On the way home from work tonight I saw a tractor preparing a field for planting. This made me think of a great cartoon by Frank Andrea Miller.

Frank Miller is quickly becoming my favorite editorial cartoonist. Probably because there are so many of his cartoons in my Grandma’s scrapbooks.

I really like this one. The cartoon shows different scenes of farmers planting and also illustrates the difficulties they face in getting their crop in the ground. I like the statement The Big Problem that is in the bottom left corner of the cartoon. I am not sure exactly which of the concepts in the cartoon is the big problem, but perhaps it is what is on the sign in front of the row of grain bins. Or, a combination of all of them :-).

Weather, technology, availability of equipment, field management and government regulations and subsidies all play into the problems that farmers faced then and still face today.

This cartoon also brings back memories of gardens we planted and also the times that I have worked in the fields. However, the tractors that I operated were much larger than the ones in this cartoon.

I also decided to look back through my posts tonight and put together a list of posts that have Frank Andrea Miller cartoons in them. You can click on the names of the posts to visit them.

Spirit, Courage and Thoughtful Action

152 Years Ago

Washington’s Birthday

Friendship 7

President’s, Presidents’ or Presidents

Bridges of Madison County

Early Winter Driving

Winter Cuttings

President Lincoln

I was surprised that I had so many. I will be posting another one of his cartoons for Mother’s Day. I am not sure whether I will post it tomorrow or on Sunday. It may just depend where my mind wanders tomorrow.

I hope that you enjoy the cartoon of Planting Time in Iowa. It definitely brought back memories for me.

Steven