Richard is out swathing canola so I’ll be combining soon and I can hardly wait! I love harvest time!

Usually when we combine, the straw is cut up and spread back over the field. Last year, however, the cutters came off before I started combining wheat. Another farmer who was in need of bales had arranged to come in and bale it. When we seeded this spring, we discovered that he’d left a lot of baling twine laying in the fields; definitely poor farming etiquette! It was constantly getting tangled around the equipment and that’s when I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t a real farmer yet. A real farmer carries a pocket knife!

When we travel, I like to buy practical souvenirs; things we can actually use rather than fancy knickknacks that collect dust. This summer when we visited the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Illinois, home of the John Deere farm implement company, I knew exactly what I wanted to buy. A pocket knife, of course! With Richard’s help, I chose one made of stainless steel with the John Deere logo imprinted on the shaft. It has a wooden handle and a 3 inch locking blade.

I also bought this, simply because I loved it and sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!

When I told my son, Nathan, that I’d bought myself a knife, his immediate response was “That’s not the mom I grew up with!” When my boys were young, I was quite nervous about them handling knives. Richard, being a farm boy himself, thought they ought to be able to. Well, Nate, who knew back then that Mama would grow up to be a farmer? From now on, when I’m out in the field, I’ll have my knife in my pocket just like the rest of them!