Farm Wife

We Interrupt This Marriage To Bring You Harvest

When you fall in love with a farmer you know, or learn very quickly, that harvest is a third wheel in your marriage come fall. Spending long hours in the field leaves little time for loved ones, so farm wives and husbands need to find creative ways to get in some much-needed couple time. Here are 10 truths that all farm couples can relate to.

10 Harvest Truths for Farm Marriages

  1. Buddy Seat DatesThere will be dates in the tractor, combine or truck. If you married a farmer, chances are you’ve been on a “buddy seat date” during harvest. There’s just something romantic about having a little cab and your farmer all to yourself for a while.
  2. You will say good night or good morning over the phone or through Face Timing. Technology is great. You may not be physically together…but you can keep in touch.
  3. Meals taste better in the field with your farmer. Whether it’s in the back of a pickup truck or in the cab of the combine, harvest meals just seem to taste better when you get to eat them out in an open field with your farmer.
  4. A rare hug from your farmer will mean getting full of corn dust, dirt, oil or who knows what. But it’s totally worth it right?!
  5. You will experience “empty bed syndrome”. During harvest, you’ll find yourself waking up and going to sleep alone…that is if you get to take a break from farming yourself.
  6. There will be no planning anything. You can’t RVSP or say yes to any plans during harvest, everything is last minute based on the weather.
  7. You will check the weather often to see when the next harvesting break might come. A day off means that you get to spend some time together…even if it’s just going on a parts run.
  8. If you attend an event alone, family and friends will ask where your husband or wife is, unless they are farmers themselves. They just don’t understand, work needs to be done. Luckily you understand and give them a free pass to miss an event…just this once.
  9. You’ll have a lot of time to yourself. Too bad it will probably be spent working. Time apart makes you appreciate your time spent together more.
  10. You will find yourself more connected to Mother Nature. Most of the time you spend together as a couple will be spent breathing in fresh air and gazing over a beautiful country landscape. You’ll feel more connected to each other and the land.

Look on the bright side, harvest will be over soon and then your interrupted marriage will go back to normal…or at least until planting season! But as farmers…we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Share your story. What do you do to stay connected as a couple during harvest? Can you relate to any of the harvest truths above?