Life on the Farm

Living on a working farm is a 24/7 job.  Most people only know about farm life from what they see in the movies and on TV. They show some of the hard work in the hot sun, but they always tie up the loose ends and show the family sitting down to dinner, sharing great holidays together or sitting out on the porch swing in the evening sipping ice tea. I am not saying that those moments do not happen, but they are far and few between.

Life on the farm is often romanticized, but the truth is that it is a lot of hard work, long hours with little profit and no employment benefits. I see my husband get up very early in the morning, make his own coffee and breakfast then leave for the day. Before he leaves he always has his day planned out in his head, what he needs to do and what he would like to do. However, it is a very rare day that he is able to follow his plans. The “farm” always has plans of its own. This time of the year is very busy trying to get the last of our crops planted, cutting raking, baling and hauling hay as well at harvesting our winter wheat. The focus of his day is getting all the above done.

But, the weather, livestock and equipment usually forces him to change course. It seems if he plans to plant crops or cut hay, it rains or it is to dry and he can’t get in the fields. If the weather is great so he can get in the fields, the tractors or combine brakes down and he has to spend two or three days working on the equipment. Then there are those days that the weather is great and all the equipment is running well but the livestock is out and he has to stop everything to chase cows or pigs back in their pastures and fix fence. To try to keep things on track he often works until midnight or later and is lucky to get a few hours of sleep before he has to start it all over again the next day.

Most of the time in lieu of lunch he grabs some fruit off of a nearby tree or will pick a few ears of corn out of the field. Dinner is usually after 9 pm but often closer to mid-night. Plans to get together with family or friends are regularly canceled or interrupted because of the workload or livestock.  If it is 110 or -10 the work has to get done. Every season has its set of chores. In the spring the fields need to be worked and readied for planting corn, bulls need to be moved out of the pastures  away from the cows, livestock has to be vaccinated and planting has to begin. Summer is the time to finish planting, mow hay, harvest winter wheat, plant beans, and put the bulls back in with the cows. Fall is harvest time for corn and beans, plant winter wheat and weaning calves. The winter is calving season, haying the livestock, breaking ice so the livestock can drink, mending fences and getting equipment ready for the spring.

Farmers take a lot of pride in their work, are self-motivated, hardworking and always have time to lend a helping hand. It is sad to say that looking to the future there is no “next” generation of farmers ready to set up and run the small family owned farms. It is hard to convince them to become a farmer when they have grown up watching their families work long hours, earning  just enough money to keep the farm operating, with no health benefit, no paid vacations, holidays or sick time. There are no retirement or pension plans. It is exhilarating when there is enough money to buy a ten year old car to replace the 25 year old car you have been driving. It is easy to see why the next generation has no interest in farming. They watch as their friends work 9-5 jobs, where they are ensured a paycheck every Friday. They have the money to buy new vehicles, have weekends off, holidays with their families and vacations with their friends. They get to spend their days working in heated offices in the winter and air condition in the summer.

With big companies moving in and taking over and small businesses unable to compete, I truly believe that family owned farms will cease to exist in the next 25 years. Like so many other small businesses such as blacksmiths, shoe makers, Mom & Pop diners, independent gas stations, shade tree mechanics, family owned grocery stores, doctors that make house calls, quilt makers, seamstress, the milkman, handyman, clock and watch repair, lamplighters, icemen, typesetters, telegraph operators, newspaper boys, and newspapers for that fact family farms are part of the past. Newer, faster and bigger business are moving in and taking over. The world is always changing, sometimes for the better. At this rate in my lifetime, I believe that most the food that we buy will be imported from other countries and family farms will cease to exist.

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Living The Rural Life

I lived in the Los Angles, California area for most all of my life. Twenty years ago I met my husband and moved to Missouri where he was born and lived all his life. The farm has been in his family since before the Civil War. While I have visited farms and even vacationed at “Dude Ranches”, I could never have imagined all the work that goes into living on a farm. My first culture shock was living a rural life.

I remember I use to drive from L.A. to Las Vegas and would see those houses out in the middle of nowhere and wonder to myself, "how do they survive"? No neighbors, no stores or gas stations for miles. It had to be a scary and lonely existences. When I moved to the farm I found myself living in one of those places that I always wondered about. I soon found out it requires a lot of planning ahead. When the nearest store is 25 miles away, you make every trip count. I make sure that I have all my lists ready to go before I ever leave the house. I schedule doctor appointments, visits to the pharmacy, grocery shopping, getting gas and all the other odds and ends earns so that I do not find myself having to make an extra trip to town.

I am lucky that my husband has lived this life all his years so he is well versed in this life style and very self sufficient. Our house is all electric (some people out here have propane, but when we built the house my husband said that is just an extra bill so we went all electric). The only problem with that is we have live in tornado alley so we lose our electric power about once a month, sometimes for a few minutes sometimes for a few days. Knowing this, my husband put in a wood burning fireplace and hooked it up to the duct system. In the winter we can burn wood to keep warm. Even if it falls to 10 degrees outside, we can keep the house at around 65 degrees. We have a little propane camping stove that we can use to make coffee and some simple hot meals. We always have extra canned food and bottled water as well as extra 50 pound bags of dog food in case the roads are too bad to drive on.

In the summer it gets in the 90’s and 100’s with the heat index from 110 to 120 degrees. I can say I never thought I would ever look forward to a cold shower, but on those days there is nothing better. Since I have lived here I have done things I never dreamed I would do. I am my husband’s barber, I know one style, a buzz cut. Lucky for him that is the way he likes his hair. I have learned to groom the dogs, drive a tractor, run a riding lawn mower, build a fence and vaccinate the dogs and livestock.  Things I never gave a second thought about are now second nature to me.

 I use to go get my hair and nails done every month. I now do my own hair and nails. My wardrobe changed from suits, jewelry and matching handbags and shoes to blue jeans, boots and tee-shirts. As far as jewelry I have limited it to just my wedding rings. In the summer my wardrobe changes to cut off blue jeans and, tank tops and sandals. Handbags were replaces by pockets. My husband tells me if it can't fit in your pocket, you can make it through the day without it. To my surprise, he was right. I can make it just fine with my keys, phone and chap stick. 

When I compare my life in California to my life in Missouri, I think I like life in Missouri a lot better. It is far less cluttered and complicated. When I need to go to the Dept. of Motor vehicles I don’t have to have an appointment or wait in line for two hours. In fact most of the time I am the only one in the place and there is no waiting. Same thing at the post office and stores. The big difference is traffic. Often times I may be the only car on the road instead of always being stuck in a traffic jam. When I walk into a store, utility office, post office or just about anyplace else, they know me by name and I am treated as a friend rather than just another customer. 

While we do not have many neighbors, everyone knows each other for miles around and if I need anything I can pick up the phone and call any of them and they come running. But what I love the most is that I can walk out into my yard and during the day I can see bright blue skies for miles. At night I can look up at and see every star in the sky and hundreds of fireflies. I hear the crickets, frogs and birds, see wildlife run across the yard and hear the farmers on their tractors in the far distances.  It is very peaceful and quiet here in the country.  I still enjoy going to California to visit my family and friends. But I am always happy when it is time to return home to Missouri.