For my fellow farm wives, maybe I'm the only one this happens to but just me but in case, I'm sharing here today 😊
The corn dryers are humming, the combines are put away in the shed. Our corn and soybeans have been harvested for the year.
It's our new season; after the harvest has begun.
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I can tell you from experience that "after the harvest" means different things to farmer and farm wife.
For the farmer, it may mean a season of hauling grain to the elevator, catching up on bookwork, meeting with the accountant and assessing needs for the following year.
But for the farm wife, the hard work is just beginning.
There's always a dance that happens this time of year. It's an awkward step on your toes, I move left, you move right kind of way.
It's taking a woman who's been functioning in months of a "can do", "hold my coffee, I've got this" state of mind.
We muscle through, we take care of the kids, we run the household single handedly, we help however necessary and then - harvest ends.
Suddenly our can do attitude and ways of doing things may be up for a little critique. Someone else is around to assess our routines, our rhythms.
And maybe we've been taking some shortcuts because truthfully, they've been necessary and frankly because we are just THAT tired.
Our season of harvest is a season of getting by, getting through, soldering on, all the while tending to piles of laundry paying bills, working at our jobs, shuttling kids and everything else the being a loving mom and wife entails.
We still power through with that "can do" attitude and I think - and I could be wrong - but I THINK that sometimes for our farmers, stepping back into the household is an adjustment, too.
No one ever said being a farm wife was easy. No one said being a farmer is easy.
But we picked this path.
We're strong, we're hearty but we're not unbreakable.
It's so crucial that we have a network of other farm wives and moms and parents who can understand what the seasons of change mean in our lives.
Who we can say to, "Harvest is over and they just wrapped up field work" and they KNOW and in instant they know what that means to your pattern of life. They know the shift in the family paradigm that's about to occur.
We'll go through the winter with our occasional day dates at Farm & Fleet and a quick lunch. Before we know it we'll be back to planting and doing it all over again.
From across the room, I'm giving you a high five, farm wife. Just like everything we do, we've got this. Just remember there are a lot of farm wives on the dance floor too.
So for now, harvest is over and the dance begins.
David L Woodruff says
I loved your post! Have you heard of Harvest USA Report radio show? We have about 18 stations from Mexico to Manitoba and are looking for more. We are expanding into Canada. That’s where I live