by Tandy
Munden, KS

September 1, 2000

Hello! It’s hot here in north-central Kansas. Don’t know how everyone else is doing, but fall harvest is pretty sad this year.

I grew up on a diversified crop operation here in Republic County, south of Belleville and now live with my husband Gene on the north end of the county where he farms in his spare time while teaching Jr/Sr High English. My brothers still farm the family operation on the southern end of the county and they started harvesting milo last Friday, August 25^th and began with corn this Friday - way too early in my book. There just isn’t any moisture.

I’m a County Extension Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) Agent working with Kansas State University in the Belleville office. I spent this morning in the Washington County office planning programs with their FACS agent and our newly hired nutrition assistant. The nutrition assistant helps us get more done. She has taken over the Family Nutrition Program grant that we administer jointly between the two counties, which allows us to provide monthly nutrition education programs at senior citizens’ meal sites in both counties. It takes a lot of planning and preparation, but it’s worth the effort to provide healthy eating and food dollar management programs to a population that is growing rapidly in this part of the state. This is a population that can also quite often be on very fixed, low incomes, but certainly isn’t willing to take advantage of government assistance programs. So we go to them and hopefully provide low cost, healthy meal ideas that they can use in their homes when they aren’t coming to eat at the meal sites. The afternoon has been spent preparing my weekly radio program and getting started on plans for a childcare training class to be offered in late September.

My late Friday afternoons are spent caring for my father who at 52 was injured 2 years ago in a farming accident and now has permanent brain injury. My brothers and I are 29, 27 and 25 respectively and the challenge of taking over the farming operation and transferring property almost as if a parent was deceased - plus dealing with the changes in a father you once relied on for so many things is a daily challenge.

We’re glad to have Dad here with us, but many people never plan for disability. As a farmer, when crop years were bad, he didn’t always pay into Social Security. Now, he doesn’t have enough quarters to qualify for Medicare help. He had plenty of life insurance assuming that a farm accident might take his life at some point, but very limited disability coverage. Mom has the biggest challenge - having to work every day and come home each night to care for a spouse.

Farming is in the blood, though, and certainly none of us would be doing anything else. You look at the small worries in life and can more easily put them in perspective when you see a man who farmed his whole life and loved it with his whole being, now confined to a chair in the air-conditioned house often not remembering the past 10 years as short-term memory was greatly affected. So I would encourage any farmer or farm wife reading this journal in particular to take time out for yourselves once in awhile now too. Farm life is busy, hurried, hectic and often overwhelming, but when you don’t slow down and relax some, you increase the risk of a serious farming accident. This year’s crop might not be all that good - but you’ll be able to try again next year. And if this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back financially, well, in all honesty, the situation could be worse . . . we should all at least count the blessings we do have each and every day!

I’m just glad I get to go see my Dad, because he is still around - so better get going or he’ll wonder where I am! Have a great September!