Best Crop I Ever Raised {Women’s History}
Written by Susan Anglin of Spotted Cow Review.

As I work everyday on our dairy farm, I think a lot about the phrase my mother-in-law, Bonnah Lyn, used to say when introducing us to friends or acquaintances—“This is my family—the best crop I ever raised!” Born in 1925 in the rural Arkansas community of Vaughn, Bonnah Lyn was not only the daughter of a farmer, a farm wife and a mother—she was a farmer.

Bonnah Lyn was the second generation to live and work on the farm with her parents. Like most Northwest Arkansas farms in the late 1920’s, Bonnah Lyn’s family milked a few dairy cows by hand, raised chickens, pigs, beef cows and apples. All farm work was by manual labor and without the benefit of electricity or running water. Home chores were added to the list of daily farm work such as gathering wood for the wood burning cook stove and carrying water from the spring or well for drinking, cooking, bathing and laundry. Trips to town to deliver apples or other farm products were made with horse and buggy. I can only imagine the excitement when electricity brought conveniences to her generation that today we take for granted! When I think about the transitions and hardships in her life time, I realize how spoiled I am with all of our modern conveniences. She lived the motto of the Great Depression to “Repair, reuse, make do and don’t throw away anything.”

As a seasoned farm wife with twenty seven years married to the dairy farmer, I have a great appreciation for the sacrifices Bonnah Lyn and other farm women have made in their lifetimes on the farm for the next generation of family farmers. Ninety eight percent of all American farms are family farms. With only two percent of the population working to produce the safe food that we enjoy as Americans, it is important to encourage our families to continue the farm family tradition.

Although our family farm has changed in how it looks and the technologies that are used, our commitment to produce safe, high quality milk while caring for the land and animals continues just as in previous generations. I, too, find myself proudly saying with real understanding about raising the fourth generation of family farmers, “This is my family—the best crop I ever raised!”

Susan Anglin , born and raised as a city girl in Bentonville, now lives on a Benton County dairy and beef farm with her husband,two son and lots of cows. Susan loves sharing about life on  the farm and how they produce safe food. You can read more about her on her blog Spotted Cow Review.