[AT] Thoughts on a frosty farm morning that is too wet to plant with the tractors

[Grant Brians]

Here is a posting I wrote this morning that is a farmer posting in my 
opinion. I may be a commercial farmer but nature is always there and I'd 
better not forget it!

Today, January 28th at about 5:45AM, I took a few minutes break from the 
work I am doing this morning and just stood on the deck in front of my 
farm office looking at the start of the red color from sunrise coming in 
a while. It was so beautiful in the fields and looking at the shapes of 
the hills and trees mostly by the starlight. The soundtrack was the most 
amazing part though. Although there was a hint of traffic noise from the 
highways in the valley here, nearly everything I heard was nature. The 
high pitched Killdeer, the quacking of ducks over in the flooded fields 
and the creeks, the honking of the Canada Geese, the "knee-deep" sound 
of the Bullfrogs and the swish and keening of the Owls. The air was 
crisp and frosty, the ground partly white and partly soil colored with 
the frost contributed to the ambiance. Now an hour and a half later, the 
sun is getting close to coming over the mountains and the land is all 
visible, but I still feel fed by the beautiful earth we have! Around 
9AM, the frost will have lifted so harvest of the Spinach can start and 
our farmers market crews will have started selling and the cycle of 
Saturday continues. Loading produce at 4AM is worth it with experiences 
like this.....

           Grant Brians - Hollister,California farmer of vegetables and 
so much more