يحاول ذهب - حر
Weathering the Storm
June/July 2023
|Guideposts
Out here on the prairie, your nearest neighbor can be a mile away. But in times of trouble, they're right by your side

My family has been farming here on the prairie since 1959, when my dad bought some land. Things have changed since then, and they haven’t changed. We farm 10,000 acres now, and I harvest the wheat, soy and corn in an air-conditioned combine with a padded seat and computer controls. But we still work just as many hours, sometimes 100 a week in peak season. And family farming is still a knife-edge business. It costs one and a half million dollars to put a crop in the ground. If something goes wrong, we’re sunk.
We love it, though. All that lies between us and the sunrise is our front yard and wheat rolling to the horizon. Our closest neighbor is more than a mile away—church, another 24 on a dirt road. It’s a spacious, self-reliant life. That’s good too. If you’ve got to rely on someone, it may as well be yourself. My parents; my brother, Elmer, and his family; and my wife and kids and I live alongside the farmyard in three separate houses. Elmer runs the plant er in spring. I drive the pesticide sprayer. Dad does repairs in his workshop. Barb, my wife, keeps the books. Watching her at our computer, surrounded by account logs and subsidy reports, I wonder how our family keeps the whole enterprise together— all on our own.
One thing we do know, though, is weather. Growing up on the prairie, you learn the language of clouds— rain clouds, hail clouds and the black, bruised clouds that mean trouble. Usually, if bad weather’s brewing, we have time to prepare.
هذه القصة من طبعة June/July 2023 من Guideposts.
اشترك في Magzter GOLD للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة، وأكثر من 9000 مجلة وصحيفة.
هل أنت مشترك بالفعل؟ تسجيل الدخول
المزيد من القصص من Guideposts

Guideposts
Justice Served
Thanksgiving for this judge arrived early... and unexpectedly
5 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
Concert on a Clear Night
Dad never said much about serving in Korea, and it was hard to imagine him as a soldier. I remembered him singing, not fighting
4 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
Thanksgiving Masala
I was excited about my son, my only child, going off to college. I also knew it was taking him away from me. But one thing would always keep us connected
4 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
A Blessed Mess
I'd invited my new friend to church. I wanted everything to be perfect. Nothing was
4 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
The Teacup
It was more than just a gift from my grandfather. No matter where life has taken me, it has come with me
5 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
Runaway Farm
He was a cop with trust issues. Duke was a horse with a troubled past.How would they end up healing each other?
6 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
Sarah's Siddur
“We'll pray together at the Western Wall,” my friend promised
3 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
Taken for Granted?
I wondered if my husband even realized how much I did for us
5 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
family room
MEET THE PEOPLE IN OUR PAGES
4 mins
Oct/Nov 2025

Guideposts
My First Friendsgiving
I loved my family, but hosting Thanksgiving dinner year after year? That was driving me crazy
5 mins
Oct/Nov 2025
Translate
Change font size