Whether one farms by horse or by tractor, the prairie skies are omnipresent and ever-changing. The sky can bring success or failure: giving or witholding rain, pounding crops with hail, sucking heat across a parched land or holding wet cool air that breeds diseases. The sky is a source of anxiety and reassurance. It brings spiritual sustenance and powerful dread.

The skilled farmer can read the sky as well as a meteorologist, forcasting drought, the last frost, a wet spring.

Weather lore
Winter Storm, North of Cowden, Shelby County © D. Gorton 2001
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