Farming Is Not A Way To Make A Living; It's A Lifestyle

I met Brad in the winter of 2005.  We met at a cattle show; he was there to watch his brother show, and I was there watching a friend show.  We met and the rest is history!  I knew right away that Brad was the guy for me, and even remember saying to my best friend Shelby “where has he been all of my life?”  A short time later Shelby told him what I had said and I was completely embarrassed and thought I may have just scared him off.  But, Brad stuck around and we still laugh about it today!

I have mentioned before that I grew up on a small hobby farm.  I enjoyed the outdoors, horses, country folk activities, 4-H, and FFA in high school.  I was friends with some beef farmers, and there were a lot of crop farms around our home, yet still I still hadn’t really ever given much thought to how my food made it to the grocery store.  Isn’t it funny, even though I considered myself a country girl who understood country and farm life that these thoughts never really crossed my mind? 

Well I gave it a lot of thought immediately after meeting Brad.  The winter months that we first spent together are the “slow time” for crop farmers, but this didn’t stop Brad from preparing me for what was to come.  He explained the long hours he worked in the spring and fall, and how even when there wasn’t field work to do something always needed to be maintained, built, fabricated, or tended to in some way. 

I thought “Oh I have this down; being in a relationship with a farmer is going to be easy. They don’t answer to a boss, they make their own schedules; we will have so much time to do fun things together!”  Little did I know I was entering into a completely different lifestyle.

As spring planting season began my idea of what Brad and his family did for “a living” began to change.  First of all my birthday is on April 23…..which also is prime time for starting planting, or if the weather isn’t permitting, the planting equipment has to be ready so when the weather is perfect they can work like crazy people.  And this first birthday I spent with Brad happened to be my 21^st.  I had these thoughts in my head of having a great birthday celebration with all of our friends and that didn’t get to happen.  “Work before play” is an old saying that is very fitting for farming.

As Brad continued to spend countless hours working in the fields I made it a point to spend as much time with him as possible.  That meant that I had to go to whatever field he happened to be working in and ride in the equipment with him.  Some equipment is more comfortable than others; some of the newer equipment has a buddy seat in it (which is a very small seat, but none the less a seat), but most of the equipment required me to either sit cross legged on the floor, or hunch over while sitting on a console.  Neither option was a good one for very long, but I grew to absolutely love my time in the fields with Brad!  Still today we have so many great conversations while I am riding with him and we just enjoy each other’s company.  During planting in April through June and harvest in September through November this is the only quality time we get to spend together due to the number of hours worked.

As our relationship grew during planting I also grew more used to the farm schedule.  Finally when planting was done in June, I thought “Awesome!  Time for some summer fun!”  Little had I learned yet, but wheat harvest was just around the corner; which usually happens over the 4^th of July.  But, just because I survived spring planting and wheat harvest didn’t mean I was ready for fall harvest.  This is the longest of our seasons and it finally does come to an end even though it sometimes feels like it may not.  But even though our first year together wasn’t at all what I had pictured in my head I looked back at what I had learned and experienced and loved it!

Riding with Brad that first season I decided to do a photo journal of my adventures with him.  I captured so many great times with him, and we love looking back at them.  Reading this you may think “they are just pictures of him working”.  But to us, it is much more.  We love what we do as farmers, are proud of the hard work and dedication it takes to get the job done, are proud to feed the world and are always trying to better the stewardship of the land.  Those pictures aren’t just of Brad working; they are Brad living!

I had never thought about marrying a farmer while I was growing up.  I knew that I loved the country way of life and I wanted that for sure.  Even if I had considered marrying a farmer I don’t think I was prepared for the huge lifestyle change that it was.  Sure it is nice not to answer to a boss, or make your own schedule, but so much more goes into it than that.  It doesn’t matter the day of the week or the hour of the day; if there is a task to be completed and the weather permits we are working. 

Working intensely during the spring and fall does sometimes wear on a person.  But the pros far outweigh the cons, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!  I love my lifestyle as a farmer’s wife; it isn’t for everyone, but for me there isn’t a better way to live life!

This short video clip includes pictures of our first year together.  Choose the full screen option (lower right corner of the video box) for the best view.