Illinois Farm Families Blog

A New Orleans newspaper reported an average of 108.4 million viewers watched this year’s Super Bowl. At one time, 164.1 million viewers were watching the broadcast. You can bet most of those viewers were also watching the commercials and not skipping over them with their DVR systems. During the fourth quarter, Dodge ran a two minute commercial for their Ram line of trucks. This ad, during the largest televised event of the year, gave America’s farmers a shout out and a very impressionable one at that evidenced by ranking the most popular commercial in the polls.

The Dodge Ram commercial began with one of many shots of America’s farmland: a cow standing in a snowy pasture and Paul Harvey’s name in blank type across the screen. Then, the voice of Harvey, the late radio broadcaster, began. What continued was his “God Made a Farmer” speech from the 1978 Future Farmers of America convention.  During the two minute spot, Harvey’s speech was set to brilliant photos of America’s hardworking farmers (men, women, and children), their land, livestock, equipment, and aspects of their lives.

His speech began with an allusion to the story of Genesis: “And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker.’ So God made a farmer.”  

Harvey continued to describe God’s desires for the type of person he needed to take care of the land, crops, animals, and communities. Harvey followed with “So God made a farmer,” as an answer.

Even though the speech was from 1978, I truly believe that the “farmer” Harvey describes can be found on today’s farms and in rural communities. Both sides of my husband’s family are a testament to Harvey’s speech, as well as the many Illinois farm families I have come to know over the years.

I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing the commercial air live since I was busying putting my little ones to bed, and I really wish I would have. My husband, who is a full-time farmer, caught the commercial and watched it a few times until I returned downstairs to watch it with him.

From the start, I was captivated by Harvey’s smooth tone set against the backdrop of a slideshow of awesome photographs of God’s country.  I listened to the “God Made a Farmer” recording and thought to myself, ‘Yes, he’s got it right, that’s America’s farmers, and that’s my husband and his family!’ I could clearly put family members’ faces to Harvey’s descriptions of farmers. And I wanted to call my family members, who are not farmers, and proudly shout, ‘Did you see that farmer commercial? That’s my husband!’

I’ve viewed the commercial multiple times, and every time I tear up at the end of the speech when Harvey talks about a son wanting to farm just like his father. Those are the men in my husband’s family who, generation after generation, have chosen to farm.  And one day, that son will hopefully be our son, if he chooses to farm alongside his own father and grandfather.  

The commercial ended with silence as the last pictures came on screen. Ram dedicate the aid “To the farmer in all of us” which was printed on the last photo of a Ram truck.

Thank you, Dodge, for highlighting the time, dedication, patience, strength, “guts,” and “glory” it takes to be a farmer and feed America.

And, thank you, God, for making farmers.

Kristen Strom

Brimfield, IL

Kristen is a city-gone-country girl after her marriage to her husband, Grant, who is a full-time farmer.  You can follow her stories and adventures on her blog at http://farmnoteslittledahinda.blogspot.com.

 

This time of year, I always have people ask me the same question: “What do farmers do in the winter? They don’t have much work to do, do they?” While this is an honest question, and I’m sure my husband and in-laws would like some much-needed weeks of rest, this is not the case. Yes, my husband gets home earlier than usual, but this only means he’s home by about 6pm rather than midnight. During the winter, he works the typical business hours compared to the early mornings and late nights of planting and harvest seasons. There are no crops in the ground to tend, but he still has paperwork to file and bills to pay by the end of the year. There is also a list of projects on the farm to take care of that go by the way-side during the busy seasons (some projects have been on the to-do list for years). Farm families are business owners, so time spent out of the tractor is used to repair equipment, prepare financial statements, tend to relationships with customers and suppliers, attend conferences and seminars, and the list goes on (just like that list of projects at home that need attention). 

While winter does bring colder weather and snow, it doesn’t always mean that harvest is over. January 5th, 2010 was the last day of the 2009 harvest. That Christmas, my mother-in-law joked that we should decorate the tractors with Christmas lights and wreaths in order to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. Many mornings, the farmers went out to harvest the corn only to be brought inside by a snow fall that stopped them from picking.  Harvest is always an exciting time of year for farmers, but by the last couple of weeks they are anxious to get out of the fields. You can only imagine the frustration at harvesting through Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND into the new year of 2010.

Thankfully, this year our family farm was done harvesting and assumed “shorter” working hours by Thanksgiving. That meant we could go to the suburbs to enjoy a long Thanksgiving weekend with my family. This will also be true for our Christmas where we can travel and celebrate the holidays with family and friends. In addition, his winter days keep him home on weekends where we can take care of our own to-do list around the house that grows during harvest, catch up on missed TV shows, spend some much needed play time with our two children, and schedule family parties. We even squeeze in some date nights, which we don’t get during the harvest months of September-November and again from April-June during planting.

While this schedule, ruled by the seasons (and the weather), is typical for farm families, it is not what I grew up with. In the almost six years of being a farmer’s wife, I’ve learned to live the life of the farm family and really look forward to having my husband home during the winter months. While winter brings the joy of the holiday season, for farm families it also means that husbands are usually home for the holidays, which I’m always thankful for.

Kristen Strom
Brimfield, IL
Kristen is a city-gone-country girl after her marriage to her husband, Grant, who is a full-time farmer.  You can follow her stories and adventures on her blog at Little Dahinda.

Food defines the seasons on our farm.  By spring, we’ve exhausted our winter stores of garden vegetables and plant seeds with visions of fresh salads and side dishes in our heads. Throughout the summer and early fall we eat from the garden, literally.  One morning my kids and I took our spoons out to the melon patch, picked a sweet smelling cantaloupe, sat down and ate right there in the yard.  That was the best breakfast. 

Of course, food in the fall means meals in the field.  Growing up, we lunched in the field.  That was the time of day my dad agreed to stop the combine, tractors and trucks.  We’d toss a blanket on the field’s edge or in the back of the pick-up and lay out our fare.  Most often lunch was a hearty ham sandwich ladened with garden fresh lettuce and tomatoes, an apple plucked from the backyard tree and cut vegetables from the garden.  My mom always had a sweet treat – brownies, pumpkin squares, apple squares, sugar cookies . . . my mouth is watering. 

These days my husband, his dad and brother stop for supper.  My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I divide the week, each taking two nights. (I am thankful that on this farm we take Sunday to heart and rest for the day.)

We’re not the only farm wives that trek to the fields at dinnertime.  Between 5 and 6 p.m. you might see several combines stopped and a small group huddled around a dropped tailgate or raised hatch of an SUV.  The group consists of the harvest crew, which can range from one person to several and any kids, the farm wife and sometimes passers-by who stopped to talk.  Let me just say, retired farmers and agri-businessmen are smart.  They know when meals are served and who cooks and bakes what.  I always make plenty for the “extra help”. 

I have my go-to recipes and laughed out loud the year my brother-in-law said of the first meal, “Let me guess.  Sausage and rice casserole.”  Guess I had served that several years in a row. 

The kids get to see their dad, because they often go for days at a time not seeing him.  He starts work at 5 a.m. and will go until 9 or 10 p.m.  Meals in the field give the men a break to stretch their legs, talk to each other face to face instead of through the radio and to stop and see what they’ve accomplished. 

Standing in a harvested field at dusk sharing a meal, one can see for miles to where the purple night sky meets the earth. The low voices and deep laughter of the harvest crew fades quickly into the dusty waning light.  I am reminded of how tiny we are in the grand scheme of nature’s life cycle and yet so very blessed to be sharing the thrill of harvest with good people. 

Katie Pratt
Grand Prairie Farms

And today's the day I give myself a little pep talk.

I can do this. I can be a part of this harvest. I can prep my fridge and freezer with easy meals to prepare for lunch and/or dinner at weird times. I can be the sole childcare provider, bather, spelling words quizzer, piano and dance lessons taker, etc., etc. I can do this.

I can do this, right?

Well, I will do it, and there will be complaining and sighing and quiet times when I enjoy seeing the combine running and the guys literally running from place to place, but it's the season. It's time, and let's get this crummy year over with, right?

So today, I am giving myself a pep talk. Yesterday was a prelude to the harvest season, as Joe spent the entire Sunday haying. It was a test, and although some of the day was hairy, I did it, and like every fall for the past six years, I spent it just wondering. Wondering what it would be like to be a family that spent lazy Sunday afternoons cleaning out the garage or at the apple orchard or watching football on the couch. I spent it wishing Joe was home with us, but trying to steel myself against this wish, knowing that the busy-ness of our business is just starting and I should quit wondering and press onward. Kids need to be fed, beds need to be made, so just move on.

That's my pep talk for the harvest season...Move on, Emily. Move forward, press on, and quit whining.

Because this is the best part, right? This is when the harvest is reaped, and we get to see how we fared during this drought. We get to watch big equipment, the kind that makes Jack stop in his tracks and point and make a "Mmmm-mmmm" motor sound. This is the time that my girls run to Joe with open arms even more so than usual, because they miss him, and that is special, right?

Harvest is upon us, and as I wait with a nervous stomach and anticipation, I also realize how lucky we are to be in a profession that has this excitement around it. The first field to be opened up will be the one where we have documented its growth (don't worry, I'll get a few last pictures), right outside my door. While we watch today, I know that part of me will continue to struggle with the exhaustion and isolation harvest brings, but I will keep repeating my mantra as I watch the combine roll.

That, and I'll be chasing Jack to keep him out of the way, so who has time to worry, right?

Happy harvest.

 Emily Webel
Farmington, Illinois

Emily Webel is a farmer’s wife, mother of four, runner, former teacher, and author of the blog, Confessions of a Farm Wife. She lives in Farmington, Illinois.

 

A hot meal will stop a working tractor or combine almost as quickly as a breakdown. Proof lies in the power of opening the van’s hatchback at supper-time. The harvest crew, a.k.a. relatives and farm help, start to gather like Grandpa’s cattle when he drives into the pasture with his pickup truck. They simply want a taste of what you brought to eat. Cattle expect a bucket of grain. The harvest crew desires a hot, home-cooked meal or the occasional take-out from town.

Sometimes traditions change and new lifestyles intervene. Yet food delivery to the working crew in the field remains one that some farm families like mine still preserve. Even this tradition has evolved with the introduction of warehouse club memberships and Styrofoam take-out containers.

A field-side picnic seems warm and fuzzy, and it really is in the moment. (In fact, the field remains my favorite place to dine.) But the daily process to plan, prepare and deliver proves a downright hassle sometimes, even for a farm woman who works from home. Often, her roles have heightened with farm records and marketing in addition to traditional farm and home duties.
The nightly preparation and delivery of a half dozen meals taxes the pantry and the mental menu for my mom. I relieve her about once a week, or at least contribute food to the cause. She looks for variety within the parameters of what the crew members will eat. Even then, you have a few short orders, such as warming green beans for the broccoli haters. She knows whether they like mustard or mayo, whether they’ll even put a spoon in yogurt or cottage cheese or need a side of ketchup with their peas (my kids).

At the start of harvest, I shared lunch with our son at a local sandwich shop and watched a farm woman at work. Without asking, I quickly identified that the visibly stressed lady in front of me was taking food to the field. The giveaways: The down-to-earth appearance. Open insulated containers on the table near the checkout. And a multiple sandwich order complicated by her mental recollection of several people’s topping preferences. Usually only wives know a man’s relationship with certain foods. Unless you’re a farm woman. Then you know it for all the farm employees and sometimes their kids.

I confirmed her motive at the beverage station and sympathized. She mentioned her preference to drive a tractor or grain truck. The task seemed simpler and focused. And she hoped no unannounced kids were tagging along in the field that day. Or she would be without a sandwich.

Joanie Stiers
Farm woman
Freelance writer from west-central Illinois

Driving out for my first tour of the Martz grain and beef cattle farm near Maple Park felt a little bit like going back in time. Traffic thinned out - and included a lot more pickup trucks - a tractor drove down the road, and horses and cows grazed in gently sloping fields against a silo-dotted backdrop.

What awaited me next was an amazing learnathon:

• “Prime,” “Choice” and “Select” refer to meat grades from highest to lowest
• Marbling - the fat in your steak - is monounsaturated, which is actually good for you
• “USDA-inspected labels on beef can be misleading - all beef has to be USDA-inspected
• The term “grass-fed beef” is also misleading – at some point all cows are fed grass and/or roam in pastures
• More than 98% of cattle on feed in the U.S. are given hormones to aid their growth and strength
• You would have to eat 2,900 lbs. of implanted steer to equal the amount of hormones in birth control pills (example: Beef from a steer treated with estrogen contains 1.9 nanongrams – a billionth of a gram – while a girl prior to puberty has 54,000 nanograms of estrogen naturally occurring in her system)
• Nutrition wise, there is no difference between organic beef and "traditional" beef
• Antibiotics pass through cattle before they even go to market
• Market Day Ranch Steaks (we order ‘em every month) come from a packing plant in nearby Aurora – and some of the Martz cattle
• Farmers are eating the same beef we are at home
• A dedicated cattle nutritionist creates a very specific feed recipe for the cows
• Farmers and veterinarians are working to reduce antibiotic use in cattle by focusing on good nutrition and the use of vaccines in comprehensive preconditioning programs (before they get big enough for us to eat)
• A “squeeze” machine developed by Dr. Temple Grandin is used to keep cattle stress free
• One ear of corn can tell a farmer what to expect in terms of yields for the year
• Combines on the farm can harvest 12 rows of corn at one time (some combines can harvest 18!) and hold up to 25,000 lbs. of corn

On the drive home, my brain was filled to capacity with all things farms and food – the coffee and ginormous cream cheese frosted brownie deliciousness Lynn and Mike Martz sent with me helped.

Stay tuned as I learn and share more about the anything-but-slow-paced farm life.

Pilar Clark
Lisle, Illinois

 

My 5-year-old daughter couldn’t wait to get off the bus recently and head to the corn field our family was harvesting. In fact, after a quick hug, she asked me to confirm our evening plans in the field and bounced with joy at the affirmative response.

Specifically, she loves to eat supper in the field. It’s her all-around favorite place to dine, trumping Grandma’s house and the nearby sandwich shop with arcade games. In fact, she will have her sixth birthday party in a corn or soybean field this week.

Greetings from west-central Illinois, where we grow corn and soybeans about a three-hour drive from Chicago. Also on some of my family’s farms you’ll find wheat, hay, cattle, pigs, a few barn cats and farm dogs. Corn and soybeans generate our household farm income and makes a living for my parents and brother.

Right now we’re harvesting the crops and have more than a month to go. Unless it rains, we work daily until bedtime or later. Harvest keeps my husband away from home most waking hours for our kids, ages 5 and 3. After his 7-to-5 farm equipment job, he heads to the field to relieve a member of the daytime harvest crew. The kids and I join him in the field to share some experience-based family time. The kids ride in the tractor, visit with their dad and mingle with most of the crew, which includes three grandpas, an uncle and two friends. With the kids’ presence, we often have four generations of our farm family in the same field!

To the kids’ delight, Grandma delivers a hot supper, such as roast, meatloaf, hot sandwiches and pork chops. She is our primary farm family cook. I pitch in with full and partial evening meals throughout the season. The guys are as eager as the kids for this meal, an anticipated segment of their day. Preparing food for about eight people nightly requires prudent stocking-up for us, as we live 22 miles from a city grocery store. The routine task requires commitment and dedication, but broken down we show love and care through cooking. We extend the same care to how we farm.

Most often, the evening meals are threaded with happiness that harvest is progressing. Yet, some days can be stressful, such as when a field’s production is disappointing, machinery breaks down, or field conditions prove challenging. Regardless, the guys greet the kids with smiles on their evening picnic in the field.

Our 5-year-old daughter turns 6 this week. Having a baby during harvest is a blog entry in itself, but for now I’ll quickly say it’s hard to work in a family party. Instead of waiting for a rainy day, we’re taking the meal, cake, homemade ice cream and presents to the field this year. She’ll feel like a queen at her princess-themed harvest party.


Joanie Stiers
Williamsfield, IL

When hearing for the first time that I’m a grain farmer, people often ask what I do during the summer and winter.  I often have to stop and think about it, because the days seem to click by, every hour filled with something, even though I’m not sitting in a tractor or combine.  We never run out of things to do – taking care of the animals, maintaining their buildings, repairing and rebuilding tractors and other equipment from the previous season, marketing, purchasing seed and fertilizer, paying bills and preparing budgets, maybe even blogging – the list goes on.  We recently took a day to host Monica Eng, a writer for the Chicago Tribune, for a farm tour.  As part of the Farm Families effort, we feel it’s important to tell people our story.  Better yet, when we get the chance, we like to show people our story, especially those that can tell lots of other people about it.

 These days, however, it’s easy to explain what we’re doing – readying our grain drying and storage system and other field equipment for fall harvest.

We’ve had beautiful weather since the hot spell in July, and we’re taking this opportunity to get some major renovations as well as minor repairs done.  This year we expanded one of our grain bins to hold more, increasing from 40,000 bu to 60,000 bu.  A bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds, and fills a volume roughly the size of a five-gallon bucket.  If a field produces 200 bu/acre of corn (which won’t happen this year, unfortunately), the bin could now hold the crop from 300 acres.  Total on-farm grain storage now totals about 450,000 bu.  In addition to working on that, we’ve done some other significant work on the equipment that moves the grain around the farm – augers, dump pit, pipes, etc.

 Besides the grain system, we’ll service the combine, trucks, tractors, and tillage equipment again so when the crops are ready, so are we.  We’ll mow ditches and waterways once more to knock down weeds and tidy things up.  Any major outdoor projects will have to be done now, since during the course of harvest, which will start in 2-3 weeks and take approximately 50 days, the weather could turn nasty.  Before we know it, it will be Halloween and then Thanksgiving, and time to start making preparations for the 2012 crop!