By Carie Moore
Tuesday was one of those days. It started out with me asking my husband on the phone, “Can I make the corner by myself with the Versatile, implement, fertilizer cart, and anhydrous tank, or should I just take the time and go around the 3 miles?” (We live in the land of rocks and water up here. Our approaches are narrow and consist of culverts in need of replacing. Turns are tight with large equipment.) I said, “If you think I can do it, I will. If you’re leery, I will go around to be safe.” He replied, “I think you can do it, but if you don’t think you can, go around because I’m over 400 miles from home and can’t help you if you go in.”
Okay then, it’s all on me. “I can do it,” I said.
I made it around the corner, happened to look down at the Garmin on my wrist, and saw my heartrate was 110. Normally I’m at a 70 resting and an average workout is 160, so I jokingly told Greyson, who had joined me in the tractor, that I just burned a load of calories in about 10 seconds. He gave me a look.
I made it past the other turn and got to the field, checked and prepped everything and was good to go. Got in my pass around the slough and back before things went south. A breakdown, with no vehicle and no tools. I called to get tools and of course getting one thing fixed led to another thing needing to be fixed. Greyson happily ate his lunch and helped me when he could. While we were waiting he asked, “Mommy, are you stressed (pause) or mad?” I said, “I’m not mad, just stressed.” He said, “Good.” Then a few minutes went by and he asks, “Would you like part of my cookie? Paige’s cookies always make ME feel better!”
“Sure G, I’ll have a bite, thank you.”
It was a day where a five-minute fix turned into hours. By 4 p.m., I had accomplished nothing but driving my “train” to our furthest field away AND back, and nothing fertilized. Knowing rain was coming didn’t help, because it was the first chance to get back in the field since my flat tire, that took from Saturday morning until late Monday afternoon to get repaired.
I finally just unhooked it all and hooked up to the cultivator. Mady was home now to watch Greyson and I got everything cultivated that I needed to get done for soybeans. When I was done and rehooked the fertilizer applicator, I was in a better mood. Jason was just pulling in the drive, to help me fix what of course together only took us about an hour at the most.
Stressed or blessed? There were so many times I could have gotten mad, and under normal circumstances I would have, but having G with me made me stop and think through my reactions. I was blessed to be able to fix all that I did and figured out most of it on my own. It gave me experience for next time and I knew when to walk away and change the situation and the outcome of the day. We all know our limits and our capabilities and many times we need to take on new things to stretch our thinking and abilities and make decisions that are best for us, even if others don’t understand or disagree at the moment.
Sometimes I wish farming was as easy as people say it is. You buy seeds, plant them, watch them grow, harvest them, collect your money and you’re set. Not so much.
On the other hand, if it was easy, everyone would do it. So that should be the first clue it isn’t. I’m blessed because the stress teaches me why I have chosen to do this, and it always pushes me. No day is ever the same. Each day presents new challenges, new rewards, and a bigger sense of gratefulness. Even when I spend days like Mother’s Day last week in the tractor and a sandwich in the cab with 1 child, over breakfast in bed, it makes me more blessed. Probably because breakfast in bed means a kitchen I would have to clean up!