Tornado

My family and I have been very fortunate that the storms that have torn through most of Arkansas lately have missed us....although they got so close we spent many evenings hiding in our closets. However, my dad's farm was not so lucky. My dad farms in what we call the "Bottoms". It is the farm land that surrounds the Arkansas river bottom...hence the name. Around 1 am Tuesday morning a huge tornado touched down in the bottoms and wiped out most of my dad's corn and wheat.....both were just weeks away from being harvested. Dad tells the story that him and my uncle Mike were really "babying" their wheat this year and it looked like they were set to break records this year....a record they set not too long ago. Well, that is unfortunately not going to happen this year.

Here is a picture of the corn that is actually still standing. It was shoulder high but is now only about to your hips and the leaves are shredded....but this is actually the good stuff left behind. Dad thinks this corn still has a chance.

As we drive deeper into the Bottoms, I can see the path the tornado took. The tree line in the distance says it all....a huge chunk of trees in the middle are ripped up or completely twisted without any leaves left. Looks like the tornado was about a mile or two wide.

Here are the bad pictures. This field was full of beautiful corn and now it is COMPLETELY bare. Not a sign of corn anywhere. In all of my grandfather's 90 years of farming, he says he has never seen the bottoms this bare during the spring.

Here is Dad's wheat field. Certain parts of the field look like they just got finished cutting.

Lyle was hoping to find some kind of life out there but even if you did find a head all the wheat grain had been sucked out. If you dig down under the leftover stalks you can see all the grain scattered in the dirt. Heartbreaking.

My dad has taken all of this in stride. Luckily, he has been so successful at farming that they are going to be just fine and have actually already gotten a game plan together for how they can best salvage the rest of this farming season. One field they have already disced under and replanted in soybeans. My dad and uncle Mike are amazing farmers....amazing men. Oh, and in case you are wondering...no the government will not bail them out.