Living in Farmville

We're in the middle of summer here in Kentucky, which means we're also in the middle of growing season. For the last couple of months, farmers have been in various stages of field prep, planting, etc. Usually, for us non-farmers, it means maybe getting stuck in traffic behind a tractor or seeing the tractors in the fields kicking up dust. Every so often, we'll see farmers burning off their fields.

Now, normally this isn't a huge deal. A little smoke, a little flame, and the job's done. But on this particular day last month, The Hubs and I were leaving the house and see what can only be described as a mushroom cloud. We're thinking something has exploded (with oil wells and grain silos scattered throughout the area, it's happened). Come to find out, a farmer in the next town over was burning off his field and it got a little out of control.

The Hubs wanted to drive down to where the fire was, to see if help was needed, and y'all... it was crazy. The fire was approaching not only someone's house, but it made its way to the road. In the time it took him to turn the car around and head away from the fire, the flames were close enough we could feel the heat from them inside the Jeep. That was about the time I said it was time to nope right out of there.

We continued on to our original destination, which was in the next county over. Y'all, the smoke from this fire could be seen almost 30 miles away! And when we got home, two hours later, the smell of the smoke had reached our house. It was several hours before the air cleared and the smell dissipated.

This was definitely the craziest field burn I have ever seen. I truly thought it was going to turn into a wildfire devastation. Luckily, that ended up not being the case.