PENZANCE, Sask. – Wanda Erlandson dons rubber boots to wade into what is familiar territory for many Saskatchewan farmers this spring.
Almost knee deep ponds separate her house from the grain bins and grid road and conceal wires on cattle fences.
“It’s the wettest I’ve seen it in my 40 odd years of farming,” her husband, Carl Erlandson, said about the standing water on his land and throughout the Rural Municipality of Sarnia, where he serves as a councillor.
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Steady rain last year and heavy snowfall through a long winter resulted in significant spring runoff, hillside erosion, plugged culverts and washed-out roads in the RM, which was declared a disaster area this spring.
Carl was unable to seed 800 acres last year and he isn’t sure it will be much different this year.
“That’s a big cut in income,” said Wanda, who also manages the Craik golf clubhouse in summer and works at a convenience store in Chamberlain, Sask., in winter.
As well, she sits on a co-op board and administers small business loans for the provincial ministry of enterprise and innovation.
Carl runs a towing company and has the lease for the Canadian Automobile Association’s emergency road service, so is often called away from the farm.
“I have understanding cattle. They may not all get fed at the same time,” he said.
Carl added the role of councillor a decade ago. He enjoys the camaraderie at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities conventions and the current harmonious relationship between it and the Saskatchewan government.
“I enjoy making decisions and it’s satisfying if you think you’ve made the right ones,” he said.
The RM is a mixed farming area with a high number of non-resident ratepayers, mainly older landowners renting to others.
“You have to weigh a lot of things when dealing with other people’s money. It’s challenging to say the least,” he said.
Wanda said hard work and diligence have paid off for them in farming and allowed them to ride out the highs and lows.
“When something needs to be done, I do it,” she said.
Erlandsons have farmed here for more than a century, moving north from Minnesota to seek their fortunes, said Carl.
“But I’m still here and I haven’t made a fortune,” he said.
Today, the farm includes 10 quarters in addition to the eight that they rent to raise 50 head of cattle and grow crops as varied as lentils, canola and wheat.
“I’ve pretty much tried everything,” he said.
Carl and Wanda get help from their son, Michael, 24, and occasionally from neighbours. Their daughter, Ashlyn, 21, works in radio broadcasting.
Diversification has been their salvation through dry years, high interest rates in the 1980s and BSE more recently.
“If you don’t have that balance, you spend more years getting it back than if you only had the one,” said Carl.
The Erlandsons both enjoy the lifestyle and couldn’t see themselves anywhere else.
“For me to live in town would probably drive me insane,” said Wanda.
“It’s like a habit after a while,” she said of farming.
Carl hopes to be able to drop a job by age 65, but otherwise sees few changes on this spring’s watery horizon.
“It’s not just like quitting a job. My grandfathers lived through hard times before me and they didn’t pack it in,” he said.
