I’m Never Marrying a Farmer!

The day I likely made God laugh is when I arrogantly made this statement to my aunt over 40 years ago! Asked to help her with lunches for the guys during wheat harvest, I agreed. I thought that meant doing some cooking, which I loved to do, and she had a really nice house, plus I could keep my eye on one really handsome young man, who just so happened to go to our church.

Cooking was definitely involved. However, my mistake was thinking the men would come in from the field to partake of the huge meal we just made. My ignorance to farm life, after all I lived in town with my parents, was quickly educated when asked to pack up all the food into the car. We were headed to the field…to them!

Not only did we take all the food, we also packed a folding table, a tablecloth, plates, silverware, glasses, cold drinks, and soap water for them to wash up. It was the summer 1976 and this girl thought she was a women’s libber, you know, Helen Reddy, “I am Woman, Hear Me Roar” and all that stuff. Packing up food and taking it to the field? What??

Upon arriving, the men were hot, sweaty, dusty, and dirty. And hungry! We set it all out on the folding table on top the tablecloth. This was a whole new world to me. And, this independent thinking young woman of 1976, quickly proclaimed to her aunt upon returning back to the house with all the dirty dishes, “I am never marrying a farmer!” I’m pretty sure God laughed that day. He certainly had plans for me. And it included marrying that handsome young man helping out in the field.

At the tender age of 18 I became a farm wife, mother, field hand, errand-runner, delivery person, tractor driver, grain truck driver, hay and straw wagon loader/unloader, cook, farm-hand, livestock handler, vet, bookkeeper and a million other things that go along with farm living. And what’s more…our son is now a farmer…and now our young grandson is growing up on the farm. And more than that…I am a farmer!

Yes, God sure had a good laugh that day. This independent-thinking, Christ-centered, young woman, has been molded each and every day into who God created me to be. Has it been easy? Have I been obedient to the Lord and happy in all circumstances? Admittedly not. Yet, each and every day, as I grow older, and now watch another generation growing up on the farm, it makes each moment worth it.

Join me on the journey into the inside life of living on a farm. What makes me tick. How I think. What brings me joy, sadness, concern, frustration, and humility. It’s a life I thought I never wanted. However, God has shown me it’s a life I wouldn’t trade for anything!

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!” Psalm 107:1 ESV