Being thankful by the truckload - Editorial Notebook

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Sowing in the morning,

Sowing seeds of kindness,

Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve.

Waiting for the harvest,

And the time of reaping,

We shall come rejoicing,

Bringing in the sheaves.

That traditional hymn was sung at the traditional Thanksgiving service

in Cowley, Alta., in years gone by. I’ve always liked the lyrics in the

first two verses, but the best part of the service was hearing church

member Clarence Weekes – Mr. Weekes, to you – sing the chorus in his

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booming baritone.

Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Mr. Weekes sang it with such gusto that you were convinced he knew all

about the significance of sheaf bringing and hence the true meaning of

thanksgiving.

That chorus (and Mr. Weekes’ voice) got stuck in my head this week

while I was looking forward to Thanksgiving. But the simple fact is,

there aren’t that many sheaves to be brought in from prairie fields

this fall.

No, this growing season and much of this harvest has been about bales

instead.

This newspaper has expended gallons of ink on the topic of hay and

straw and lack of same. We’ve run stories on round bales and square

bales and mouldy bales and canola bales and greenfeed bales and

ammoniated bales and fumigated bales.

Trucks haul loads of bales daily through prairie cities and down

prairie highways. Bales sit in fields, surrounded by new growth that

was encouraged by rain that came too late for the first cut. Bales are

lined up in rows, waiting for pick up, or stacked and covered and

treasured.

Bales brought the country together this year when eastern Canadian

farmers helped their fellows in the West through collection and

donation of hay. Volunteers at this end got into the act. So did 4-H

clubs and farm organizations and businesses and governments.

Bales are implied in the title of the Say Hay concerts this weekend in

Edmonton and Calgary, where Canadian country music artists will raise

money for drought assistance. (Details on page 78.)

When you put all that together, bales in any form are a great reason

for giving thanks this year.

Bringing in the bales doesn’t have quite the same resonance among

lyrics, it’s true. But I’ll bet the late Mr. Weekes could have made it

sound pretty good if he sang it in the Cowley church.

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