Wheat Harvest Widow

Well it’s that time of year again- harvest has began.  In agriculture every year we experience the same things- it’s a cycle… Wheat harvest is the first of the harvests and seems to always catch me by surprise. 

I grew up in agriculture and I understand there are busy times of the year and not as busy times of the year.  Harvest time is one of the very busy times on the farm. When it’s time to harvest, there is an extreme urgency to get the crop in.  Everything else stops, doesn’t matter what’s going on, it stops.  Long hours and shorter tempers usually surround the event. 

As a Farmer, I revel in the beauty of the crop and the joy and sense of accomplishment of harvest. It’s the reward for hard work and perseverance and although we don’t do it enough, we do try to at least have a small celebration at the completion of each crop harvested. Which sometimes is just a home cooked meal and a bottle of wine. 

As a Wife and a Mom, I hate harvest!  The world doesn’t stop turning for the kids and I during harvest.  It keeps going, but access to My Cowboy stops.  We go to bed without seeing him, eat our meals without him, work 4-H livestock without his important help, and try to be on our best behavior when he’s home because we know he’s tired. There- I’ve complained enough! 

So as a farm family, we try to make the most of it, riding in the truck with him, waiting as long as we can before we eat supper at night, praying for rain so he’s around to help. 

This year I tried really hard to prepare myself for harvest. About the second week of July, I figured that we were 3 weeks out. I kept telling myself that. Yet, I signed Cowboy & I up for a golf tournament for end of July.  The morning of he said to me, ‘Now, we’re starting wheat harvest today and I’m probably not going to be able to golf.’ I only golf with him, since I really suck at golf I don’t subject any one else to my horrible playing.  Let’s say that Cheryl was a wonderful partner and the two hits I made to help us out was very appreciated. ugh.

We’re all counting down the days until Wheat Harvest is done. Knowing that our days until soybean harvest starts are numbered. But we're thankful to have crops harvest. 

What My Mommy Does

A while back I was sitting at my spot at the kitchen table with my laptop and phone.  Which is pretty much my normal work routine. I had never stopped to think about how my kids perceive my work until this particular day.

My youngest was dashing through the kitchen with a friend she had over to play. She stops. Turns to her friend and points at me and says "That's my mom working- all she does everyday is type on her computer and talk on the phone." I look up from my computer to see her friend look me up and down with a puzzled face, shrug her shoulders and run off.

It got me to thinking- what is my job title? When people ask me what I do it is hard to explain. I often give people a long stare and an even longer explanation of the current project I'm working on to somehow justify that I'm a skilled production person. So, how can I expect my kids to know my job if I don't even know how to explain my job.
I'm a:
Mom
Wife
Housekeeper (that we should fire)
Social media freelancer
Entrepreneur
Volunteer
Board Member
Quilt Shop Partner -( check out www.quilterscornersd.com)
Economic Development Coordinator
Skilled Farm Assistant  (that is highly undervalued)

So, how do I wrap that all into one cool job title? I've thought and thought and just can't come up with anything. Freelancer just doesn't have the cool ring to it that encompasses my career.

My kids understand what their dad does- he's a farmer. He has the cool title that explains it all. He puts on his suit everyday- which is his winter coveralls this time of year and leaves the house at 8:00 am every morning.  He comes home from his job every night about the same time and he can tell them what he did that day and they understand it.  When people ask them they can say my dad is a farmer with pride!

So, it certainly has become evident to me that I probably won't be asked to come and speak at school career day.  But hopefully someday my children will look back and see that I made the career choices I did to spend time with them and make the moments matter to them count. Maybe that's all the job title I need.