As a kid, summer had very clear boundaries. It started Memorial Day and ended on Labor Day. This “fact” was likely a result of our school schedule in Wisconsin, which got out before Memorial Day and started around Sept. 1.

Thinking about my internal calendar made me realize none of my seasons line up with scientific dates. For me, winter starts the Monday after Thanksgiving, and spring is in April, usually right before Easter.

I think we all divide our time based on the unique priorities of our lives. Seasons are marked by things like sports, holidays, work, school, hobbies and church. If you want to get to know someone, ask them to describe a year in their life based on their unique seasons.

Recently, I was asked to share one of my internal calendars. My coworker, who is in her first year on the job, is still learning the seasons of Kansas farming. She asked me to make a calendar of the year — basically, a guide to when things happen.

I initially thought this would be easy. I have been around farming my whole life and know the crops cycles almost instinctively. But when I actually sat down to put it on a calendar, I realized how difficult it is to explain something learned through experience by date.

The problem comes when you try to tie those steps to a calendar. Planting corn can happen anywhere from March through May in most years. Wheat harvest is usually sometime in June, but I have seen it finish before Memorial Day and stretch past the Fourth of July. Honestly, it is very difficult to explain to someone without hasn’t experienced it.

There are a million variables in farming, and almost all of them are outside the farmer’s control. Weather changes the plan. Equipment breaks down. A crop matures early or late. Rain that is desperately needed arrives at exactly the wrong time.

Farmers’ calendars are dictated by conditions rather than dates. Farmers plant when the soil temperature and moisture are right, harvest when the crop is ready and move cattle when the pasture grass is dwindling. None of those things are easy to predict.

This difference between dates and conditions can be especially difficult for people who marry into farming. It is hard to adjust to a life where you can make a plan six months from now and still have no idea if the farm will cooperate with it.

I sometimes find myself frustrated when Marc won’t give me an answer about an event or trip I am planning. In those moments, I have to remind myself that I grew up on a farm and love our life. I shouldn’t be surprised or frustrated when his answer is, “I don’t know.” He’s just being honest.

Not everything important in life happens on a specific date. We can put dates on a calendar, but we don’t always get to decide when a season is over. Some things happen when the conditions are right; sometimes they are never right, and we must change our plans entirely.

We all have our own calendars, marked by the things that matter to us. Some are marked by school, sports, work, faith or family. Others are determined by circumstances we can’t control. Maybe the lesson of the farmer’s calendar is that there is a difference between knowing what season should come next and being willing to recognize the season we are actually in. The calendar may tell us what should be happening, but the conditions often tell us what needs to happen next.