by Mabel
Jetmore, KS

September 2000

My diary will be the day of September 5, 2000. I will introduce my family and myself. My name is Mabel Glunt. I have been a widow for about 14 years. I have 1 married son and 2 unmarried sons who live here in Hodgeman County, Kansas and operate the farm.

Our farm doesn’t really have a name. When the boys were small and playing cowboys and Indians, they called it the Bar Heart Ranch because our brand, registered in Kansas, is a straight line above a heart. Now my oldest son Bill is a computer programmer working out of his home near Wichita, Kansas. He comes home to help with the summer harvest (wheat) and calls frequently. The old saying, "You can take a boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy" applies here!

My other 2 sons Don and Steve live here. They manage the farm and are the labor force as well. I am the "go for repairs" person. We call it the "gofer".

This is a diary of my day of September 5, 2000. Steve and I had just arrived home from a vacation in Western Canada. While we were in Jasper Park, it snowed – not just in the mountains but also down where we were. The temperature here at home at that time was 106 degrees with no rain. The grain sorghum (a crop grown for cattle feed) was drying up and Don was just waiting for Steve to arrive home to start cutting.

We got home the 4^th and Don and Steve opened the field that evening (cut strips for the silage cutter). We were up early the 5^th because the neighbors were coming to help - Stan, Brad, Mike, Matt and the boys. (They are really men but they are still the boys to me.) They own the silage cutter together and provide trucks and a tractor for a packer. At one time, I drove a truck at silage harvest but the women of the neighborhood are glad the "guys" cut together as this excuses us from the job.

Silage is a forage crop that is cut into small bits, put into a pit or pile, packed tight, and allowed to ferment. It is fed to cattle.

Here I am on the 5^th – suitcases of dirty clothes and no time to unpack. Well, we will not be wearing the type of clothes that are in the suitcases anyway. Had a quick breakfast and got the boys off. Looked at the calendar and – Oh my gosh! I was supposed to give a lesson for the Sunnywest club at Ruth’s today.

"Remember Mom – Dinner in the field today", the boys had shouted as they left. (Dinner on a farm is at noon.) Food for six! Looked to see what I had. Not much as Don hadn’t bought any groceries since we left on vacation. A trip to town was in order.

Well, here I am with a lesson to give and a meal to deliver. The meal comes first. My menu will be sloppy joes. I have hamburger in the deep freeze (we process our own beef). I must buy the other things – buns, potato chips, carrots, pop, brownie mix, and some other things.

As I drive the 23 miles to Jetmore, I think about how I will present the lesson. I usually prepare visuals when I give a lesson but today, I will use only that which was provided. Kansas State University, through its Extension Service, provides lessons to our FCE clubs (Family & Community Education). This is about the fourth name change (by the state) for the clubs since I joined as a young wife.

I have belonged to the Sunnywest club for almost 50 years. The meeting is to be at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. I met Betty in the store and told her that I might be a bit late if I couldn’t catch the guys all together.

Got my groceries and headed for home still thinking about the lesson. It is called "Fry Now – Pay Later". It isn’t a cooking lesson but one that sure applies to farm folks – the dangers of too much time in the sun and skin cancer.

I put the hamburger in the microwave to thaw and stirred up the brownies. How did we live without microwaves and electric ovens and mixers and so forth? We didn’t have electricity here in the country until after World War II.

Went to the basement to drag out the cooler and basket for the food. Went to get our older pickup, the GMC, but found the boys had taken it. So, I have to take the newer pickup. It has cloth seats so I will put the food in back.

Made the sloppy joes, cut the brownies, and packed everything in the cooler and basket and headed for the field. Hope I don’t have to drive all over to find everybody. Good news for me! They had a small breakdown and they were all together. Good news for them, too! It was just small and they didn’t have to get any parts to fix it.

I waited while they ate and then took all the things back to the house. I didn’t clean it all up as I will do that when I get back from Club.

Well, back to town another 23 miles. Ruth lives in Jetmore. I just made it. Gave the lesson. I hope the "girls" got something out of it. I think the one who gives the lesson often learns the most. While at club, got a call from Don – "Mom, go to R&R and pick up some fuel filters and save us a trip to town"!

Came home and cleaned up the mess left from dinner. Turned on the news and heard the price of a barrel of crude oil went up. I hate to think about how much fuel we used today – my 2 trips to Jetmore, 4 trucks, a silage cutter, the packer, the pickups, and the fuel wagon.

It costs so much to farm today! The boys say we "run fast to stay still". We have had to upgrade some of the machinery that we inherited from my husband (the boys’ father). 14 years is a long time to use the same machinery.

Bill called and wanted to know how silage harvest was coming. Well, it is in the process of being cut. We exchanged family news about Bill’s kids and the new great-grandbabies.

I water the grass and turn on the weather report – more dry weather for the foreseeable future. I hope it rains before wheat seeding time – anytime after the 20^th of September until well into October.

I can hear the roar of the silage cutter so I know things are moving the fields. Sure glad that guys cut with neighbors now so that I don’t have to be out there in a truck.

The boys come in well after dark for supper. They’re tired but not near so dirty from silage cutting as they used to be before the trucks and tractors were air-conditioned. Farming has changed a great deal from when I was young. Most things are done with machines now – not muscle power as they once were.

A family farm is a great way of life. I just hope that economic factors do not cause the demise of this way of life.