Spring is always welcomed and so is its mix of rain, sunshine, cloudy and warm and frosty moments. This time of year, and in years gone by, you had to keep jumper cables nearby! Inevitably you would leave the house when it is dark and arrive at work when it is light and forget to turn off the car lights!?!?! But for the most part, cars are a lot smarter and lights turn themselves off now.
However, those same cars, at least in my price range, don’t roll the windows up when I hop out and head out. Of course, when you head to the store, you would naturally roll up your windows, but I am talking about the times you are at home and hop out and forget to roll up your windows and it RAINS! Who knows, maybe TESLA is working on an App that is synced with a weather station and when it is about to rain it pings the car and it rolls up your windows!
I am a little nervous about all of these intuitive smart choices out there. Anymore, the lights turn on by themselves, the water comes on by itself, toilets flush themselves. I am really concerned about this new generation though as they are always leaving the lights on, the water on and forgetting to flush the toilets! Most of these things will work themselves out when they have to start paying the light and water bills and look for a plunger!
Technology like most things is part useful, and part silly. On the farm we mechanize as much as possible, but somethings never change. Right now, we are busy walking the fields, visually checking the depth of the mud puddles. Or how high the water splashes when one of the grandkids jumps into it! Yep, still have water in them, But they are drying up!
One day, it will be “go” time and every farmer in our valley will move from tinkering (pacing) here and there to a full-on sprint. Yes, all the preparations like ordering seeds, fertilizers, compost, and fuel are a part of farming, but for me farming begins when we start the tractors and use them every day.
And like any race, I am anticipating the starter’s pistol to go off, but unlike a race I could continue pacing for another day, week or month. The farm team is hanging around the start line waiting for this year’s season/race to begin.
-Tristan