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| Duane A. Lienemann Nebraska Extension Educator |
I know it's been a while since the Super Bowl that debuted the stunning rendition of “So God Made a Farmer” commercial. The creators of agricultural blog “The Uncharted Rhoades” (Megan Gottman) and another by Diane Reed Loew with “A Farm Wife and So Much More” each wrote responses to that great Paul Harvey commercial. I don't think it's ever too late to share something this good, especially for Mother’s Day. They are here for your reading pleasure.
“So God Made a Farmer's Wife” by Megan Gottman: And on the 9th day God looked down and said, “I have just asked a lot of this old boy, he is going to need some help,” So God made a farmer’s wife. God said, “She has to get up before dawn and not let that farmer hit snooze for the third time, cook breakfast while he is milking cows, wake and ready the brood for school, take supper to him in the field and remind him to quit in time to get to the school board meeting in town.” So God made a farmer’s wife. “I need someone strong enough to carry his children and at 8 months along run cows out of corn field.
Someone to run for parts, come home and throw a meal together and deliver another meal to a sick neighbor. Someone to mend his clothes and keep them clean, who will deliver her good towels and own hair dryer to the barn to warm a shivering calf.” So God made a farmer’s wife. “I need someone who will trade off with him in the barn while saving that newborn colt. And when it dies, she will cry, when he says, ‘Maybe next year.’ Someone who can use that ax and knows where to find it. Who can fashion a child’s belt out of baling twine, while running horses back in and fixing the hot wire. And who at planting time finishes her forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, 16 of those hours at her in town job.” So God made a farmer’s wife.
God knew that farmer would need someone out there bucking bales & bouncing along at double speed helping get that hay in ahead of the rain. Someone who would run with him to the neighbors’ when he sees smoke and then come up with enough food to feed the tired, hungry, impromptu firemen. So God made a farmer’s wife. God said, “She has to be strong enough to heave bales, scoop out bins, carry feed buckets, yet gentle enough to fix a child’s boo-boo with a duct tape & shop towel bandage in the middle of a field. It has to be someone who won’t cut corners when it comes to the land and animals but cut them in her clothing, grocery, beautician and decorating budget. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and mix calf bottles and load livestock and haul them to town. Who makes sure everyone is bathed and in the pew Sunday morning for church.” “Somebody who would trust his guidance, but offer her suggestions, as he baled his family together in love and sharing. Who gently reminds him of who he is working for, someone who would laugh, then sigh and reply with smiling eyes, when her daughter says she wants to grow up and ‘marry a farmer.’” So God made a farmer’s wife.
“So God Created a Farm Wife” by Diane Reed Loew: She needs to be able to rise before dawn in order feed the farmer to start his day. To care for the kids, make her house a home, run the farm office, teach Sunday School and Vacation Bible School during summer. She will make a meal for 10 extra field hands out of leftovers from Sunday dinner. She can plan, cook and deliver meals to the field during harvest without spilling a drop. The back of the pick-up doubles as her dining room on wheels. God had to have her able to jump in the tractor, feed calves, milk the cows while the kids are in school. Then be dressed, pressed, powdered and perfumed for the school PTA meeting that night.
She will stay up late waiting for Farmer to make it in from the fields. And, if he is late she will pull the kids from bed and drive out to find him in the back twenty acres broken down trying to fix the problem with the few tools in the cab. She grabs the flashlight leaves the kids sleeping in the truck and acts as his extra hands. She turns down a lunch date with her girlfriend because the cows need the medicine from the vet and the part they are waiting for is in at the implement dealer. She checks the market prices and helps make decisions on selling and buying. God wanted her to teach her sons to throw a ball, load a gun and change a flat tire when Farmer is too busy getting in that last load of hay.
She cries over a calf that doesn't survive birth, sits on the barn yard floor with the cow’s head in her lap praying the good Lord will stop the bleeding and that her favorite cow will survive. Her cookies, cakes and crock pots full of Bar-B-Q replenish the hired hands at the barn. Her extra garden produce lines the table in the work room for the guys to take home. God needed a medical assistant. So she washes, sanitizes, medicates and wraps the cuts of those working for her. The decision to go for stitches is hers. Her tools of the trade belong to man and cows. God needed a farm wife to referee the kids, wrangle the mud covered dogs before they ran in the back door and scatter feed to the chickens. She clucks over her own children and feeds them from the Word of God.
God said, “I need a woman who is strong enough to hold the gate while Farmer welds it yet gentle enough to cradle the new born lamb. She will make a bed near her stove to keep the fragile sheep alive”. This woman will show no fear and walk the fields in drought praying for rain with confidence. And when asked if she is worried about the flood washing away her field she will smile and say “No, not really. We’re just taking care of God’s land. It’s his to flourish at his will.” And after a stressful week when the sons and Farmer collide with heated words and disagreements she gathers them and all the family together around the Sunday dinner table and cultivates love, laughter and harmony. God knew what he needed. So God created a farm wife.” - Here’s wishing all the moms and farmer’s wives a very Happy Mother’s Day!!
The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or Nebraska Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, Nebraska Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: http://www.webster.unl.edu/home
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