Monday, July 28, 2014

Being A Farmer's Wife...

     Being a farmer's wife...a thought I have always liked and always wanted to be, but didn't truly understand all that it would take to be one.

Being a farmer's wife, you have to get used to early hours, REALLY early hours, and late-into-the-night hours.

 And eating your meals at odd hours in the day. And your noon meal being your main meal, because sometimes who knows when your man will be in to eat dinner at night.

You understand that when a storm is coming and you have hay down, just how important it is to get it in, or you will be out a lot of money from it being rained on.

You understand that your man, who you love so much, works so hard at his job because it's part of him. And if you want to spend more time with him, you have to take advantage of those hauling trips, the tractor rides, the shop work, because this life requires so much time, you just learn to roll with it.

And you have to learn to love the land as he does. It hurts to see the ground that you work so hard on, go through a drought and the crop that brings you your livelihood die, and you can't do anything about it.
 You come to realize just how awesome 4-wheel drive really is!

 You learn to trust God in a much deeper sense, knowing that He's all you have that's for sure.

You learn that when there is a wedding, or some fun gathering, something almost ALWAYS comes up. Like the cows are out, or the fence is down, or this part broke and you need to fix it ASAP or else, or the tire is flat. It's just almost always something.

 You learn that cows really do think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and they will take every opportunity to try and get there.

You learn to make the best out of every situation, because having a bad attitude won't change it and it really makes it worse. So you find something good about it, and focus on that, because if you don't, you won't get through this life very happy.

You learn all sorts of things about parts, and tractors, and farm implements, and trucks, and trailers, and you realize that you end up talking about them, a lot, because it's what you do.

You learn the joys of life on the farm. When spring comes and the calves are born. And sometimes you have to bottle feed one of them because they were too weak when they were born, or for some reason, there Momma didn't want them, so you become there Momma. And when you go out early in the morning to feed that calf, and she comes running when she hears you, nuzzles in close and closes her eyes while she's eating, you know why you do this.

You also learn the sorrows that it brings, and you cry, when one of your best cows die while giving birth to a calf and you loose them both.

You learn to love spring, when everything is fresh and you are planting your fields, praying for a good crop this fall as your driving your tractor in the field.

 And Summer, when it's full-bore business and sometimes you wonder if it will ever slow down. Then harvest comes and its a go-go-go time because you got to get it in before the frost, or snow, or some storm that always seems to threaten appearing whenever you need to harvest something.

Then Thanksgiving comes, and you are blessed beyond measure for all that the Lord has done for you this year, protecting you and your family from so many accidents that could have happened or been worse, for the crop that we were able to harvest, for always providing, even when we didn't see a way to make it work.

Being a farmer's wife has taught me so much about this life. How much you take for granted, like water. How truly precious water is and how you really can't survive without it. How wonderful it is, to look out at your harvested fields at sunset with your husband, just sitting in the quite, realizing how nothing else in this world can bring you this feeling than being a farmer's wife.


Leighton and I when we were engaged.

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