Fall is already here! Pumpkin spice lattes are back at coffee shops. Oversized sweaters are coming out of storage. Temperatures are getting colder and the leaves are changing colour.

For a farmer, fall means swathing, cleaning combines, hydraulic fluid and dust/grease on jeans and boots, and very early mornings and late nights.

A farmer has an unpredictable schedule based around the seasons and the weather. Life sometimes can be a blur of eat, sleep, work, farm, and repeat. It’s a bonus if he has a clean pair of work pants and ready at all times, along with something to eat.

Fall also takes on a different meaning for a farm wife. Not only are the men important during harvest time but so are the women. Farm wives contribute in many ways during this stressful time of the year by:

  • Being ready at any time of day to pick up parts for whatever machinery that broke down.
  • Knowing where/what the tools are in the shop, so you bring the right tools.
  • Always having your phone charged and a water bottle; things might take longer than expected.
  • Doing your work in & around the house or garden and doing chores that you normally don’t do.
  • Not stressing for not doing the big piles of laundry because you just can’t get to them.
  • Making healthy nutritious meals for the combining crew and being able to deliver at any time of the day or night.
  • Being a listener and a supporter.

Thank you to all the farm wives as it takes a special kind of lady to be married to a farmer. Whether you are a woman with a full time career away from home, a stay at home mom with the kids, a housewife, a grandma taking care of grandkids, a woman with a part-time job, a woman in school, a woman who works full time on the farm, or a woman who just brings meals and rides in the tractor, your work behind the scenes makes you an integral part of a successful harvest season.