My husband, dear sweet, long suffering man, who indulges my farming habit, is the proverbial reluctant farmer….

He did not choose farming, and how he came to be attached to me, a farmer, is a longer story that I won’t chose to share right here, right now, but suffice it to say, he is evolving.

I grew up on a huge farm, we raised sheep, and it was one of those operations that literally took a village to operate, so farming in general is in my blood, it feeds my soul, and Hubs will even say, that since he has been living at the farm with me, he has seen a drive in me that he has not really ever seen in our almost 29 year marriage.  In the past, pre RowanTree Farm, I spent much of my time inside, even when raising babies, but these days, I have so many things to do that I have a constant list that is a moving target, trying to manage farm, school, and children, and even squeezing the occasional shift or two in my Home Health RN job.

Every day that I wake up, its a mental check list of “the weeds cannot win, I must get X planted, the weather is clear for three days, the hay needs to be mowed etc”, but then there are all the obstacles that pop up in any one of those scenarios that test his patience.  The seemingly simple act of mowing three fields of hay, becomes anything but!  In the past I have paid to have it mowed, let it fallow, and brush hog mowed it, and had to buy hay, and this year decided that I would borrow a mower and a rake, and do it myself, just needing to hire out to do the baling, with friend Ben Shugart.

So, I borrow a sickle arm mower, but it won’t fit my L series Kubota tractor unless I buy new lift arms for the three point hitch, so we get that accomplished, then while taking it for a test run, the drive belt to the mower breaks….  on Sunday, the day before memorial day…. forcing us to wait another two days before we can find a belt to fit. After three trips to Messicks that should be accomplished, we will see….

I know very well, that hubs would much rather be snuggled in bed on any one given morning, than getting up and going outside to let out, feed and water dogs, ducks and chickens, and in the winter time feed the sheep grain and hay, he would much rather not be standing out in a snow storm attaching weights to the three point hitch of the tractor so that we can move massive volumes of snow with out sliding around.  He would much rather be fishing, period!

He may be a reluctant farmer, but he is always willing to do what needs to be done, to help me with my goals on the farm, and in all my other endeavors.  I love my reluctant farmer sidekick!