We interrupt your regular programming for this very important message…..

If you are in the agriculture industry, or are from a small town, this will be nothing new. But for those of you that aren’t, I feel I need to explain just how much rural life revolves around community and volunteering.

In the small towns that farmers often call their ‘homes’ people have a large sense of pride in their surroundings. Many places have skating rinks, community halls, or curling rinks that were built with the blood, sweat and tears of friends and family a generation ago. It sometimes doesn’t even matter if there is running water! If your parents or grandparents spent 10 years fundraising and helping to build that certain hall, then you are going to be proud of it and use it. Truth be known, a good portion of our towns are built on the backs of those giving of their own time, energy and money. We would not be able to enjoy what we have today without the sacrifice and hard work of those who came before us.

The tradition continues today with farm wives often using the flexibility of their seasonal schedules to help with various volunteering jobs or fundraising committees. Likewise, you will often find the farm men on fair boards, volunteering farm equipment to help build new playgrounds or things like demo derby tracks. Nothing happens in a small town without volunteers. From the local dance executive to the managers of the local hockey teams. Everyone puts in their time somewhere. When they have the time, farmers enjoy helping out right alongside their non farming friends.

This farm wife is no different than the rest and I have found myself in the middle of a fundraiser for our recreation center this winter. Contrary to how this post may come across, I am not writing this to sing my own praises (because a sad song it would be) but rather as a warning to my agriculture friends. Things are slow on the farm and my blogging is taking a different turn for the next month. I will be posting a series of stories outlining the history of hockey in my small little town of Wadena. I understand if you want to steer clear until February when my blog is back on topic, but I hope you will follow along, because it is turning out to be an interesting tale!

So here is to all those who came before me and made it possible for my children to grow up in a place that has a state of the art curling rink, new town hall, a great recreation center, a swimming pool, two new or fully renovated schools, a track field, new play ground, shale ball diamonds, along with many other things. Thank you for your hard work.