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who came out and supported us, while enjoying the baby animals because there really isn’t anything cuter. Right after the Spring Festival is when things started to heat up, both weather and farming wise. The weather heating up is something everyone has been a witness to; I didn’t think it was humanly possible to sweat so much, but here I am soaking wet every day.
As soon as the festival ended, we gave ourselves a full hour of rest (ok, more like a weekend, but still) and then went straight into prepping for planting. For those who don’t know what all goes into planting, it’s intense and calls for very long days and sleepless nights. We got our corn planted and the irrigation systems going and then we turned focus on the sunflowers.
Can I start with saying, pray for rain (and a miracle)!! We planted the sunflowers and were really excited about our new pivot gun (a way to irrigate our sunflower field). Then we watched and waited with apprehension, and much to our extreme disappointment and broken spirits, we watched the sunflowers fight a losing battle with the heat, and wind.
We now face the harsh reality of farming: not everything (or nothing) goes as planned. Now we must spend time coming up with plan B, C, D, E… (you get the point) about what to do next. The import thing to know is that we are doing all we can to remain on the positive side of things and come up with new ideas that will allow you to still come and enjoy all the farm has to offer. Because you all are the glue that holds us together, and the reason we keep pushing through the hard times. The smiles we see on your faces makes the craziness worth it and gives us the motivation to keep trying and fills us with courage to continue.
This is the first of many posts to keep you updated with the farm. I plan to go into more detail about what we do, and how we execute our projects here at Cross E Ranch. Let this be an introduction and invitation to life on the farm, I can’t wait to share it with you all!
