Harvesting Happiness

“My wife (Suzanne) grew up on a grain and cattle farm north of Edmonton, Alberta.  After graduating high school, she obtained her diploma in Agricultural Marketing and is currently employed as a Sales and Marketing Representative.  She also helps on her family farm during calving, seeding and harvest time.

I grew up on a grain farm west of Swift Current, Saskatchewan.  After graduating high school.  I obtained my degree in Agronomy and Agribusiness and then went on to complete a Masters in Plant Sciences.  I am currently employed as a Field Biologist and I also farm with my brother and parents on our family farm.

My wife and I had been using other online dating websites and it wasn’t until we used your dating website that we found our soul mate in each other.  We had our struggles in finding someone who not only grew up and had similar life values but also someone who had the same passion for agriculture and wanted to make a life farming.  Finding someone who you connect with is enough of a struggle but finding someone who also understands and enjoys the seasonality of farming and agriculture felt almost impossible.  That is the main reason we both signed up at FarmersOnly.

We met each other on your website in 2018 and messaged back and forth for about a month and then met in person for the first time at an agriculture event ‘AgriTrade’ in Red Deer, Alberta.  I am not sure if that was our first official date but our next meeting was to go out for lunch.  Suzie drove down to Strathmore and we met at a restaurant.  We stayed at the restaurant from 11:00am until 8:00pm, just sitting in the booth and talking.

We got engaged in December of 2019 and were married in August 2020 at her parents’ farm.  We had the ceremony outside in their back yard and then had the reception at the local community hall.  We invited approximately 90 of our family and closest friends to the wedding.  The weather that day turned out to be perfect for an outdoor wedding and looking back now, both Suzie and I say that we wouldn’t have changed anything about the wedding at all, even with all of the COVID restrictions that had to be put in place.

Suzie said that she knew I was the one after our first meeting.  We had been messaging back and forth for about 2 months prior to our first meeting and she said that she knew right away.  She always tells me that it wasn’t until she met me that she really knew what true love was and that she now looks back and knows she never really loved any of her other boyfriends.

I had been married once before when I was younger and it took me a bit longer to know Suzie was the one.  I have 2 daughters with my former wife and I have shared parenting of them so I was fairly cautious about introducing anyone to my girls without knowing for sure she was the one.  It wasn’t until we had been dating for about 4 months where we were sitting and sharing and learning about each other’s pasts and it was in that moment that I knew Suzie was the one and introduced her to my girls.  After I introduced her to my daughters (who are now 4 and 7) and seeing how she was with them, there has never been a doubt in my mind since.

My two favorite things about Suzie are that she loves me unconditionally and that no matter what happens in my life, she is always there to help brighten my day and help me see how blessed I am in my life as opposed to allowing me to focus on all of the problems that I have.  I asked Suzie what her favorite thing about me was and here is what she said:  ‘Josh has the best heart and is the most genuine and caring person in the world.  He always is thinking of others and tries to see the best in people.  I love that we can talk openly about our faith together and that we not only have a strong physical connection but also have a strong emotional and spiritual connection as well.  Also, Josh is the funniest person in the world and doesn’t take himself too seriously.’

I would tell anyone hesitant to sign up for Farmers Only to:

Not be worried about what anyone will think about using online dating as it is an amazing platform to help find someone who you can really connect with more than just simply because you happen to be living in the same area.  Suzie and I were living two and a half hours apart and without using an online platform, I don’t know how else we would have met or what the chances would have been that we would have randomly met at a bar or the other typical places you go to meet single people.

Be okay with who you are and don’t be scared to go after what you want.  I was a grain farmer who wanted to find someone who also enjoys farming and wanted to make a living farming.  Sometimes being a farmer is not always seen as being sexy or desirable like a Doctor or a Lawyer.  When I first started dating after my divorce, I was a little hesitant to make it widely known I was a farmer and looking for someone also like that.  But after I got over that and stopped worrying about that, I am glad I did because I went after what I wanted in someone and now, I am living what I call my dream.  I have found someone who shares my passion for agriculture and we are now planning the rest of our lives to farm together in Saskatchewan.”

- Joshua