Nobody puts it in the vows. There is no line that says “I promise to love you through harvest season, through the years the rain does not come ...” But for farm couples across rural America, that is exactly what the vows mean.
Colleen Stegenga
Columnist
About
Colleen Stegenga is a licensed social worker in private practice with her own business, Embracing Change Counseling Services, specializing in mental health support for farmers, ranchers, and agricultural families. Reach her at colleen@embracingchangecs.com or visit www.embracingchangecs.com.
There is a piece of ground in eastern South Dakota that is slowly becoming something I've been dreaming about for a long time.
"Our church offered a blessing of the farmers last week. It was simple. It was profound. And I haven't stopped thinking about it since."
Farm families know something about showing up. You show up for planting, for calving, for harvest, for neighbors down the road when hail takes their crop. But when it comes to caring for your own aging parents ... the "who does what" can get complicated fast.
"Legacy on the farm is often framed as a practical matter. ... But the legacy that lives longest isn’t recorded in deeds or balance sheets. It lives in what we model."
I grew up in rural South Dakota, and I never once saw a wildfire like the ones burning across Nebraska this spring.
In a culture that prizes hard workers and rewards those who push through, Thomas Eisenbarth found himself doing exactly that: pushing.
We train for a lot of things out here on the farm. We teach our kids to drive a tractor before they can reach the pedals properly. We take fir…
