Happy National Agriculture Month! Each March, we celebrate this special occasion. It gives us even more of an excuse to recognize the vital role farmers, ranchers, and everyone in between play across our country and in our local communities.
Hello, March! We have turned the page on our calendars and are looking forward to what this month will (hopefully) bring – warmer days, unlimited sunshine, preparing for planting, and most importantly, SPRING! Another reason we love March is because it is National Agriculture Month!
Farmers, ranchers, truckers, and everyone in between contribute to the impact agriculture has on every single person. Yes, that means you! We are so fortunate to live in a country that has incredible, and endless, options when it comes to food. Together, we work so hard to provide the safest and healthiest food supply in the world. While the sacrifices of doing so can be incredibly challenging some days, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Now, I’m sure there are quite a few of you reading this that know the iconic, “So God Made a Farmer” poem by Paul Harvey. But have you ever heard of its counterpart? Because of the pride I carry as a farm wife, I felt a tug at my heart to share “So God Made a Farmer’s Wife” with you all today as we celebrate agriculture.
And on the 9th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “That farmer needs help.”
So God made a farmer’s wife.
God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, weed the garden, cook breakfast and dinner, then go to town and work her full-time job, come home to work alongside her farmer, make supper, and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.”
So God made a farmer’s wife.
“I need somebody with arms strong enough to carry a basket of wet coveralls up the basement stairs and out to the clothesline and yet gentle enough to rock a newborn baby. Somebody to run for parts, help in the fields, move trucks, deliver meals, look the farmer in the eyes and tell him ‘I love you and the life we’ve built’ – and mean it.”
So God made a farmer’s wife.
God said, “I need somebody willing to hem pants, wash windows, varnish floors, bake cookies and casseroles, snap green beans and clean sweetcorn, make apple sauce and jams for the years to come. To be a caregiver to her mother, brother, sister, husband, sons, daughter in laws, grandchildren and great grandchildren and tell them all to call whenever they need something, and mean it.”
So God made a farmer’s wife.
“I need somebody who can host family reunions, serve on her board of elections, schedule the tooth fairy, keep Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions alive across the generations. Who can use a wrench and know where to find it, doesn’t mind getting dirty, who can remove stains, and keep a house clean and at planting time and harvest season, will finish her forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then put it another seventy-two hours.”
So God made a farmer’s wife.
God needed “somebody strong enough to clean out bins and heave bails, who will drive the tractor and pray to God about the weather. It had to be someone willing to go it alone at euchre, play catch, beat everyone at bridge, run the bases, weed, seed, feed, breed, and to race to keep a toddler from wandering out into the barnyard during harvest season. Then drive the 5 mile drive to Catholic Church where she would help feed the hungry, help decorate for holidays, pray for her loved ones and serve her Lord Almighty.”
So God made a farmer’s wife.
“Somebody who’d stitch a family together with the soft strong bonds of family meals, sharing, and caring. Who would smile to see her kids doing what mom and dad did, and to hear family say there is no better way to grow up than on a farm. To sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes when her grandchildren say they want to spend their lives ‘doing what grandma does.”
So God made a farmer’s wife.
By April Ellis Sheldon, granddaughter of Catherine Ellis, 1925-2019
As we move throughout this month, and the months to come, do me a favor and stop to thank a farmer local to you. Even if you just say it quietly to yourself, we appreciate the moral support. 😉
To celebrate National Agriculture Month, we are doing another photo contest over on our HyTest Ag Facebook and Instagram pages. Check out the original post here to find out how you can enter to win a 2023 HyTest Ag calendar for yourself!
Thank you for supporting agriculture!
Rooted in ag and led by faith,
Ellyn