It has been said that farming or ranching isn't just a job, it's a way of life. I think that is very true. It's not a job that you can leave after 8 hours. You live where you work, if you lose your job you lose your home, and there is an emotional investment. Some say it's silly to be emotionally tied to a piece of land, but it happens. A few years ago my dad wanted and needed to get out of farming, and we ended up buying his land. We weren't sure it was the right thing to do financially, and it caused some hard feelings between my brother and me, but we had some pressure from my other siblings, and we knew we couldn't stand seeing the place sold to a neighbor. It has turned out okay so far, but there was the danger that being emotionally tied to the land was clouding our judgment. A few years later, another piece of land that we had been leasing and farming for years came up for sale after the owner died. This time it was my father-in-law who couldn't let it go, and we purchased it.
This can be a hard life and a lonely one. My dad was not crazy about my decision to marry a farmer. He knew it could be a hard life and that wasn't what he wanted for me. Good thing he knew that my husband was a good guy and that he would take good care of me. My husband is a workaholic and more often works 16-hour days than 8-hour days. I joke sometimes that I should get all of the credit and none of the blame on how my kids turned out because I felt a lot of the time like I was a single parent. On the other hand, I could never have survived their childhood had we lived in town. They always had work to do and learned important lessons here in the country. Our oldest son learned to drive when he was 5 and went custom harvesting with his uncle the first time when he was 12. Someone asked him once where he learned to drive a semi truck. He looked at them like it was the dumbest question he had ever heard--no one really taught him, he just knew. He'd been in a truck since he could walk so it came pretty naturally. He learned how to do things with his hands and can build or fix almost anything he needs to.
More pros and cons:
Late hours mean I can eat what I want when I want and don't have to get home from work and immediately start cooking supper. But, I like to have a little wine with supper and feel funny about sitting here drinking wine alone.
I can have a lot of time to myself. That can be good, but we have to be good communicators in the few minutes that we see each other. There can be a lot of "I told you that." Uh, no you didn't.
There are no people, no traffic, very little crime. I can drive 35 miles to work and see 4 or 5 other vehicles. Our nearest neighbors are our in-laws who live 2 miles away. Can't really think of any "cons" there since I'm not very social anyway.
Our whole life is built around the farm. Timing is key, and we can't put off what needs to be done. We don't plan anything from about March 1st when calving starts until late June when the spraying should be caught up. There may be a lull and then haying season starts and when that's done it is usually time to start getting ready for harvest which could last until October some years.
We have to depend on Mother Nature to be good to us. It takes a lot of work and a lot of cash to grow a good crop. It also requires rain at the right times. It's very disheartening to see your crop destroyed by a hail storm, and we've seen it happen plenty of times--something like four times in the past five years.
The positives must outweigh the negatives because we're still here, and I can't see my husband doing anything else.
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