Farming Revolves Around Weather
By Marit Ehmke
Hello, Radio Readers! This is Marit Ehmke from western Lane County with a Radio Readers BookByte for High Plains Public Radio’s Fall Read on Wind and Weather.
When I think about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I think first about Kansas weather.
For those of us connected to farming on the High Plains, weather is never just background. It shapes the day before the work even begins. We watch the sky, check the forecast, listen to our weather radios, notice the direction of the wind, and wonder whether rain will come at the right time—or whether hail, drought, heat, or a hard wind will undo weeks or months of effort.
That is one reason the opening of this story feels so familiar.
Before Dorothy ever sees the yellow brick road, Baum gives us a dry Kansas landscape. The land is gray, the grass has been burned by the sun, and even Aunt Em and Uncle Henry seem worn down by the environment around them.
Then the wind comes.
Uncle Henry looks at the sky and knows a tornado is coming. Aunt Em heads for the storm cellar, but Dorothy cannot get there in time. The house rises into the air and carries her away.
Anyone who has farmed or lived around agriculture knows how quickly the weather can change your best-laid plans. We've been in the middle of planting and getting more rain than we ever could have anticipated lately.
A strong wind may mean you cannot spray a field when you planned to. A thunderstorm may be something you have hoped for all week, only to bring hail with it. Dry winds can pull precious moisture from the soil. At harvest, you may watch the radar and the clouds while trying to decide whether there is enough time to finish another field.
The weather reminds us that no matter how carefully we plan, there are some things we simply cannot control.
The tornado is frightening and destructive, but it is also what moves Dorothy into a completely different world. Without the storm, there is no yellow brick road, no Scarecrow, no Tinman, no Cowardly Lion, and no journey to the Emerald City.
In that way, the wind becomes a catalyst for change.
It takes Dorothy away from what she knows and forces her to adapt. She has no control over where she lands, but once she is there, she keeps moving forward.
That idea feels familiar in farming, too.
A growing season rarely goes exactly according to plan. There are dry years, wet years, late freezes, hot winds, hailstorms, and sudden changes in the forecast. Farmers make decisions with the information they have, adjust when conditions change, and keep moving.
Maybe that is part of what makes Dorothy such an enduring Kansas character. She is not powerful in the way the Wizard appears to be powerful, but she is persistent. When circumstances change, she finds a way to take the next step.
And after seeing all the Emerald City has to offer, Dorothy still wants to return home. I think there is something meaningful in that for people whose lives are tied to the land.
Farming can make us deeply aware of how vulnerable we are to wind and weather. At the same time, it can deepen our attachment to a particular place—to the fields, the changing seasons, and the landscape we know by heart.
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the wind carries Dorothy away from Kansas.
But in the end, the journey helps her understand why Kansas is the place she wants to come back to.
And perhaps that is something people on the High Plains understand especially well: we may spend our lives watching the weather, adjusting to it, and sometimes fighting against it, but the land beneath it all is still home.
This is Marit signing off for Radio Reader's Book Club.
