As anyone who’s burned pasture in the Flint Hills can attest, just under the surface of the amazing grassland is a vast amount of limestone rock. It comes to light after a controlled burn, popping out starkly gray in a sea of charred grass.
One day many years ago, after one such burn, I remember my Dad leaning against the pickup truck entertaining me with stories. He told me how the Native Americans would use the limestone they found to fashion tools and weaponry. He then pointed out how our family ancestors used limestone to build their homes and our little country church and other settlers used it for fence posts. He even reminded me that the pasture spring, where we would stop to get the clearest, tastiest, coolest drink of water on a blazing summer day was possible because of the filtration of the limestone.
Rocks are an integral part of farming and ranching in the Flint Hills. And I remember Dad telling me back then something very profound that’s stuck with me all these years.
The difference, he said, in a pebble and a boulder is all in your perception of the situation and your attitude.
See, some rocks are stepping stones, leading us on a path to something new, while others are gravel in our shoes.
Some rocks build grand churches and monuments, while others build blockades and defenses.
Some rocks get weathered over the years, creating the life-giving soil that grows the grass that feeds the cows that feed us. And some rocks get fashioned into weapons.
It’s all in how you look at the rock.
We each have rocks in our lives. We can let them stop us in our tracks. We can figure out a way around them. Or we can choose to use them to our advantage. They can either be the irritating pebbles in our shoes or they can be the keystones in the arched bridge.
It’s our choice.
To be in agriculture, we all have that built in optimistic streak that this season, this rain, this crop is going to be a good one. Even if the talk at the coffee shop is doom and gloom, we all know deep inside of each of us is a stubborn foundation of optimism that just won’t crack.
We choose, every day, to build something grand with the rocks that pop up in the hazy smoke after the fire.
Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached at 620-227-1807 or [email protected].
