HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen Agriculture, 2003-03-19, Page 35PAGE A-10. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2003.
Two generations of farm wives share stories
The changing roles
Ila Cunningham and her daughter Linda Plaetzer are both
farm wives, but their experiences in the role vary greatly.
(Janice Becker photo)
By Janice Becker
Citizen staff
While men have been tilling the
land and caring for livestock for
centuries, their wives and daughters
have been at their sides, helping to
sustain farming as their way of life.
Though their role on the farm may
have changed through recent
generations, the contributions made
by farm wives continues.
Ila Cunningham of Hullett has
been a farm girl all her life, growing
up on a farm in Goderich Twp. then
marrying a farmer and raising her
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son and daughters in the agricultural
lifestyle.
Now a senior, Cunningham
remembers a few of the tasks
undertaken by her mother, Norma
Grigg, 87, now of Clinton, who was
also a farm wife.
“Mother milked cows and carried
water from the bam to the house.
She had to carry it for washing and it
had to be heated on the stove as there
was no hydro.”
Cunningham’s father was also a
politican so there was always a lot of
work to do around the farm, helping
out when he had other duties to
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attend to.
Though she enjoyed farm life, she
also believed she would never marry
a farmer.
Not only did she marry a man of
the land, but also one who would
become very active in local politics.
Responsible for the raising of five
children, Cunningham worked in the
fields and took the kids along when
necessary.
She and her late husband Tom
were partners in the farm with Ila
working the field ahead and her
husband planting behind.
During haying time it would be Ila
driving the tractor and wagon.
She smiles when asked about
some of her experiences driving
tractor, shying away from giving
details about a particular jack
knifing incident with the hay wagon.
With some work done by custom
combines, Cunningham says there
have been a few who refused to go
on the back fields because of the
rolling terrain.
“(Those fields) were really better
for cows,” she says.
Aside from the crops, the
Cunninghams also had pigs, a
cow/calf operation and 500
chickens.
With some encouragement from
her daughter, Linda Plaetzer, a third
generation farm wife, Cunningham
agrees that looking after the hens
was largely her task as well as
helping out with the little pigs that
needed extra attention.
“She bottle fed calves if they
wouldn’t feed,” adds Plaetzer.
“She was amazing. She was Dad’s
right hand,” says Plaetzer. “I could
never do everything she did.”
Cunningham’s involvement, with
farm duties only increased when
Tom became a local councillor, then
reeve and county warden.
Though she had to cover for him
on occasion, Cunningham says, “He
enjoyed being in the public. We met
a lot of friends and I still keep in
touch.”
This off-farm aspect of her
husband’s life was fully-supported
by Cunningham as she knew the
pleasure it brought him.
Though her son Roger has taken
over much of the farm duties,
Cunningham still lends a hand
driving a wagon-load of beans to the
mill, and looking after the cows and
calves.
Plaetzer says the operation has
changed in recent years as well. “It is
a lot more mechanized. Roger has
gone from small bales to large ones.”
Roger also utilizes no-till methods
so less time needs to be spent in the
fields.
Of her continued involvement,
Cunningham says, “I have to keep
my mind occupied. I have to have
something to do.”
For daughter Linda, life as a farm
wife was also not something she
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fer in the Held,
envisioned.
“I grew up on our Hullett Twp.
farm and because I was the oldest, I
had to help with little things. I could
give Mom a break. ”
Those little things included
cultivating, helping bring in the hay
and gathering eggs.
“I probably wouldn’t have had to
do as much if Roger had been the
oldest,” she smiles. “It took all of us
to do the work. Roger was five years
younger and eventually he took over
a lot.
Plaetzer says she was finally able
to get a summer job off the farm
once the youngest daughter, Leona,
could help. Sisters Debbie and Julie
also did their part for the family
farm.
As she tells of the Cunningham
children’s youth, it is evident how
much they all enjoyed the rural
lifestyle. “We were mad when Dad
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