Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I’d grow up to be a farmer; or more accurately, a farm labourer.  I was born in Powell River, a pulp and paper town on the coast of British Columbia and spent most of my teen years in Vancouver.  I also lived for a time in Yellowknife, NWT.  It wasn’t until I went to university in Calgary that I came anywhere near the wheat fields of Alberta.

When I moved to Sedgewick to begin my teaching career in 1975, I entered a whole new world where the livelihood of many families depended on a good harvest.  I was fascinated by the farm equipment and the cycle of seeding and harvest and was humbled by the fact that my elementary school students knew more about it than I did.  Over the years that followed, however, I continued to observe from a distance. Even when I visited the family farm with Richard, I didn’t have opportunity to experience farming first hand.  I remember helping move cattle once, but for the most part, the men did the farm work and the women were in the house.

All that changed one Sunday in the fall of 2005 when my friend, Louis, asked if I’d ever ridden a combine.  When I said no, he asked if I’d like to and so it was that one sunny afternoon, after a day of teaching school, I drove out to the field and joined him on the combine.  What a thrill!  As we crisscrossed the field and watched the sun set over the waves of gold, I saw a beauty in this land that I’d never seen before.  I was far from the first person to be invited to ride along with Louis but apparently I was the first to fall in love with what he was doing.  The following year he invited me back and then in the spring of 2007, I also spent a few hours riding the tractor with him during seeding.  I enjoyed every moment and hoped I’d be invited back yet again.  Little did I know that I would soon become his hired hand!

Richard and I retired from teaching in the spring of 2007.  Sometime during August of that year, Louis stopped by the house to see if we’d be interested in helping out during harvest.  The economy was booming and seasonal help was difficult to find.  Richard spent some time swathing (cutting the grain) and I did almost all the combining (running the machine that separates the grain seeds from the stalks).  When everyone else went back to school in the fall, I didn’t miss it one bit.  I was on the combine having the time of my life! When we were in Japan last fall and I knew that harvest was going on without me, I missed it terribly.

Louis is 80 years old.  Over the past few years, he’s been gradually cutting back on the amount of land that he farms and this year his family suggested that he should retire completely.  Farming has been his life and his passion for more than 60 years, however.  I truly believe that if he couldn’t farm, he’d feel that life wasn’t worth living anymore.  We’re both working for him again this spring.  In fact, we’re pretty much putting the crop in for him.  Richard is running the air seeder which deposits seed and fertilizer into the ground and I follow up with the harrow/packer, a 50 foot wide implement that smoothes and packs the newly seeded soil.  Both are pulled behind gigantic John Deere tractors. Louis is the boss; making all the important decisions, maintaining the equipment and making many trips to and fro with fuel, seed and fertilizer.  With two rookies on the equipment, there’s plenty to keep him busy.  The arrangement seems to be working well for all of us and we’ve promised him that as long as he’s able and wants to continue farming, we’ll be here during spring and fall to help.

Richard at work

Louis is a wise and patient teacher.  He takes the time to answer my questions even though some of them must seem very elementary to him. He realizes that I want to understand not just how to do the job correctly but why we do things the way we do.  He even handled my frustration the first day of seeding with grace.  I hadn’t learned to read the field yet and couldn’t always tell where I’d already been and where I should go next.  I was disgusted that my lines weren’t always as straight as I thought they should be.  Louis knows me well enough to know that I was frustrated because I share his philosophy that a job worth doing is worth doing right. He also knew that I was stubborn enough not to give up and that with practice, I’d get better.  By the time he came around a second time to see how things were going, I was able to tell him that I was having fun.

with Louis and "my" tractor

When I’m out on an open field under the big Alberta sky, I feel such peace. I liken it to being on a boat on the ocean on a calm day.  At times we share the fields with deer, coyotes and birds of many kinds. When I look back over a field that I’ve finished, it gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

the harrow/packer

In addition to the fun of farming itself, there’s another plus to all of this and that is Louis’ wife, Doris, who is known throughout the countryside as a fantastic cook.  She makes supper for us every day that we work!  In the spring, we finish up by 6:30 p.m. and head to the house for a hearty meal. At harvest time, like many farm wives, she delivers supper to the field so that we can stop for a short break and then get back to work as every minute counts when winter is just around the corner.

If the weather cooperates, we’ll soon be finished seeding.  We’ve been delayed several times by this spring’s ugly weather conditions.  Last week, we had to wait for three days because the remaining fields needed to be sprayed for weeds before they could be planted.  Spraying requires almost perfect weather conditions.  First it was too windy and then it was too cold. Though the fields desperately need moisture so that the seeds will germinate and grow, they need to be dry while we actually work them. Once we finish seeding, we’ll be praying for both rain and heat so that there will be a bountiful crop to harvest come fall.