Farm Wives During Harvest

Fall is already here! Pumpkin spice lattes are back at coffee shops. Oversized sweaters are coming out of storage. Temperatures are getting colder and the leaves are changing colour.

For a farmer, fall means swathing, cleaning combines, hydraulic fluid and dust/grease on jeans and boots, and very early mornings and late nights.

A farmer has an unpredictable schedule based around the seasons and the weather. Life sometimes can be a blur of eat, sleep, work, farm, and repeat. It’s a bonus if he has a clean pair of work pants and ready at all times, along with something to eat.

Fall also takes on a different meaning for a farm wife. Not only are the men important during harvest time but so are the women. Farm wives contribute in many ways during this stressful time of the year by:

• Being ready at any time of day to pick up parts for whatever machinery that broke down.
• Knowing where/what the tools are in the shop, so you bring the right tools.
• Always having your phone charged and a water bottle; things might take longer than expected.
• Doing your work in & around the house or garden and doing chores that you normally don’t do.
• Not stressing for not doing the big piles of laundry because you just can’t get to them.
• Making healthy nutritious meals for the combining crew and being able to deliver at any time of the day or night.
• Being a listener and a supporter.

Thank you to all the farm wives as it takes a special kind of lady to be married to a farmer. Whether you are a woman with a full time career away from home, a stay at home mom with the kids, a housewife, a grandma taking care of grandkids, a woman with a part-time job, a woman in school, a woman who works full time on the farm, or a woman who just brings meals and rides in the tractor, your work behind the scenes makes you an integral part of a successful harvest season.