Working on a farm was really different than actually living on one and being there 24/7. From the days in the Old Testament when Adam and Eve were told they had to work the ground for their food in Genesis 2:15 and when Noah began farming and planting a vineyard in Genesis 9:20, the farmer was working the land as God instructed. Farming and working in God’s realm was where I was happy. He knew where I needed to be.
I had a new respect for the farmer more so than ever before! My usual week and daily routine was getting up about 4:30 to 5 to make our supper for the day and pay bills and clean. I’d leave and get to the main farm about 8 am and we would start the day. We usually stayed at the main farm and eat lunch that mainly consisted of bologna or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Sometimes my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, a worker’s mom, or I would make something special like soups or lasagna and those days were treats! We took about 1 hour breaks for lunch and supper; supper being eaten at home 5 minutes away. That’s why I’d fix our supper so early in the morning. Didn’t have too much time to fix it and eat too in 50 minutes. Some nights we would get home after 1 in the morning from packing produce for the market. The poor guys wouldn’t get much sleep on their weekly turns of going to the market after a long days work and I’d go a lot with my hubby just to make sure he stayed awake! It was nice they had alternate weeks to go because those mornings they went to the market, they didn’t have to milk and the other two brothers milked. After work, there was still laundry and cleaning; depended on how much I got done in the mornings and cleaning up supper dishes.
This was the usual routine for each day. Earlier in the year, we would plant seeds in the greenhouse. When it was time to plant, we’d stay out day in till dark planting by way of a 2 or 4 seat planter; depended on what was planted. Usually the planters were used for cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, and plants that were started by seed in the greenhouse.
Other produce was planted by a direct seed planter that automatically placed the seed in the ground. After planting season, we spent many hours hoeing the fields to keep weeds from taking over. Cultivating helped to loosen the soil and rid the weeds between the rows, but around the plant itself, the weeds could smother and kill the plants and they had to go.
When hoeing season ended, cutting cabbage and picking/packing produce began. I mentioned in one of my earlier stories about some of the produce varieties and there were many! In the fall when the summer produce was finished, the fall produce began. As soon as the pumpkins were ready, we spent many hours way past dark painting the faces that my sister-in-law drew on each one. There were 1000’s each season painted and were sold in Kroger stores everywhere!
Truckers came in from various places to fill semi loads with pumpkins of all sizes and squashes of all kinds. Some would take them to other states and sell them at their fruit/veggie stands or other places. Fall time was very very busy and sometimes tempers blew.
Being newly married, young, and sometimes too sensitive for my own good and wanting to fit into my new family, I trudged foreword with a new attitude. I felt my opinion was important and many times voiced it at the wrong time or to the wrong people. God had a plan to unfold and His way gently showed slowly over the coarse of several years. My way of expressing myself caused many hard feelings for some, but I was growing at the same time. I just needed to figure out how to correctly express myself and let God be my tongue. He had my heart but there was so much to learn and grow in His way. My world opened and I began to hunger for something more that I didn’t quite understand yet.
