It is the matter-of-fact way in which people are prompted to help each other, and the humility with which help is offered, that allows proud and self-reliant fellow farmers and ranchers to accept assistance.

All know that livelihoods and legacies are on the line, pending the external forces that cannot be controlled, and in an instant a storm, fire or other natural disaster could change everything.

While driving through Ashland and Englewood, Kansas, in early April, heading back to Pennsylvania from other work in the Midwest, the post-wildfire realities stretched for miles.

It was a rain-soaked day, just what the land needs to recover. New life was springing forth, adding lushness to the intermittent wheat pastures that had provided refuge. These wheat pastures were credited with saving hundreds of human and animal lives as they interrupted the fires that spread rapidly through the dry grasslands and provided a safe haven for evacuees when roads were blocked during the fire.

Timely rains are softening the charred lands with emerging hints of green, red and gold, framing the wildfire zones as the painter slowly refills this empty palette. Residents say that the rain has helped a lot, and the grasses will explode within the next two weeks in some areas. The hay being sent has been a godsend. And the move by the Trump administration to authorize emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands located in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas – the three states that were most heavily impacted by ongoing wildfires – will help.

But it is the Sand Hills of southwest Kansas that catch your breath. The Starbuck fire – which claimed over 500,000 of the total 711,000 acres burned in Kansas the first week of March – had burned so hot, sinking down through the sandy soil like a sponge, that many wonder if the grasslands will come back more than spotty at best in areas where windswept sand dunes present a desert-like appearance. There are areas with nothing on top, leading to lingering concerns about feeding surviving cattle.

Firefighters noted this was unlike anything they had seen in their 20 to 30 years. They described driving 60 to 70 mph, and being outrun by the fast-moving fire, seeing it move right past them.

Only time will tell how some of the acres will respond to the timely rains.

One thing is for certain. The help of fellow farmers and ranchers via donations of hay, fencing supplies, work crews, orphaned calf care and fundraising – all of it represents blessings beyond measure.

As Ashland resident Rick Preisner put it, “Everyone here was shell-shocked at first. Everything changed in an instant. It was difficult to know where to start. Then the help came pouring in and it lifted this community up.”

“No one here is saying no to the hay that’s been coming,” said Roddy Strang. “They know they will need feed for a while here.” Strang trains horses and lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania, with his wife and children, but he grew up in Ashland around the Gardiner Angus Ranch, where his father worked for 26 years.

Not only did he fill his livestock trailer with 250 compact alfalfa bales and some fencing for the trip “home” to the annual Gardiner Angus production sale on April 1, he helped connect the dots for Lancaster County dairy farmer Aaron Hess of Hess Dairy in Mount Joy and his neighbor Arlyn Martin. Martin drove the 1,500 miles the last week of March with a load of 36 large square bales from Hess, along with 1,800 fence posts and 91 rolls of barbed wire the men procured with funds they had raised and with many companies offering equipment and supplies free or with discounts.

They worked with Kevin Harrop of Harrop Hay and Bale in Exton, Pennsylvania. Harrop grew up on a dairy farm and today runs a hay brokering and custom harvesting business in southeast Pennsylvania. Between Harrop and James Hicks of Meadow Springs Farm, they filled another truck with 42 large square bales. Harrop and Martin set out for Kansas early the last week of March, delivered the hay and fencing to Ashland Cooperative Feed and Seed by Wednesday, March 29, and were home by Saturday, April 1.

For Strang, the mission was personal. He stayed for the Gardiner Angus sale on Saturday, April 1, where a few cows were purchased for the return trip to Virginia.

For those involved with the donations from southeast Pennsylvania – as for the numerous others organizing convoys from Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, northwest Pennsylvania and more – the mission to bring hay to fire-torn regions in four states was something they didn’t really think twice about. And it is something they don’t want recognition for.

The only fanfare being given to these hay donations is the sentiment of “God bless America.” Harrop explains it further. “We saw the Facebook posts, and we knew people out there, so we called to see what was going on and to figure out exactly what they would need,” he said in a phone call from the road.

Harrop put it best when he explained that people helping out do not want publicity or pats on the back for their own sakes, but they sure don’t mind if others share and publicize what they are doing for the sake of showing the world how farmers and ranchers network and move forward to get things done.

“In a small way, we just want to help keep this network going,” said Harrop. “The need is great in the wildfire zone. The mainstream media and the government are ignoring this. Farmers all over the country have responded.”

In fact, hundreds of trucks with hay and fencing and other needed supplies have poured into the affected areas of southwest Kansas, eastern Colorado and the Texas-Oklahoma Panhandle region. While some areas are saying they have enough hay, for now, southwest Kansas is particularly hard hit in this regard, and people are thankful for the trucks that continue to come – 200 of them, in fact, on just one day, alone. The list of states represented is too numerous to acknowledge them all. Relief organizers say they have received calls from over 20 states. Plans are also underway for moving 1,000 large bales that have been donated in Greene and Washington counties, Pennsylvania, in the near future.

“That is their lives out there. That’s what they do, and it’s not like they have a lot to fall back on,” said Aaron Hess after securing a load of large bale hay from his dairy onto Arlyn Martin’s truck. “I was just seeing the posts on Facebook, so I called up the Ashland co-op and they put me in touch with the guy in charge. I just felt like it was the right thing to do.”

Teams of volunteers have helped remove damaged fencing. Crews, tools and materials to re-fence perimeters are the priority now.

Strang notes that the recipients are amazed by the outpouring of people wanting to come out to the middle of nowhere and help. “It is emotional,” he admitted. “There are some good people in a bad way. They aren’t going to ask for the help, but we see the need, and we know if it were us, they would help.”

Even in this time when agriculture is taking such a severe economic hit, people step up. That’s how agriculture rolls.  

This article originally appeared on Sherry Bunting’s blog, Growing the Land.

Sherry Bunting is a freelance writer from East Earl, Pennsylvania. Email Sherry Bunting.

PHOTO 1: Timely rains are softening the charred lands with emerging hints of green, red and gold, framing the wildfire zones as the painter slowly refills this empty palette. But it is the Sand Hills of southwest Kansas that catch your breath. The fire burned so hot, sinking down through the sandy soil like a sponge, that many wonder if the grasslands will come back more than spotty at best in areas where windswept sand dunes present a desert-like appearance. Photo by Sherry Bunting.

PHOTO 2: Kevin Harrop of Chester County, Pennsylvania, organized the two trucks heading to southwest Kansas with nearly 80 large bales of hay. Photo by Sherry Bunting.

PHOTO 3: In addition to hay, Aaron Hess and Arlyn Martin loaded 1,800 fence posts and 91 rolls of barbed wire for the trip. Photo by Kevin Harrop.