Category Archives: Farming

A real farm

November 17, 2020Columns, Farmingsusanmanzke

When I married Bob, I began noticing how farmers and their farms were depicted in the media. If all you knew about farms came from those outlets you’d get the wrong idea about modern farms.

Children’s books often set farms back in the 1940s.

In this archived column, I grumble about this problem.

Years ago, a lot of people visited relatives on the farm. My Chicago cousins helped with haying when we still lived in Illinois. Those summers Don, Ron, and Val learned a lot and worked hard.

Bob always told how he invited a Chicago teacher and her students to take a tour of the Manzke Illinois farm. At the end, he asked the students what they liked best. Bob expected to hear about calves or even the barn cats. The children said they liked seeing apples growing on trees the best. They had never seen an apple tree before. This shocked Bob.

These days many urban people are not connected in any way to farms and that’s a shame. Showing them real rural activities makes a big impression. It educates them while the farm people learn about life in the city.

So when things open up again after this pandemic, visit a farm. Go to a Breakfast on the Farm. Eat your fill and look around. You might be surprised at what you find.

A real sticky situation

November 7, 2020Bob, Columns, Farmingsusanmanzke

My column archives showed how a farmer can get into a tight situation when working alone.

In this essay, I retell Bob’s story.

Bob wasn’t laughing while he was trapped but later he did, especially about having a dead cat for company.

I hope you enjoy hearing more about my farmer.

Harvest dreams Part 2

November 5, 2020Bob, Columns, Farmingsusanmanzke

The bad and the ugly with harvest ended with friends saving the day.

Bob worked hard and hated to ask for help, but in the end, that’s what he had to do after more problems occurred with our combine.

I remember freezing as I helped outside with harvest. I was just a helper. Bob ran ideas past me and I gave him my two cents, but he cast the deciding vote as to what we would do in the end.

Sometimes I came up with a solution he never expected–I often helped by throwing out crazy ideas.

Where a farmer finds beauty

November 3, 2020Columns, Farming, Memoriessusanmanzke

I wrote this column for Thanksgiving forty years ago. The size of the tractors have gotten larger, but most of the rest has stayed the same.

Farmers find beauty in the barn, in the field, and standing next to a cow. It’s all there for them to appreciate. I hope you enjoy my musings from November 1980.

Hoping you too find beauty in different places.

Maybe it’s a sparkly rock, or a child’s toothless grin, or a kitten getting into trouble again, there’s beauty and fun found in the oddest places.

Another farmer prayer

October 28, 2020Columns, Farming, Weathersusanmanzke

Prayers on farms never seem to end. I’ve written about praying before and probably will again.

This one is from October 1983.

Weather wishes don’t change much. We farmers would love a perfect weather year, but that’s hard to come by. Still, we keep praying for one.

As I’ve said before, more prayers are sent heavenward from the seat of a tractor, combine, or in a barn than in a church. We pray where the action is, or isn’t. There’s no time to stop work and run to a church. A silent prayer anywhere gets to God just the same.

Susan Manzke

Writer, Speaker, All-Around Good Person