A MIRACLE

Yesterday Robert came into the house with a GIANT grin on his face. Jacob and I had seen the Railroad pickup pull into the yard and Jacob had sent the man down to the Quonset where Robert was working on Andrew's grain cleaner.

Robert joyfully announced, "I think that we got rid of our rock piles!"

My heart skipped a beat for joy and then asked cautiously, "What do you mean?"

Robert laughed, "That man was from the railroad and they DESPERATELY need rocks for rip-rapping across Goose Lake."

Then he told us the details that the lake has risen and isn't safe to cross. The closest farmer who still had unburied rock piles wanted money for his, so they kept looking. Robert told the man that they can have all of the rocks they want with one stipulation--they MUST take ALL of the rocks.

The man told him that they didn't need all of them right now, but he figured they could find a place to stock pile the extras. You see, we don't want them on our property with their big equipment making a mess of our alfalfa fields more than once. They need to come in; take all of the rocks; and then get off so that the alfalfa can come back as much as possible.

Robert told him that he was thinking of burying them this Fall. He said, "Don't you bury those rocks," and they laughed together.

Rock piles are a pain to all farmers as they must be gone around, which takes time and slows you down. Also, it's almost impossible not to get caught up on at least one rock pile per field and then that damages equipment which costs $ to fix.

To the organic farmer, though, they're an even bigger pain. Weeds grow there as no tillage is possible on a rock pile (Jacob would say DA) and, of course, we don't spray. It WILL BE SOOOOOOOOO WONDERFUL TO GET RID OF THIS NUISANCE!!!

Well, the man left yesterday saying that he'd see what could be done about getting rid of ALL of the rocks. He just returned and said that it's a GO. I guess there is a train over by Braddock which they will not allow to pass through Goose Lake with the water level so high on the track. Last Spring one of their trains derailed there, so they're not taking that risk again. You may recall the post I wrote about that with pictures of our menfolk down by the spilt corn on the tracks near Kintyre. Anyway, THEY NEED ROCKS NOW

Robert said, "Go at it" so the man was going to call the boss and have him send the equipment down to our farm TODAY. We are thrilled that it will be so soon as at first he thought it may not be done for a month yet. Well, we need to get into some of those fields to seed them long before a month and they won't be allowed onto the fields after they are seeded.

This is a WIN-WIN situation, so we're all happy here. It would take us a lot of time and expense to bury those rocks. That's why it hasn't been done yet but now the good Lord has kept us from having to stick our energy and money into burying them. PRAISE THE LORD!!! This is a total miracle and we are sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy!!! GOOD JOB, GOD!!!!!

Keep your eyes posted on all of our blogs for pictures of the big railroad equipment working in our fields. It should be on it's very slow way as I write.

Later,

Dawn