While our farmers are bracing themselves for the upcoming harvest season, we should all recognize and appreciate the grueling, long hours and days they are out in the hot sun. Harvest usually lasts one month depending on what the farmers are gathering. This entails repetitive, hard work, sweat and hunger. There is, however, another piece of the puzzle that may be overlooked during this season– a farmer’s wife. We might forget that while these hard working guys are out in a field with no food sources other than what they’re gathering in the field, they need plenty of water to keep hydrated and a variety of food and snacks for the energy it takes to surmount a day’s work. The farmers are so exhausted by the end of the day, they usually have just enough energy to drop their clothes, get showered and go to bed. During this time, a farmer’s wife’s duties include, but are not limited to, preparing an abundance of meals for her man and his crew, picking up the dirty clothes from the floor, serving as a single parent while the husband’s away, maintaining the regular farm chores with no or little help, stepping up as a “hired guy” to drive a tractor to the elevator if her husband is short a body and cleaning farm machinery regularly. Let’s all take a moment to thank farmers and their wives for the contribution to our nation.
