Army Worms

One of the popular stories of my family history happened when my dad and his family still lived and worked on a farm.  For years I thought this event happened shortly before grandma and grandpa sold the farm but dad says that isn’t so.  Nonetheless, this is an interesting and true story.

Though born in Nebraska, my dad grew up in Michigan.  The farm is still there.  The barn looks good and the house has had some additions and upgrades.  The house was built in the 1800s.  At some point, grandma used to say, she felt the Lord was telling her they needed to sell the farm and move but she loved it there and didn’t want to.  Consequently, they didn’t. 

Many of us have heard about the plagues God brought upon Egypt.  This is similar.  One summer all the crops were wiped out by army worms.  As dad described it, the army worms started on one side of the property and just moved across everything.  He said it looked like a slow moving black blanket moving across the land.  The crops were green, the army worms were black, and they left nothing but brown dirt and occasional partially eaten twigs. 

The thing that makes this appear to be God’s judgment is this important fact:  Only the land and crops belonging to my family were affected.  The army worms literally went up to the fence of a neighbor’s land but did not cross the line. 

When I visited the place a couple years ago, I went into the house for the first time.  We went into the basement and dad pointed out how the house was built upon one of the rock formations.  You can see one of the rock formations in the picture.  Dad mentioned how if you were in the basement, you could here people coming to the house from the barn if they were running.  The rock somehow amplified the sound of the footsteps.  

Grandma and grandpa did end up selling the place a few years later.  My grandma loved it there and always cried whenever we visited.  Most of the family stories I know took place there.  It was up for sale and I’d love to have it in the family again.  It just isn’t in the cards right now.