 |
Farm life often takes her
far from the fields |
By:
Laurie Casey |
| Although Patricia Sondgeroth, 42, didn’t grow
up on a farm, she adapted quickly when she married her husband,
John, 23 years ago. She had to. The work schedule was unrelenting:
There were soybean seeds to plant, corn to cultivate and cattle to
feed. Recently the Sondgeroths, of Mendota, Ill., have joined other
forward-thinking farmers who are raising healthier meat products.
Their Piedmontese cattle produce leaner; tender beef with a fat
profile closer to poultry. Here’s a look into her pastures. She learned to drive a tractor: In a blizzard the first New Year’s Day of our marriage. My husband drove ahead of me with his tractor to make tracks for me (so they could get the feed to the cattle). Snow was blowing so hard at times I could not see his tractor, and it was maybe 20 feet ahead of me. Division of labor: It is tough to separate the two of us. We work as a unit. It’s not his farm, it’s not my farm, or his business or my business. It’s very much our business. Challenges of working with a spouse: If there are problems on the farm, if the weather is a concern, it affects both of us at the same time. Our financial situation... our entire life and livelihood are based off the same thing. A plus of farm life: I don’t have to go to a gym to work out. I do a lot of running. An emergency comes up or the cattle get out or whatever, and I’m running. In the spring I lift seed bags. I can lift pretty close to 50 pounds, nearly half of what I weigh. Proud accomplishment: Getting my commercial driver’s license to drive a semi (truck). Harvest season schedule: About 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., depending on the weather and the crops we’re harvesting, from about the end of August through the beginning of November. Why she prays for rain: To make a living we have to take care of our land, and we depend on the rain and the cooperative weather. We joke that when it rains on LaSalle Street (in downtown Chicago), the traders think it rained everywhere. And that’s not the case. Sometimes we’re really hurting out there and we feel, and I’m sure it’s a very naive, selfish feeling, that often urban people have no concept of just how important that rain is to us. Doing the farmers markets: I wish every farmer could experience it. People appreciate our products and they want to know the farmer. A fading way of life: The farm is a wonderful place to raise a family, to teach children responsibility, sharing and community living. We’re losing this valuable asset. But children are not returning to the farm for very logical, financial reasons. They can go to the city and make a better living with a lot less risk. We would like to continue our farm in some way. I don’t see our son or daughter coming back to farm, but there are other ways to continue the family farm without them having to physically be farmers. Breakfast on the farm: Definitely not bacon and eggs. We’re a 21st century family. We don’t have time for that. Usually it’s cold cereal. |