The Hired (?) Help

Taken while filling up a diesel tank at the Kanza Co-op, Zenith branch

Meet the County Line's latest hired man ... er, hired person ... er, unpaid laborer.

We have been without a full-time farm employee since late June. If we decide to hire a full-time person again, it will require yet another round of work on the employee house to make it habitable for the next person. Since we've done more work on that house than on the house we actually live in, it's kind of a touchy subject. Enough said about that, I suppose.

Anyway, Randy has born the brunt of more hours in the tractor cab and the extra work. It's nice not to have to write a paycheck every two weeks, but there's definitely a down side, too. 

I've done my best to fill in the gaps, too. Lately, those "gaps" have been craters, so it hasn't left a lot of extra time for writing and other optional activities. 

Here's a synopsis of some of my duties in the past few weeks:

Fuel filling and delivery 

I like it the best when I remember to bring my book and can read while the slow-running pump trickles its way to filling the 100-gallon tank in the back of the pickup. 

The co-op manager told me I need to request that the boss move the tank closer to the edge so that said helper doesn't have to climb onto the pickup bed to put the fuel hose in and then take it out. (In the summer, that pickup bed is HOT! And I am well past the point of just leaping onto the pickup bed!)

Cowgirl and cattle herder

A few of the cattle in the Ninnescah pasture have learned that yes, indeed, "the grass (or soybeans) are greener on the other side of the fence."

 

Unfortunately, those soybeans belong to someone else. After chasing them through some trees, we got them back inside the fence. We've been doing our best to keep them contained, which led to the next job:

 

Fence fixing assistant

While my skills at fence "fixing" are not very good, I am good at helping to carry supplies for fixing said fence. 

 Chauffeur

 

I've lost count of how many trips we've made to Miller Seed Farm in the past couple of weeks. We are taking the seed wheat we saved during this year's wheat harvest to get it cleaned and treated to get things ready for planting in late September/early October for Harvest 2020. 

We take the wheat trucks to Miller Seed Farm and leave them until it's our turn, then I then take Randy back to pick up the truck with the cleaned wheat. I realized one day last week that I was using my Miller Seed Farm coffee cup, so I took a photo as I drove past their sign off Highway 14. 

Earlier this week, Randy took the truck to Miller's, and I picked him up to take him on to the Hutchinson Case dealer. He picked up the combine, which had been in the repair shop, for the long drive home. 

Randy had to travel on Highway 50 for a few miles before he could turn off on a less-traveled road. That always makes me nervous!

I also have provided an "Uber" service when we've needed to leave vehicles at the co-op shop, the local auto repair shop and the local auto body repair shop. We are helping to keep these local service providers in business, it appears.

 Pilot and pace car driver

One of our farm trucks doesn't have a working speedometer. So I was like the pace car for the Indy 500 on the multiple trips to Miller Seed Farm. OK, not really, but I did help Randy make sure that he wasn't driving more than 55 on 4th Street. In reality, I had to slow down because I was losing him at 55 mph.

I later provided warning flasher lights when Randy had a blow-out on the same truck. Thankfully, he was able to keep it on the road when it blew, and the Kanza Co-op came to our rescue quickly.    

Traffic cop 

Provide hand signals to get the truck backed up to unload the cleaned seed wheat back into the bin. 

Shove a board behind the tires so it doesn't roll. 

Photographer & historian

 

Try to find a creative way to take photos of something I've taken photos of several times before.

 

 PTO engineer

Run the PTO on the auger so the farmer can safely clean out the remainder of the wheat from the truck. 

Mechanic apprentice

 Hand tools, nuts, bolts, washers and whatever else is required for a repair on the baler. Provide a little extra umphh for lifting things into place (such as it was).

The cuter mechanic's helper was this little guy. 

 Cook, Meal Delivery, Laundress, Secretary, Go-Fer, Correspondent, Co-bookkeeper, Personal Assistant and Lawn Care

 You'll just have to take my word on these extra duties since I don't have photo confirmation. 

Just like other women in today's world, farm women come in all shapes and sizes. They are young and old and in between. Some work in the field alongside their husbands. Some keep the books. Some have dinner on the table at 12 noon without fail. Some load up the meal in the car and deliver it places that no Pizza Hut delivery guy could ever hope to find, even with GPS.

Some work at off-farm jobs to help supplement farm income. I drove to Hutchinson to work for more years than I wanted early in our marriage, and I've had part-time employment of some sort for most of our married lives. All of those things have been essential to the success of the farm.

I may not be collecting a paycheck every two weeks from the County Line, but I do get some nice fringe benefits.You can't beat the work environment.

Out of the Shadows?

For the first time, my name was mentioned as a seller at the sale barn last week.
It's only taken 38 years.
It's about the best Valentine's present I could get.

It may seem like a silly thing to celebrate. But, if I'm honest, my exclusion in years' past has really stuck in my craw.

"Thank you, Randy and Kim," the sale barn manager said as the sale wrapped up and our feeder calves surged through the doors to be loaded out. I almost fell off my chair.

For the past several years (at least), my name has been included on the sheet we present to the sale barn. I know because I've typed it! It's an information sheet that says when the calves were weaned, what vaccinations they've received and how they've been cared for.

And, yet, each of those years, Randy's name was the only one mentioned as the seller on the day of the sale. And I was sitting right there, too!

I fully admit that I'm not as involved in the day-to-day care of the cattle as Randy. But I am definitely a partner in this enterprise.

October 2011

Later, I joked to Randy that I only had to have my life flash before my eyes during a 4-wheeler accident while moving cattle for me to actually get mentioned at the sale barn.

I know one didn't have a thing to do with the other.
It was just a joke, I quipped to my husband.
Maybe it was a joke?
But not really.
I said I was going to write about it.
He said I should.

 

I know that Randy values my partnership on the farm. But it seemed the surrounding ag world didn't necessarily see that value. I'm not getting a paycheck.

Therefore, my contribution must be negligible, even though I perform every task to the best of my ability - and, often, with better skills and less drama than extra helpers who are getting paid.

My mother-in-law Marie, Jean Newell Fritzemeyer & Marjorie Giedinghagen on a cattle working day back in the 1950s.

So, every year at the sale barn, as only Randy's name got mentioned, I thought, "This is no different than 50 years ago when my mother-in-law was Mrs. Melvin Fritzemeier and my mother was Mrs. Bob Moore."

From the kids' memory/history book from my Mom & Dad. Note the caption - the first tractor Janis drove doing field work.

And, for the record, I learned a lot about cleaning house and making meals because my mom was on a tractor when I was an elementary-aged kid. (See the photo above.) She's been a major part of the farm partnership for all their married lives - 65 years and counting!

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to be Mrs. Randy Fritzemeier. But I also have my own identity and name separate from my husband.

Other women's names were mentioned as sellers at the February 7 sale, too. I asked Randy later, "Do you think someone else complained?" For the record, we didn't. But I still wondered what precipitated the change.

Just like other women in today's world, farm women come in all shapes and sizes. They are young and old and in between. Some work in the field alongside their husbands. Some keep the books. Some have dinner on the table at 12 noon without fail. Some load up the meal in the car and deliver it places that no Pizza Hut delivery guy could ever hope to find, even with GPS.

Taken while filling up a diesel tank at the Kanza Co-op, Zenith branch

Some work at off-farm jobs to help supplement farm income. I drove to Hutchinson to work for more years than I wanted early in our marriage, and I've had part-time employment of some sort for most of our married lives. All of those things have been essential to the success of the farm.

 

My friend and classmate, Diana Hemphill, got these at an auction and then gave them to me. Thanks, Diana!
 
And that doesn't count the hands-on work - cattle gathering and sorting, truck driver, chauffeur, go-fer, fertilizer deliverer, fuel retrieval, secretary and landlord correspondence, meal planning and execution ...and that just scratches the surface.

I did a Google search for "value of a farm wife." Honestly, I didn't find a lot. (That probably is telling in itself.) But a 20-year-old article in The Producer gave an annual value of $19,000, based on a Canadian judge's ruling after a farm wife's fatality accident on the farm. Even 20 years ago, Manitoba Women’s Institute past-president Barbara Stienwandt said it was too low. In the article, Carolyn Van Dine, president of the Canadian Farm Women’s Network, said her group was trying to make people realize how crucial farm women are.

“If you were to take farm women out of the agriculture business in Canada the impact would be huge. We’d lose an awful lot of farms.”

Winter sunrise at my sunrise tree

I don't want to leave the impression that I'm complaining ... at least, not too much. I know that I am truly blessed. My payments come in the form of having a beautiful place to live and work on the County Line. They come in having a front-row seat for the changing of the seasons and the splendor of God's handiwork - spring, summer, winter and fall. They come from a husband who invites me to grab my camera and come to the pasture to look at bluebirds. (Photos from that next week!) A quick phone call from Randy telling me that the sunrise or the sunset is worth a trip down the road is better than a dozen roses to me.

But getting a mention is still nice. Isn't it interesting how the smallest things can make a big difference? That's true on Valentine's Day, too.

Check out this little calf. I think it looks like he has a white heart on his chest. So there's my Valentine. Randy's Valentine from me will come in the form of a homemade blueberry pie today. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you, too! May you find joy in the small things, too!

Ag Day 2018: Farm Partner? Farm Wife? Farm Homemaker?

"Farm Homemaker:"

At first glance, the terminology may seem as archaic as wearing pearls, a perfectly-pressed apron and high heels in "Leave It To Beaver"-style while making dinner for the family.

But on this Ag Day 2018, I will wear the label with pride.

I started life as a Farm Daughter. I moved into my role as Farm Wife and Homemaker almost 37 years ago. But I, too, can get caught in the trap of thinking maybe farm women should change their image. Before I went to my first National Master Farm Homemaker Guild conference back in 2015,  I thought to myself, "Maybe they should change the name to Master Farm Family or Master Farm Partner. Maybe it shouldn't be Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker any longer."

Being a "homemaker" may not be society's ideal job for women any longer. But whether a mom goes to work at an 8-to-5 job at a city high rise office building or is trying to figure out yet another meal to take the harvest field, aren't we all trying to do the best for our families?

Just like other women, farm women come in all shapes and sizes. They are young and old and in between. Some work in the field alongside their husbands. Some keep the books. Some have dinner on the table at 12 noon without fail. Some load up the meal in the car and deliver it places that no Pizza Hut delivery guy could ever hope to find, even with GPS. Some, like my ag-vocate friend, Jen, have a Take Your Child To Work Day on a regular old Friday.

Photo by Jenny Burgess, Follow burgesshillfarms on Instagram. Used with permission.

We were one of six Kansas farm couples named to the Class of 2013 Master Farmer/Master Farm Homemaker, and we were officially welcomed into the group in March 2014. Earlier this month at the annual convention in Manhattan, I ended my term as treasurer of the Kansas organization and started my duties as secretary. Randy is doing a similar stair-step procedure through the Master Farmer offices. We'll be presidents of our respective arms of the organization at the same time.

Since 1927, Kansas farm couples have been chosen as Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers for their commitment to agriculture, family and the community.

My thoughts about changing the name or the organization itself flew away as swiftly as chaff separates from wheat in a Kansas wind once I saw the National Master Farm Homemakers Guild Goals.

The No. 1 goal is:

Place a greater focus on the family and create a greater awareness of problems that are affecting family life today. Demonstrate the highest possible standards of living in our farm homes. Emphasize the positive aspects of farm life.

Who can argue with that? I can't and don't want to.

Other goals that resonated with me were:

2. Encourage our members to be aware and come to the aid of farm families in the U.S., whose livelihoods are threatened by unexpected crisis.
3. Encourage and motivate younger people to become involved with agribusiness.
9. Encourage and assist women to actively participate in community and agricultural organizations.
11. Encourage women to use and promote all farm products.
      A. Be aware of and talk about their nutritional and economic value.
      B. Be more aware of adverse/false statements made about farm products and make every attempt to correct them. 

When I see my Facebook feed stuffed with anti-GMO rhetoric or applause for the "moral decisions" that restaurants say they are making, I want to be one of those farm homemakers who is speaking out and telling the truth. (I refuse to give any "ink" to name those restaurants, and I won't use my hard-earned money at them either!)

Despite using modern technology here on the County Line, we are not a "factory farm." We, like 99 percent of the farms in the U.S., are a family farm. 

It's one reason I blog. I realize I'm not impacting that many people with my little slice of the Internet, but I keep plugging away, trying to make a difference. And the terminology isn't what's important. Call me a Farm Homemaker. Call me a Farm Partner. Call me a Farm Family. It's living out the goals that define me and my peers, not a name.

Photo I took of a farm couple at the 2010 3i show.

During the memorial service at the national convention, Sandra Roberts from Princeton, Kentucky, read the F. Scott Fitzgerald poem, "She was beautiful." (See the photo illustration at the top of this blog post.) Simply put, I loved it.

She also read Sierra Shea's "So God Made A Farmer's Wife." Shea, a South Dakota farm wife, was inspired to write the prose after seeing the Ram truck commercial during the Super Bowl, which featured "So God Made a Farmer," written by Paul Harvey. Click on the link for the whole thing, but here are just a few of the phrases:

And on the 9th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "Oh, dear, the farmer is going to need help." So God made a farmer's wife. 

God said, "I need somebody who will get up before dawn, make breakfast, work all day in the kitchen, bank, school or alongside her farmer and then come home to fix supper and wash up the dishes." So God make a farmer's wife. 

Somebody who'd sew a family together with the soft strong stitches of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh and then reply with smiling eyes when her daughter says she wants to spend her life "doing what mom does."

So God made a farmer's wife.

So, on this Ag Day 2018, call me what you'd like. It's not the terminology that's important. It's the job itself.

My friend and classmate, Diana Hemphill, got these at an auction and then gave them to me. Thanks, Diana! They are beautifully framed, but since I wanted you to be able to read them, I just focused on the cross-stitched words.

For a previous post on Ag Day, click on this link.

 

This post was revised from an earlier one on Kim's County Line.

Super Woman AKA Farm Wife

On Monday ...

• I recorded my Monday Central Kansas report on KFRM 550.
• I  posted a blog on wheat planting.
• I took photos of the sunrise.

And that was all by 7:30 AM. 

• I then made two trips to Miller Seed Farms to pick up seed wheat (25 miles one way X 4).
• I backed up the pickup to the drill several times so Randy could put seed wheat where he needed it. 
• I turned three pounds of hamburger into three meals - Hawaiian meatballs and mini Italian meatballs for meals later in the week, along with the meat loaf I served with baked potatoes and baked beans for the noon meal. 
• I went to Zenith to get the fertilizer tank filled and put diesel in the 100-gallon tank on the back of the pickup.
• I downloaded photos from the Friday night football game, Oktoberfest and a busy morning. 

That's what happened by 12:30. I thought I needed a Superwoman cape! But I settled for a selfie by the Full Service sign at the gas pumps.

And then came Tuesday ... and I felt nothing like a Super Hero. So, instead of dwelling on that, let's remember the triumphs. OK?

I got to Miller Seed Farms at my designated time.

But, in truth, the guys loading the seed probably deserved the super hero cape designation anyway.

 While I stood around taking photos, they were loading seed into the back of my pickup. 

I got the seed delivered back to Randy.

 

And he was the one whose muscles were sore at the end of the day from lifting all those sacks and filling the drill with seed wheat.

Let's hope the seed is the real super hero and delivers quality seed for us to use for our 2018 crop. (It's kind of mind-boggling to think that we're thinking about a harvest two years down the line as we plant the certified seed that will be harvested in June 2017!)

I'm not the one loading the seed. I'm not the one putting the wheat in the ground. But, I like to think I make it a little easier to get the job done - whether that means getting fertilizer, filling the 100-gallon diesel tank, making parts runs, taking meals to the field or helping shuffle people and equipment from one field to another.

And you know what? If super heroes lose their super powers, they come crashing down. So maybe it's better just to realize you're just one cog in the wheel.

 

Hey ... today is another day. And, I'm off to get another tank of fertilizer.