The circle of harvest

Each year, I anxiously wait for harvest season to roll around for the sweet smell of freshly chopped corn, the crisp morning air, sweater weather and getting to hop in a tractor and follow Dad around in the field.

When I think about it, corn and people share a similar life cycle. Everything starts when someone is born or a kernel is planted. Then, as time goes by, people start to walk, and the corn sprouts from the ground. As we grow, so does the corn — granted, the corn gains height faster.

In what seems like a very short few years to parents, kids are off to school and soon sitting in front of their family and friends with their class at graduation. As they move their tassel signifying the next stage of their life, the corn grows its tassel to do the same.

Skipping forward a couple of years and the graduates are listening to a million and one questions from their kids, and the corn puts on its ears to listen as well.

Sadly, this cycle can only end one way, hopefully not before a person can share the joys of life with their family and friends and get the next generation well on their way to having a bright life. As the corn is harvested, the kernels are stored in a safe place until they are ready to survive on their own in the field next season.

This year’s harvest at my parents’ farm will look a little different since we do not have to chop our own feed. But combining the corn will still be a good time. Last year was my first year being a designated hauler to and from the field. Being the youngest, I always got the short straw and had to unload the boxes, run the grain auger and watch the dryer bin level as my brother and sisters hauled boxes.

Each year, something seems to change about harvest, whether it’s the help, the setup, the equipment or the bins. This is exactly why I love harvest — two years are never the same, and it can never be planned out.

So many factors can affect how a day in the field goes. It could be sunny and 70 degrees with a lush crop and dry ground for the first few rounds. Then, one pass in the middle is mud and the equipment sinks, or something breaks down and 30 minutes of harvest is lost. The same applies to people. There is no way of knowing the full story when you only see the one part of the story and not the full story.

With that said, it also does not determine how it will be every year. If one area was muddy last year, it does not mean it will be again this year. There are many life changes we cannot control, just like farmers cannot control the weather — even though they might like to.

However, there are some changes we can control. We can decide our attitude, decide to hold a door, decide to say “hi” to someone in passing or simply ask someone how they are doing. It does not take a lot to turn a rainy day into a bright, sunny day.

There are going to be rainy, sunny, good and bad days. Most importantly, however, harvest and life continue on, and it will work out in the end.

I like to look at it this way: the bad days make the good days better, the rainy days make the sunny days brighter, nighttime makes daytime more energetic and finally, the light can never be found without the darkness it breaks through.