Showing Up

 One of the blessings of having a seed dealership is relationships. When folks show up to load their corn and beans, often on rainy days there are conversations about weather, markets, farming, and family.

The week started out heading to the field early Monday morning. On Wednesday morning there were some showers go through and slowed planting down for a couple of days.

Last Sunday noon we celebrated Malaki's first birthday. We took a four generation picture. Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. This coming Tuesday will be Karl's birthday. A lot of family blessings over the last 82 years.

Mike called one day and asked if someone could show up and pull him out. He has been shaping waterways on ground going to soybeans.

Our soybean planter had a communication problem and wasn't talking to the tractor monitor properly. BJ patiently spent the better share of a couple of days hunting down the problem. He and Alex finally found an Ag Leader harness cable sending wrong messages. 

And late Saturday afternoon Alex finally got to the field to plant beans.

Kurt has been planting corn with a red planter and BJ has been planting corn with a green one. So there has been a lot of good natured teasing about which one does the best job.

The corn has been taking advantage of the warm soil temps and is coming up nicely. Karl has been busy getting it sprayed before it emerges.

 Matt, a part time helper, and John, a grandson, helped me put in our test plot yesterday. I enjoy grandkids helping and giving them jobs. I told John he could plant the leftover plot seed when we were finished. 

I know fellows that don't get to plant until they're 50 years old because it was always their Dad's job. I appreciate my Dad. He let me start running the planter when I was in 8th grade. John is just finishing up 4th grade.

 This is Jackson watching his Dad plant corn. Our kids and grandkids watch us way sooner and way closer than we realize. It doesn't take them long to figure out what we feel is important and what our priorities are.

 Folks in our communities and folks we do business with are also watching. Do they see us care about each other? Do they see us reach out and be a friend? Do they see us share?

Most of us say we are Christians. Do folks just see us show up for church or do they see us have a genuine and sincere interest in the spiritual lives of those we come in contact with?