FARM ELVES

 

I believe in elves. After all, we all know that Santa’s elves make all the Christmas toys throughout the year and then there is the Elf on the Shelf, the mischievous little guy who appears every holiday season.

Having been around farms all my life, I definitely believe in farm elves. They, too, are mostly seasonal and appear mostly during planting and harvest seasons. What other explanations could there be for all the little things that happen to make a farmer’s life just a little easier during the hectic spring and fall times?

 

FOOD AND DRINK.

 

Farmers are indeed a rare breed. They have wants and needs just like the rest of us but during planting and harvest those needs take a back seat to either getting the crop in or out of the field. Meals are no exception. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as “regular” meals during this time. The single most important thing is the crop.

 

However, ready-made sandwiches regularly show up in coolers which magically show up in whatever tractor is being used that day. Extra sandwiches and snacks show up in the refrigerator in the barn.

Sometimes lunch shows up at just the right time, like when they are moving from one field to the next or waiting to get the planter filled or a wagon dumped.

Mysteriously, drinks appear regularly too. Steaming hot coffee starts out the cool mornings. On hot, sweltering days, ice cold water is always at hand and bottles of Gatorade show up as the day wears on. Then, at just the right time, the beer elves show up with the cold brew.

Somehow, these elves make their way to the house and have something hot waiting at the end of a very long day when the farmer finally calls it and drags himself into the house. Usually, farmers have no recollection of what they ate at the end of each day, they just know that it was something substantial before they shower and fall into bed, only to repeat the same process the next day.

 

ELVES TAKE CARE OF THE MUNDANE. Farmers’ main focus is either to get the seed in the ground or get the crop out of the field and into the bin or loaded out on the semi. Both of these tasks are pretty much on a hurry up and wait schedule. When the weather is right, it is time to get it done. The elves are there to make this process go as smooth as possible.

 

For example, in the spring, when a farmer needs to refill the planter, bags of seed are opened and ready to be dumped in the seed boxes whenever he needs refilled. And, the elves are such smart little devils, there are usually just the right amount of bags waiting and ready to go…how do those they do that!

If the farmer is using bulk seed, the seed wagon shows up at just the right spot (hopefully) every time he needs to fill up. Believe me, this is no small feat, it takes ingenuity on the part of the elf to read the farmer’s mind and to be where he is supposed to be when he is supposed to be there.

Just as important, what about all those empty seed bags. They magically get burned in the field, never to be dealt with again.

 

Elves make sure that any incidental supplies are at hand also. When the last of the graphite is used on a fill up, a couple of new bottles appear the next time around. Any tools not in the toolbox on the tractor magically appear when needed. Marker flags show up when the farmer switches from one type of seed to another.

 

In the fall during harvest, wagons and grain carts strategically show up right where and when the farmer needs to dump… well, most of the time…or at least some of the time it works like this! Although hard to imagine, farmers are sometimes known to change their mind or the whole game plan in the blink of an eye! Imagine that!

At the end of the day, which is usually edging toward midnight, incidental things used during the day are put away, barn doors are opened so machinery can be pulled in and lights are turned on.

 

MUNDANE CHORES STILL GET DONE. Usually, after a long day in the field, a farmer’s clothes can almost stand by themselves, held up with a good dousing of dust, grease, oil and who-knows what else. Again, magically, clean ones always appear the next morning.

The same goes for paperwork. Credit card companies, utility companies and even farm suppliers don’t seem to understand that farmers just don’t give these things a moment’s attention during planting and harvest. The companies just keep sending the bills anyway. I guess that they know that the little elves will take care of these things too.

The elves skip out occasionally, between tasks, to take of other little things around the farm. After all, even though it is secondary, the garden usually always needs to be planted the same time as crops. Somehow, this gets accomplished. The same goes for fall when the last of the garden produce is ready for harvest and preserving. Yep, in between hauling loads of grain from the field, the elves also button up the garden for winter.

Unless it is an unusual year, guys are still in the fields over Memorial Day, but the elves make sure that cemeteries get visited and loved ones’ graves don’t go unattended.

 

These elves truly are enchanting, only showing up when needed. Spring and fall, they are here for sure and off and on throughout the summer and are almost never seen during winter. The other magical part about them is that they and their deeds are hardly ever noticed. However, it’s when things aren’t going smoothly and things don’t get done that they are missed.

 

These little guys make farmers’ lives a lot less hectic and help their days to go a little smoother. In some ways, their tasks are just as important to getting the crop in and out as the guys that are in the field. By the way, these elves are sometimes known by other names such as farmers’ wives!