The Woman On The Land

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28701, 26 September 1958, Page 16 (Supplement)

The Woman On The Land

By

Mrs M. D. FRIZZELL

Our contributor, Mrs M D. Frizzell, was brought up on a farm, married a farmer and her daughter, too, is a farmer’s wife. She has lived all her life in North Canterbury and was a student at Canterbury University College and taught at the Rangiora High School before her marriage. Her husband and one of her four sons farm a 200 acre mixed property at Springbank, near West Eyreton.

Although Mrs Frizzell’s main interest is the land she is an enthusiastic supporter of countrywomen’s organisations. She is the S resident of the Oust-West Eyreton ranch of the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers and a former president of the Canterbury North provincial executive, of which she is at present vice-president.

' ■ 'he life of women on the land has always been A interesting, lived as it is close to the reality of nature, but it is only of late years in New Zealand that we have overcome the loneliness, and the lack of cultural advantages and opportunities for mental growth.

I have the happiest memories of running wild when I was a girl, in the sheer joy of the open air, as I roamed over farm and river-bed; but for my mother the only contact with other women was when she harnessed the horse and drove with her small children to visit a neighbour, or shop in the little country store several miles away.

Perhaps twice a year we made the difficult trip to the city, but papers and books were almost our only link with the outside world. We certainly learned independence, but to a house-bound woman it was a narrow life.

But what of the farm women of today, now tfyat motor-cars, radios, and telephones have • made possible such great changes? Come with me to a little country school where, after lessons are over, a few country women gather, sometimes fording creeks which are “up,” to enjoy the companionship of other women, learn handcrafts or the practice of drama, or more about the world, or join in help to the community or those in need elsewhere. A friendly welcome awaits us, and we seem the only ones not busy, as tables are arranged, flowers, handcraft and cakes staged to be judged, and the big black kettle set on the blazing fire. We admire the baskets, made, we are told from Adult Education lessons. Then small children join the bigger ones playing outside, and the meeting begins. It is both cheerful and orderly, with the friendliness of the country. There is a real interest in the talk on the work of the Associated Countrywomen of the World, and how our own organisation in New Zealand can help in trying to solve world problems. Gifts Overseas We all agree, however, that the practical expressions of goodwill shown by the gay jumper and skirt ready to be sent to the sponsored child overseas is the best contribution we can make. This is one of the groups of country women, either country women’s institutes or branches of the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers, to be found in every country district, which have been a most important factor in the development of a wider life of country women. They are the channel through which we can express our views, either to Parliament or to the community, and through which we can work for the betterment of country life. With underlying serious ideals, they are also meant to provide relaxation, and we all enjoy the half-hour of fun, to say nothing of the sampling of afternoon tea dainties, and exchange of recipes. We do not linger too long, for we all have our home duties, some of us small children, and poultry, cows, or other farm chores, and though husbands are sympathtic and co-operative, we

must not strain their patience too far.

I It seems to me that a false i glamour often surrounds these farm chores in the minds of city idwellers, who are apt to picture the farm woman, picturesquely attired of course, riding round the sheep with a crowd of dogs. She is far more likely to be wearing gumboots and feeding a messy calf, or making that hurried trip to town for repairs to some farm, machinery. Nor is mere much glamour in finding that the cows have just broken into the garden, and cleaned up your promising row of lettuces. Yet it is a happy life, enriched with the beauty of

sky and trees and bird-song, and the freedom of the open spaces.

Most of us feel that we are lucky women, even when sheep die mysteriously, and a fall in the price of wool destroys our plans for new curtains and chair covers! We are eager to help wherever w r e can with farm work, for it is not just our husband’s business. but “our farm.”

Fortunately, modern improvements •'have made all farm work easier.

A storm in lambing time used to turn my - kitchen into a lamb nursery, but now the electric lamp and cosy box in the shed do the job more efficiently, though I still maintain that no man can equal a woman in feeding a collapsed newborn lamb. There are changes indoors, too, and most homes are now

equipped with labour-savers, and housewives with the Knowledge of saving time and energy. There are still too many farrrihouses of the old type, where modern methods outdoors co-exist with old and awkward equipment and no conveniences indoors, but they become steadily fewer. One wonders what the result of this labour-saving may be in the future. In part it merely compensates for the difficulty of obtaining help in the country home, but most of us do not have to spend so much time on household tasks.

farm life, and especially in the life of the farm women, changes and possibilities which we have, not yet thoroughly grasped and utilised, to say nothing of changes which we can only dimly foresee; but whatever changes come, I do not believe that farm women will ever lead a life identical with that of the city, for the land will ever remain the basis of all farm life.

I see the farm woman of the future using her time saved from housework for greater participation in the work of the farm and of the community. Already our countrywomen’s organisations have shown that they can train our women, not only to speak well in public, but to understand public afiairs and to excel in organisation. It is true that few active farm women could, or would, disregard home ties to the extent required by Parliament, but there is much work nearer home.

This has already been reflected in the wave of popularity enjoyed by such games as bowls. Then there are clubs, garden clubs or sports clubs, for our leisure hours. Indeed, so has been the growth of organisations, that we tend to have no free leisure

In the country tradition, we have often tried to belong 1 to every possible club and organisation in the district, with the added responsibility of helping nur young people with theirs Children and home are still the chief interest of our young mothers, yet with them, too, the interest is widening to include child welfare in general. I have seen a great change in

For home will always be the centre of our life; On the land, as in the city, that is our true sphere.

In whatever direction the- farm woman of the future moves, I am sure she will remain, as she is now, at the centre of the farm home, anchored to the land.