One day another guest dropped by to see Farmer Fred. He identified himself as Ralph the Reaper, a no-nonsense, results-oriented farmer. “Nice place you got here,” he said, but that was where the pleasantries ended. Immediately he began to ply Farmer Fred with questions about numbers and results and yield. “How many bushels of wheat do you produce each year? How about your fruits and vegetables? How are they doing? How many baskets of green beans did you bring in last year? How many last month? How many last week?”
“To be honest with you, sir, it’s not been a great year for harvesting, but still…”
Ralph the Reaper quickly cut off Farmer Fred and said, “If it hasn’t been a good year for harvesting, then it hasn’t been a good year at all. As farmers, our one and only concern is the harvest.”
The man seemed pretty sure of himself, so Farmer Fred decided to just let him talk.
“How long have you been farming here?” he asked.
“Twenty-five years.”
“Wow! I would think you would have more to show for it than this.”
“Well, I would love to have more to show for it, but farming is very slow work you know.”
“Not the way I do it.”
This piqued Farmer Fred’s interest. He had never heard anyone claim that farming could be done quickly. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“You should move more quickly. Sow, reap, sow, reap, sow, reap. That’s the way it is supposed to work. I noticed as I came up the lane today that you have multiple fields which should be reaped by now.”
“But they haven’t been reaped yet because they aren’t ready. I’m waiting until they are ripe, and then I will harvest them.”
But Ralph the Reaper was adamant. “I see your problem. You’ve bought into this whole concept that crops must develop over time. A lot of time is wasted by waiting. There are too many fields to plant, too many crops that need to be raised. We don’t have time to let things hang on vines and cling to stalks.”
Farmer Fred could tell right away that this man knew nothing about true farming, but out of simple curiosity he asked, “And how do you do it?”
“Well it’s not really that difficult. I plant seeds, and as soon as I see a little green poking up through the dirt, I pick it!”
“And if it’s not ripe?”
“That’s not my problem. My concern is with the harvest.”
“And how is that working out for you?”
“Well, to be honest with you, a pretty low percentage of the crops are of high quality. Most are not usable once we get them into the barn. But I just know that doesn’t mean we are harvesting too early. It’s got to be something else.”
Farmer Fred could see he was not going to get anywhere with this man, so he changed the subject and asked why the man had stopped by.
“So what can I do for you today?”
“Well, like I said…I was driving down the road alongside of your farm and I noticed the field of young corn coming up.”
“Yes, sir!” replied Farmer Fred proudly. “I’ve worked hard on that field, and I’m thrilled to see the field turning green with growth after all the work.”
Farmer Fred thought the man must have simply stopped to compliment his beautiful corn field with it’s straight rows and neat fences. But that wasn’t really what he had in mind. Ralph the Reaper said, “Yep I saw that field of young corn shooting up and I thought what a joy it would be to reap them. So, can I help you?”
“Well, I suppose if it means that much to you and you want to come back over in about 3 months when it’s time to harvest, I’d be much obliged to have your help. Sure!”
“Three months?!! I was actually wanting to do it today.”
“Well, in that case,” replied Farmer Fred, “I guess I don’t need your help after all. If you’re going to pull up crops that aren’t ripe, I would appreciate it if you would do it somewhere other than on my farm.”
As Ralph the Reaper hurried down the lane, Farmer Fred heard him muttering, “I just don’t see why some guys insist on such slow farming methods.”
*****
Time continued to march on. Farmer Fred did indeed harvest the field of corn that the man had wanted to pluck up prematurely. And because he let it get nice and ripe and mature on the stalk, it ended up making some of the best seed corn he had ever had. The next year when he planted his corn, he was so glad he had insisted on picking the corn only when it was ready to be picked or he would not have had seed corn to replant.
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