New Lease!

Yesterday and today were rainy and cold. It feels like fall. With bird hunting season opening today, Jeff and I are anxious to get Harvey out hunting. Personally, I don't care too much if I actually shoot anything-- I just look forward to hiking around the prairie and crop stubble with Jeff and Harvey, my family!  

On a rainy day during harvest, what do farmers usually do?  Yesterday, Jeff and Tom spent a lot of time in discussion about future planning-- both short-term and long-term.  I was present for a great deal of this, since it affects me, too.  

We found out several weeks ago that we would no longer be able to farm a large section of land we had been leasing.  This is the last harvest for that land. Sometimes I wonder what the guys are thinking as they go over this land for the last time in the combine or truck.  Other times, they make it very clear.  While no one expected this lease to be long-term, it's never easy to find out you will have less.  All the same, we should wish the family/landowners well.  

Jeff and I got to work right away planning what we could do to create a dependable future in farming and ranching for ourselves.  That's when a really great deal we weren't expecting fell right into our lap. We just signed a new lease yesterday between ourselves and a retiring farmer that will allow us to farm about the same amount of land as what was in the other lease that just ran out.  This farmer had been specifically looking for the right young couple who was just starting out.  I can't speak for Jeff, but I feel very fortunate that he and his wife generously thought of us.  And the timing couldn't have been better. 

There is a saying among farmers regarding acquisition of land and leases: "I only want to farm my land, and the land that's next to it..."  Some individuals seem like Land Barons-- snatching up whatever they can get.  I believe you have to live and work within your means.  Jeff has explained to me several times in the past there are certain numbers he has always thought he wanted to reach during his farming career.   One number for how many farming acres we would have, and another for how many cattle.  Though we would not be there yet, this new lease gets us one step closer.  Plus, with the market value for wheat and cattle right now, it seems like another good reason to expand.  

Between the two of us, and especially Jeff, there seems to be a renewed sense of excitement as we begin to plan the next few years of crop rotation.  This, combined with recent news I received about a starting a new job at the Medical Center in Chester, is making us both feel very optimistic.  However, I think it's very important to remain humble and thankful for the opportunities we have been given, and not too remorseful over what has been taken away.  You never know what the future will bring.