Crows in Place of Seagulls

During the long, cold spring of 1990, frost continued each night well into June, causing our alfalfa hay crop to be unusually small. As the weather warmed into July, we anxiously awaited a good second crop. While some of our hay seemed to be growing well, some on bordering fields didn’t look so good. As we checked the fields, we discovered that thousands of grasshoppers were coming onto our land. The grasshoppers were so numerous that the hay stems bent to the ground.

Days turned into weeks, and still the grasshoppers came. By late August we were desperate for ways to combat the insects. We needed this crop of hay and had tried many ways to save it, but nothing seemed to help. We turned to our Heavenly Father in fasting and prayer. Thinking of the miracle of the gulls experienced by early pioneers, we wondered if such a thing could happen again.

As we watched the days go by, one morning we heard and saw thousands of black crows flying together above our barns. They flew into the hay fields, but because we thought of crows as scavengers, we did not realize at first that they were an answer to our prayers. Each morning at daybreak the crows would fly to our fields, fill up on grasshoppers, fly to the hills above our home, then return. For three weeks the crows came daily. Early in September, the crows left for good and have not returned since.

Thanks to the crows, we harvested enough of our crop to take care of our needs over the winter. We were very grateful for this experience, and have learned that Heavenly Father can, and sometimes does, help us with problems that are beyond our own capacity to solve.