I love a farmer and he loves his farm;

me;   (his beautiful, funny, clever, amazing wife)

and his four kids (all wonderful, helpful and well mannered of course).

His loves probably go precisely in that order,
* farm
* beautiful wife (me)
* kids
depending on the day.   Often the kids come a very clear second….

No, that is not really true, but as all farm wives know sometimes it feels that way. We are often trying to raise healthy happy kids, while also catching stray sheep, driving farmer husband and workers out to a paddock, feeding chooks, washing, food shopping, cooking, cleaning, tackling book-work, answering emails and sometimes (when allowed) driving the new big tractor. All of this while trying to fit a quick coffee catch up in with the neighbours who happen to be ‘best buddy girlfriends’ so that a girl can stay half sane and keep the wheels from completely falling off.

So at times we may feel under valued. As with all stay at home mums, running the household and then also helping to run a family owned business there is no minimum wage pay rate.

Our perceived value depends on how well we are managing things. Our true value is how much we believe in ourselves.

Today is a beautiful sunny winter’s day here on our farm. I live with my ‘gorgeous farmer husband’ and our four kids in a renovated old stone home on our property called Rosevale.  Our house is around 100 years old and was built by my farmer husband’s great grandfather and inherited down through the family.

Our beautiful home is conveniently situated about 8kms from a busy little town in rural South Australia. The sea is only a 15 minute drive in three different directions. We are very fortunate.  We have space, lots of paddocks, scrub to roam in, fresh air, a dirt road in front of us and sand and sea only a hop skip and a jump away.

My ‘gorgeous farmer’ is currently busy having coffee and chewing the fat with a salesman who is very keen to sell him some machinery.  While he is occupied with the salesman I am going into the small town closest to us to collect the mail, shop for food and (the real reason) to have a coffee with a girlfriend. Sanity prevails. Thankfully.

We are now about a month post-Covid19 and there is no more isolating in South Australia.   Fortunately things are a bit more normal outside of the farm gates now. During our isolation period in rural South Australia farming work carried on as normal.  As farmers we are classified as essential workers, which was good for everyone concerned.  Seeding went ahead as scheduled and all went well.

But that is a story for another day.
I am going to have a nice strong coffee with one of my lovely girlfriends. We get to swap stories about our week, our kids, agree with each other about the unusual habits of men and have some good nurturing fun girl time.

Have a great day.

Anne x