Home cooked meals are few and far between, given up for sandwiches and fast food. The yard isn't mowed, the cows are ignored and the pets seem very lonely.

Yes, it's harvest time at the Gorrell house. That dysfunctional time of

year where our whole life centers on one task and one task only: getting the crop out of the field and into a bin somewhere as fast as we can.

When we first were married, I didn't help in harvest, had no children, and remember it as a very lonely time. I learned a few things those first few years though.

First and this is very important, no new spicy recipes should be prepared for a farmer who doesn't come in to eat until 11 p.m. and hopes for about five hours sleep before getting up to do it all again. The indigestion meant he got about 2 hours total. (Okay, so the dog wouldn't even eat that recipe!)

The second thing I learned about harvest is that it's not the time to

discuss any major issues, like knocking out walls and redoing your whole house so you'll have room for children. It seemed like a perfect time to me, after all income was finally coming in. I won't go into details, but trust me, to a 22-year old in his first full-time harvest, it was not a good time.

Of course that "income" we were getting, leads me to the third thing I

learned. The money is just ours to look at for a few days, certainly not

ours to keep. Come January and sometimes, even December, the bills for next year's crop start piling in and -- it never ceases to amaze me -- the bills are usually the same amount as the crops we just sold! Add in seed salesmen, taxes, equipment and land costs and well … so much for redoing the house!

The fourth thing I learned is harvest is not the time to plan a party, a

wedding, a doctor's appointment, a haircut, an emergency appendectomy, a baby or anything else for that matter.

Nothing stands in the way of harvest, nothing!!

Now it's 24 years later and I've no doubt learned a lot -- and a lot has

changed. I'm no longer lonely because I'm in the field too, taking trucks to the elevator and talking to my trucker "buddies"!

I managed to fix the new recipe in harvest problem; we survive on tried and true crock pot recipes, sandwiches and fast food.

I still spend time fantasizing about fixing up the house during the winter, but I'm now smart enough or maybe just tired enough, not to share those thoughts.

In some areas though, I am still a slow learner, I still make the mistake

of making appointments during harvest, somehow hoping that will be the day it rains. (Hey, I really don't like having "harvest hair" that sticks up everywhere!)

And of course 20 years ago we had our first child on Sept. 15, and each

year as I plan a birthday party and make a cake in the wee hours I wonder how that happened. (I'm not going into details about that either!)

Now of course the whole family helps with harvest (we love weekends), and they all look forward to it. Everyone except me, that is.

Late one night last week, when hubby and I stepped into that compost pile we still lovingly call a kitchen, I wondered where and when I'd start to clean.

My husband broke into my thoughts. "You know what we need? We need a wife!"

Great idea! Now, just how do you word that in a want ad?