Next Steps

Life is a puzzle. It is made up of many pieces. Often we don't see the whole picture until we have taken the steps to work on it. Yesterday after lunch Jan asked Elijah, Ezra, and Elliot to turn her puzzle pieces right side up.

If your puzzle pieces all look white you might turn them over, sort by color, and focus on the features of your picture. In life that's starting with what you know. This past week we had around 10 inches of snow.

Sometimes puzzles go better with help. So do projects. So does life. Having common goals and comradery. Offering and accepting help can make the picture or project come together faster. Alex and Dean are helping Jim install a front fender.

We are taking the next step in spraying crops. "Exact apply" comes with 4 main benefits: Individual nozzle shut offs, a nozzle that adjust droplet size as ground speed increases, sprayer turn compensation, and LED lighting on each nozzle for spraying at night. All these features work inside a field border which is accomplished by this Ranger outlining fields with technology talking to satellites in space. The end result is starting at one end of the field and spraying to the other, trusting technology to shut spray off for waterways, terraces, and outside field borders. 

The next step is "See and Spray" which uses cameras to only spray the weeds. Maybe next year.

We continue to work together on our semis. In recent years they not only haul grain, but hay, heavy equipment, hog manure, dry fertilizer, spray loads, and seed. Thanks for the picture Kasey.

An important step in the puzzle of life is a succession plan for future generations. What will life look like for Tatum in 20 years? He already has a brother and sisters helping chore. Are we that are older and in charge willing to give up time, responsibility, and opportunities to make room for the next generations? And then trust God and others that the puzzle will continue to be completed.

Succession plans don't start in a lawyer's office or a tax appointment. And it involves way more than numbers and living trusts. The first steps of future generations being part of the puzzle starts with working on projects with parents and /or grandparents.

Speaking of numbers, this is the time of year when we on the farm finish purchasing our crop inputs, and meet with our bank partners to see where we've been, where we're at, and where we're headed financially. Without diversification projected crop cashflows are getting tight. 

I was blessed this week to have a granddaughter and her husband join us for lunch that are expecting a baby in early June. To watch a grandson order crop inputs for his beginning operation. And to have another grandson meet with a lender, on his own, to talk about his banking needs for 2025. These are the next steps for continuing to see the picture of the puzzle of life come together.

So how does one tackle the puzzle of life? A step at a time. Find the corners, then the borders. That's your foundation of faith. Next, sort your pieces by color. That's what you already know. Then start to look for features in your picture. What are you good at? What do you enjoy? Finally, ask for help. That includes God, and others.