On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards) j
Joyce Bupp
It becomes a matter of local
pride.
“How’s the winter been in your
part of the country?”
So we reach for the extremes in
a sort of “btaggin’ rights” contest
about our weather endurance.
“Well, it was seven degrees
when I left home early yesterday
morning,” I reply to that question
put to me at a dairy meeting last
week.
Seven degrees might win you
braggin’ rights if you're visiting
with other locals or friends whose
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stomping grounds are more to the
south.
But when you give that answer
to fellow dairy producers from
places like Minnesota or the Da
kotas or Colorado, don't expect
much sympathy. Indeed, they
blow away any self-pity we Mid-
Atlantic-located types might har
bor over enduring single digit
temperatures by recounting a
string of temperatures in the sub
zero-category, complete with
those ominous wind-chills of
minus-30, minus-40, minus-SO.
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Not that another 10 degrees make
much difference at that point
And emphasize the difference
with tales of plugging in their trac
tors overnight so the motors wake
up in the morning. And of burying
water pipes to the barn 12 feet
deep in the ground so they don’t
freeze.
Makes farming in southcentral
Pennsylvania sound almost like a
vacation in the Bahamas.
While 4:30 a.m. temperatures
the likes of seven degrees or there
abouts sound pretty pioneering,
that kind of Big Chill is hard to
beat as a shock treatment for
drowsy eyes that don’t quite want
to open and brain still foggy with
sleep. Shivering our way to the
bam, we try to remind ourselves
that, for goodness’ sake, it IS
January and cold weather is the
norm, rather than the exception.
Wondering all the while why
anyone would even consider liv
ing in Alaska.
In reality, cold (within reason)
is welcomed here on the farm be
cause of its deterrent effect on the
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 16, 1999-B3
populations of some pest plants
and pest insects.
Cold is necessary for the natural
cycle of hibernation and hatching
of some species, breaking dor
mancy in certain seed species.
Cold is necessary in the cycle of
blooming of tulips, daffodils, and
other bulbs of beauty we will en
joy before all that long.
Cold gets rid of flies. At least
temporarily. Since ordinary
houseflies, an ongoing affliction
of any place where animals and
people exist, bug me, that’s a per
sonal benefit of winter.
Without cold, there would be no
snow. No glittering ice. No
whimsical paintings by Jack Frost
on our windows.
No snowmen, no sledding, no
ice skating, no skiing. No puffy,
fluffy drifts against dark pine
trees. No cottony tufts icing fence
posts and electric poles. No swirl
ing, curvaceous drifts piling up
around house comets and banks.
Think how boring that would
get, just days and days of warmth.
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and gentle breezes, and green
grass. . . and hey, you, stop pack
ing your bags!
Without cold, we would still be
mowing our lawns and feeling
pressured to keep the weeds pull
ed.
Without cold, there would be no
justiflcation to own those snow
blowers or snowmobiles or plows
for our lawn tractors or 4 x 4 sport
utility vehicles.
Without cold, all those thermal
underwear, wool sweater, insulat
ed coverall, earrauff, boot and
mitten manufacturers might be
forced out of work while we spent
our days hanging out instead in
shorts and T-shirts. Think what
that might do to the economy.
Without cold, those cups of hot
chocolate laced with marshmal
lows would be considered a fat
tening extravagance instead of a
healthful anti-freeze for the body
and cozy lift for the soul.
Without cold, spring wouldn’t
be nearly as much appreciated.
I’ll recite that mantra to myself
the next time I’m on my way to
the bam dressed in seven layers of
clothes at 4:30 a.m. when the ther
mometer reads 7 degrees.
And hope it has a warming ef
fect.
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