Being a long time farm wife, I’ve learned to recognize signs or signals given by my farmer as to what he really is feeling or wanting. The minute he walks through the door and asks if I have time to make a quick trip to town, I know he is in need of something that will require me to either go gather a machinery part, go to the vets to pick up some medicine for the pigs, or to pay a bill he forgot about. If he begins to talk about his parents and if we’d heard from them lately, I realize it’s time for me to have them over for a family dinner soon.

When he hears thunder off in the distance, and...