Living in the Swamp

In 1969 when I graduated from high school in St. Louis, I never imagined that I would one day be a high school teacher living in Illinois, married to a retired mortgage banker/full-time farmer and have a swimming pool, a semi and heifers in my yard. When my students say, "That will never happen to me!" I laugh. Life has a way of surprising us with unimaginable circumstances.

Becoming a farm wife has been a huge but exciting adjustment for me. One day my husband is leaving for work in his suit and tie, and the next he is walking to the barn in his flannel shirt and boots. I have had to learn all about corn yields, Sudan grass, castrating young bulls, bottle feeding calves and what kind of food to easily take to the guys in the field as well as how to find each field called by the former owner's name. The Wernle ground is on Wernle road. That is easy, but The Fahrenkrog ground is on Mill Road in New Douglas. Sometimes I am told to come to the New Douglas field. Sometimes he says the Fahrenkrog ground. Or, the Geller ground is on Blacksmith Road, but he usually says the field past Wernle's.

I still say, "Why would anyone want to be a farmer?" After three years of praying for no more drought, our prayers have been answered. Now we almost need a row boat to walk from the house to the barn. It has rained so much that we cannot remember which day it did not rain. The ditches are full, the ponds are full, some wheat is under water, nothing is planted, the grass needs mowing, but everything is green and the weather is warm. Crop insurance is a wonderful thing!