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Being a Farmwife

April 1, 2011 By Sara






The other day a fellow CommonGround Spokeswoman from South Dakota, Morgan Konz, had a blog post that made me smile and laugh while I was reading it. It was called “You Might Be a Farmwife If…” I wanted to turn it into what being a farmwife means to me and all of my rolls in life. So for starters, you might be a farmwife if (I have bolded a few that REALLY pertain to me and/or our farm):

  • If your name is taped to or written on the side of a cakepan
  • If you call the implement dealer and he recognizes your voice
  • If the vet’s number is on the speed dial of your phone (it’s in my phone, but not on speed dial)
  • If you know how to change the flat on your car, but can’t because the spare is on a flatbed
  • If your second vehicle is still a pickup
  • If your husband has ever used field equipment to maintain your yard
  • If the word “auction” makes you tingle
  • If “wild game” reminds you of dinner and not the bedroom
  • If “a little bit of lunch” involves 6 courses and a dessert made from scratch
  • If the “fresh ingredients” your recipe calls for reminds you to do the chores
  • If taking lunch to the field is as close as you get to a picnic
  • If you can mend a pair of pants and the fence that ripped them
  • If you’re on the lookout for new uses for “Jell-O”
  • If the shopping list in your purse includes the sizes of filters, tires, overalls, chains, belts, lights, cables, spark plugs or shotgun shells
  • If “Farm”, “Ranch”, “Country”, “Cowboy” or “Antique” is in the name of many of the magazines that arrive at your house
  • If your tan lines are somewhere below your shoulder and above your elbow
  • If “Lacey” or “Frilly” refers to a farm animal but not your nightgown
  • If you ever went on a date to the rodeo or a cattle sale
  • If you’ve ever been grateful for fingernail polish, because it hides the dirt under your nails
  • If you’ve ever called your husband to supper, using a radio
  • If being taken out to dinner has ever included a talk by a seed corn dealer
  • If your driveway is longer than a stone’s throw
  • If your mailbox looks like a piece of farm machinery
  • If the daily paper is always a day late
  • If you have a yard, but not a lawn
  • If you have lots of machinery and each piece is worth more than your house
  • If the leaky barn roof gets fixed, before the leaky house roof
  • If the neighbor’s house is best viewed with binoculars
  • If the directions to your house include the words, “miles,” “silos,” “last,” or “gravel road”
  • If the tractor and the combine have air conditioning and an FM radio but your car doesn’t
  • If your storage shed is a barn
  • If you measure travel in miles not minutes
  • If your farm equipment has the latest global positioning technology and you still can’t find your husband
  • If you consider “hot dish” a food group
  • If your husband says, “Can you help me for a few minutes?” and you know that might be anywhere from a few minutes to six hours
  • If you plan your vacations around farm shows (Commodity Classic!!!)
  • If grass stains are the least of your laundry problems (Cattle poo is definitely an issue in my house!)
  • If your refrigerator contains medicine, livestock medicine (Yep! Although I make him put it in the one in the garage.)
  • If your car’s color is two-toned and one color is gravel road brown
  • If you knew everyone in your high school (28 kids in my graduating class!)
  • If you’ve entertained the romantic notion of living in an old, country farmhouse with a fireplace, but gave it up because firsthand experience tells you that it’s cold, drafty, smoky and sooty
  • If you use newspapers to help keep the kitchen floor clean (sometimes use them by the front door)
  • If you’ve ever said, “Oh, it’s only a little mud.”
  • If your husband gave you flowers, but you had to plant the seeds yourself
  • If you’ve used the loader to reach the windows when they needed washing (or trimmed the trees)
  • If you’ve ever used a broom to shoo a critter (I don’t usually shoo many critters, I usually shoot them!)
  • If dinner is at noon and supper is in the evening
  • If you don’t need the recipe to make Rice Krispies bars
  • If you shovel the sidewalk, with a skidsteer loader (I don’t, but my husband has!)
  • If quality time with your hubby means you’ll have a flashlight in one hand and a wrench in the other
  • If you know the difference between field corn and sweet corn
  • If you can make a meal that can be ready in six minutes and will still be ready in two hours
  • If your basement is really a cellar
  • If “sharing a cab” has nothing to do with a taxi and everything to do with getting across the field
  • If your job in town is considered a farm subsidy

I thought those were pretty funny! But really, what being a farmwife means to me is that you have a hard working husband that spends many days (and nights) taking care of things on the farm. From cattle to crops, there is always something “to-do” on the farm. Right now during calving season, he’s out checking on cows every 3-4 hours or so. It’s kind of like having a newborn all over again with the lack of sleep he is getting! Last year when we DID have a newborn, I would try to do HD’s feedings at the same time that Kevin went out and checked on cows so we could actually get some sleep in between times. When Kevin is gone for various meetings I get to check on the calves. Luckily Kevin’s Grandma lives right next door on the farm and can watch HD when I do this! I also get to do chores when he’s gone which, this time of the year, consists of feeding grain to some of the heifers and bulls and haying the cattle. I have not had to hay the cows yet; either Kevin’s dad comes up and does it or our part-time guys does it for me when he’s gone.

Kevin haying our cows.

Checking out a newborn calf.
Being a farmwife also means that we don’t just get to go places whenever we want. I remember the first time I came to visit Kevin it was during calving season and also St. Patty’s Day. We had made plans to meet up with some friends of Kevin’s (whom I would have been meeting for the first time) that night, but a cow that was “about” to calve made us stay home and keep an eye on her.  Tonight we are in the same situation; going out for dinner with some friends, but only if there aren’t any cows that look close to calving!  My family also likes to travel quite a bit and we have had to say no to some of their trips due to the cattle. It also gets tricky in the fall when we enjoy going to Nebraska and Iowa State football games, but if the weather is dry you will find Kevin home and in the field harvesting. Sometime HD and I sneak away to a Husker game, but other times I have drivin’ the grain cart in from the field.

Getting to “fun” jobs is another way to describe being a farmwife. Either Kevin’s mom or I always get to hold the cow’s tail when he is artificially inseminating them. This is usually a very messy/dirty/poopy job, but hey, someone’s got to do it!!! I’ve also gotten to help Kevin fix his combine. This past fall I was bored one day so I wandered out to see how the repair was going. It wasn’t going so well. It was cold and windy out that day and Kevin was frustrated because he couldn’t get these metal rods put into the new part. He kept trying and trying, but they just wouldn’t bend so he could get them inserted correctly. So I thought I’d try to do it. All of a sudden I realized that he was doing it backwards!!! They went in real well the the correct way! There is a lot of parts running involved in being a farmwife and also giving rides back and forth when moving equipment too.

Being a farmwife also means getting to raise your family out in the country where all you can see for miles around is wide open (hilly) land. It’s so quite and peaceful! I love being a mom to our little man. He’s starting to get to the age where he’s so curious about everything and wants to do a lot of things himself. He has now started catching the door frame as I walk out of his room so HE can shut the light off himself instead of me. The first time he did that I wasn’t prepared and he about flew out of my arms! As soon as it warms up, I know that he will be outdoors a lot with either or both of his parents. He is already a pro at riding in the tractor with his daddy. It’s so cute!

Playing outside!

Checking cows with Daddy!
I love to cook and do get the opportunity to share in family meals here on the farm. Kevin’s grandma lives right next door, his parents live three miles to the south and his brother and sister-in-law live five miles to the west, so there are plenty of opportunities for big family meals! I will try to share the recipes to as many of those meals as possible on here. I just need to start remembering to take pictures! I blame my forgetfulness on HD, he distracts me when I cook!
Rolling out sugar cookie dough.

Baking cookies with HD!
Another farmwife job that I take on is the bookkeeping. I still feel (after 4 years) like I have know I idea what I’m doing. Accounting was never my favorite or best subject, but every year we get a little more organized and prepared! It’s one thing to keep track of your personal tax information and it’s another when you add a farm into it! And our farm taxes are due a month earlier than our personal!!! You can guess what I am usually doing the first part of the year!

Since the post is getting awfully long, I’m going to save my other “jobs” for another time. As you can see my position as a farmwife is a busy one and it’s not even my full-time “paid” job off the farm!!! But I wouldn’t change anything! I love living in the country and being on the farm! (Well, most of the time! It’s not as much fun when you get snowed in like four or five times in a matter of a few months, but we survived!) Keep an eye out for some upcoming posts about my job as a Marketing Manager at The Home Agency, my job of being a mommy to HD and my position being a CommonGround volunteer.

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Leave a Comment · Filed Under: Agriculture, Family, Family Farms · Tagged With: Family, HD

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