I have been visiting with dad about the upcoming wheat harvest. It is but a few weeks away and it doesn't look very good. The lingering drought in parts of Oklahoma has taken its toll. The area around Enid has received little moisture for the past six months. All of the wheat crop has suffered, some of it has been virtually destroyed. Dad expects yields to be well below normal. If there isn't decent rain in the next couple of weeks the entire crop could be lost.
As bad as it is near Enid, the conditions further south are much worse. In Southern Oklahoma and much of Texas they have received virtually no rain in the last eight or nine months. In these parts the wheat crop has already been ruled a total loss.
Nothing will teach patience and endurance like farming. Drought, hail, wind and calamity can happen at any time. You can do everything right and the crop still may not come in. It is a reality that every farmer faces.
No matter how bad the harvest is this year it won't be the end of the farm. It will be difficult, but the farm will continue. This isn't the first storm that the Millers have had to weather. This in no way detours my desire to return to the farm. If anything it hardens my resolve to return and continue the family legacy...feast or famine.
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