By April Ellis Sheldon, granddaughter of Catherine Ellis 1925-2019
And on the 9th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “That farmer needs help”. So God made a farmer’s wife.
God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, weed the garden, cook breakfast and dinner, then go to town and work her full time job, come home to work alongside her farmer, make supper, and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board”. So God made a farmer’s wife.
“I need somebody with arms strong enough to carry a basket of wet coveralls up the basement stairs and out to the clothesline and yet gentle enough to rock a newborn baby. Somebody to run for parts, help in the fields, move trucks, deliver meals, look the farmer in the eyes and tell him ‘I love you and the life we’ve built’ – and mean it”. So God made a farmer’s wife.
God said, “I need somebody willing to hem pants, wash windows, varnish floors, bake cookies and casseroles, snap green beans and clean sweetcorn, make apple sauce and jams for the years to come. To be a caregiver to her mother, brother, sister, husband, sons, daughter in laws, grandchildren and great grandchildren and tell them all to call whenever they need something, and mean it.” So God made a farmer’s wife.
“I need somebody who can host family reunions, serve on her board of elections, schedule the tooth fairy, keep Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions alive across the generations. Who can use a wrench and know where to find it, doesn’t mind getting dirty, who can remove stains, and keep a house clean and at planting time and harvest season, will finish her forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then put in another seventy-two hours”. So God made a farmer’s wife.
God needed “somebody strong enough to clean out bins and heave bails, who will drive the tractor and pray to God about the weather. It had to be someone willing to go it alone at euchre, play catch, beat everyone at bridge, run the bases, weed, seed, feed, breed and to race to keep a toddler from wandering out into the barnyard during harvest season. Then drive the 5 mile drive to Catholic Church where she would help feed the hungry, help decorate for holidays, pray for her loved one and serve her Lord Almighty ” So God Made a farmer’s wife.
“Somebody who’d stitch a family together with the soft
strong bonds of family meals, sharing, and caring. Who would smile to see her
kids doing what mom and dad did, and to hear family say there is no better way
to grow up than on a farm. To sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes when her
grandchildren say they want to spend their lives ‘doing what grandma does.” So
god made a farmers wife.
