John Prosper

     Hello friends, John Prosper out here in what used to be the west pasture pulling up a few undesirable elements amongst the new sprouts. Can’t get them all. There’s more than a few acres in this field; probably need a post-emergent spray to burn ‘em up. Thank heaven for modern agricultural tools. When I was a farm boy, I pulled up weeds out of my neighbors’ soybean fields for hours on end, making a paltry sum by today’s standards. Kept gas in the old pick-up though and availed change for cherry phosphates for my country gal pal and I from the local pharmacy soda bar. 

     Well, you wonder where they came from, I mean these tares everywhere. It’s not like I planted them. I didn’t go into the seed distributor and say, “give me a mix of your finest late-planting weed and seed”. You know I trust those guys down at the local dealer, and I trust Pioneer too…been dealing with ‘em for years. Don’t think they’ve been developing this type of hybrid. I know I sowed good seed in this field.

     Well, I read something similar to this conundrum in friendly Willa Mae’s book that she dropped off. It’s like a farmers’ almanac or somethin’. The publishers, don’t you see, inject some humor once in a while to cultivate your interest. This anecdote expressed the frustration and visual embarrassment of the ‘ugly field’ farmer. “[Aggie], did you not sow good seed in your field? From whence then has it tares (must be a south Missouri dialect)? While he was sleeping, the enemy came and planted tares among the good seed, and went his way. So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, there appeared the weeds also.”

     Ah ha, I’ve got enemies, truth be known! Someone or something is trying to sabotage my labor and my yield…you know, working against me. Maybe it’s that ‘townie’ I wouldn’t let hunt on my ground last fall. It wasn’t nothin’ personal; just concerned about the livestock. He might be carryin’ a grudge, sowing bad seed amongst the good. Could be critters though, too. I see a lot of their tracks. Seems like they come out on my ground to do mischief under cover of darkness. Trapped a few of them, resisted a few if you know what I mean…and they fled, but they got plenty of compadres.  

     Well, the horse is already out of the barn. It is what it is. I could have my farmhands take the time to loosen these recalcitrant imposters with the field cultivator, but that might root up the seedlings with them. I’ll selectively get most of these offenders with the post-emergent culler. It’ll be the end of the world for them, and leave the desired crop relatively unharmed. We’ll get the rest at the end of the season when they gnash in the teeth of the harvester.  The good crop will be separated for the granary. That’s always a day of redemption for one’s toil. Farming will sometimes try your patience and faith.