Mother’s Day is this Sunday
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
With Mother’s Day approaching on Sunday (don’t forget!), Farms.com reached out to women in the U.S. ag community to find out the best parts about either being a farm mom or growing up with one.
Val Plagge and her husband Ian raise their four children, Klayton, Audrey, Lauren and Reagan on the family’s cash crop and hog operation in Latimer, Iowa.
Val Plagge and her kids Audrey, Reagan, Lauren and Klayton/Submitted photo
Being a farm mom allows Plagge to watch her kids grow up in a unique environment.
“The best thing about being a farm mom is being able to raise my children in wide open spaces where they get to help my husband and I farm every day,” she told Farms.com. “There aren’t too many kids who get that kind of hands-on experience as part of their childhood.”
Plagge also grew up as a farm kid on her family’s fifth-generation hog farm.
She recalls spending time with her mom Beverly in the barn as a young girl.
“I remember helping in the nursery when new pigs arrived and helping with all the handling and care of new piglets,” she said.
Belinda Burrier, a cash crop producer from Union Bridge, Md., is a farm mom and farm grandma. Between her and her husband, Dave, they have two daughters and four grandchildren.
Raising and caring for kids on the farm teaches them the value of hard work, she said.
“You get to watch them learn about the gratification and disappointments of what comes with farm life,” she told Farms.com. “There’s no better place to learn about highs and lows than on a farm.”
This Mother’s Day comes at an interesting time.
With COVID-19 affecting several aspects of everyday life and more families at home, households may be a little hectic.
All moms should remember that no matter what, their children think highly of them, Plagge said.
“Embrace what you have in these crazy times and give yourself some grace,” she said. “In the end, your kids think you’re the world’s greatest mom no matter what. When I first became a mom, I got the advice that kids only need to be loved, fed and kept warm, and everything else is extra. I always think about that.”