PERSPECTIVE
It ’ s the most wonderful time of the year – it ’ s harvest time !
“ Anyone who will eat his seeds today will be hungry tomorrow because he has nothing to plant and nothing to harvest later .”
By Jenny Matthews
Perhaps I have been influenced by one of my all-time favourite poems ‘ To Autumn ’ by English romantic poet John Keats : Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness , Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun ; Conspiring with him how to load and bless with fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run ’; but I confess harvest time is probably the time of year that I look forward to the most ! Autumn is upon us and the nippy change in the air is delightfully refreshing after the long , dry heat of summer . The falling leaves and first frosts are accompanied by the swallows zipping across the skies in preparation for migration . It is also the culmination of the season ’ s activities which sometimes find farmers working literally day and night throughout the season . Whether it be soil preparation , repairing a tractor late at night in the shed so the crucial planting program can be completed on time , or the careful monitoring of crops through the season to check for problems . All these things are done in anticipation of harvest time !
With the turning of the season from summer into autumn , there is a shifting in the psyche of the farmer . Instead of anxiously watching the sky for clouds which bring good rains and continuously standing on guard against weeds or plagues , at harvest time the farmer sees the fulfilment of his labour and measures whether his hard work has paid off . After a good season there is nothing quite as satisfying as sitting on a combine harvester watching the bins filling with maize and the kernels pouring into the waiting trucks for delivery to the nearest grain storage silos . Harvest time is the culmination of the farmer ’ s hope - and mostly it is a season of thankfulness too .
As an innocent child I sang along to the happy hymn :
“ We plough the fields , and scatter the good seed on the land , but it is fed and watered by God ' s almighty hand . He sends the snow in winter , the warmth to swell the grain , the breezes , and the sunshine , and soft , refreshing rain .”
It was , however , only when I married a farmer and together we invested our all – finances , blood , sweat and tears into the new crop , that I gained appreciation for the grateful spirit of the hymn and how a good harvest truly fills a heart with pure rejoicing . It was only then that I appreciated the trust and the hope in the farmer ’ s heart as he expectantly placed the seeds into the soil in anticipation of a harvest . It was as a farmer ’ s wife that I finally understood the real extent of our dependence on a good harvest to feed our family , and enable us to foot the relentless bills and hopefully also reinvest in the farm and grow our enterprise .
The American entrepreneur and motivational speaker , Jim Rohn , who grew up a farm boy in Idaho said , “ The greatest form of maturity is at harvest time . This is when we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big .” As a family we have also experienced too many seasons when the crisp autumn air has seemed hungover with heavy hearts as the harvest has been lean and the cheques from the granary mean a tough year lies ahead . And then we plant again , and our hearts fill with hope again and we keep looking forward , trusting and expecting that good things will come because the season is new , our energies are refreshed and the hope in our hearts is renewed too . My husband says the reason for farmers ’ eternal optimism is explained in “ The Law of Averages ”. That bumper crop … Well , it ’ s always still coming … ‘ aankomstige jaar ’! The Law of Averages holds that things will eventually average out - the Law of Averages eventually wins ! It teaches us to accept that despite our best efforts , bad things still happen sometimes . The farmer does not dwell on the negatives nor does he say to himself why should I work so hard now with no guarantee of a harvest later . Farmers are committed to the longterm view and consistently work hard towards reaching their goals .
Jim Rohn says the story of the Law of Averages is highlighted in “ The Parable of the Sower ’ and key lessons can be learnt from it :
Firstly , the sower was ambitious and secondly , he had excellent seed . But then he faced a few challenges :
� The first seed fell by the wayside and the birds ate it .
Rohn says : Know the birds will get some of your seed . Make your peace with that , stop anguishing about it . … And the sower kept on sowing . Rohn holds : Here lies the secret of success – perseverance .
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SENWES SCENARIO | AUTUMN 2018