If your vision of a farmer comes from what you’ve seen in movies and television, that’s not who I am. I’ll bet that’s true for a lot farmers because there are many types of farmers with various backgrounds, but I thought I would make a list of things farm-like that I either have not or don’t plan to do.
English: This is one of the digitized images of the original painting American Gothic that Grant DeVolson Wood, a master artist of the twentieth century, created in 1930 and sold to the Art Institute of Chicago in November of the same year. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I never took an ag class in high school
I was never in FFA
I quit 4-H after two years, and when I was in it I built models and did photography
I’ve never been on a soil judging team
I don’t listen to country music
I could never pull off wearing cowboy boots
I don’t own any large belt buckles
I don’t wear overalls or flannel shirts
I don’t hunt or fish
I don’t like going farm auctions just for the sake of going, unless I know I want to buy something
I don’t live on the farm (in the country but in a small neighborhood)
*Update! We have now built our forever home which is on the farm. Love seeing my own field through my windows.
And finally, I’ve ridden a horse once and that was on a beach in Mexico
Somehow, despite all this, I’m still a farmer and glad to be one. I kind of wish I’d been on a soil judging team because it’s pretty interesting, but I can tell you what cation exchange capacity is anyway.
I must say Brian, that after reading your list, the one I find most disturbing is not wearing cowboy boots. I personally have 4 pair, so maybe that makes up for your shortfall. Now all joking aside, I do not like labels and stereotypes whether it is in farming or any other area. So I thank you for your blog and pointing out that we are all different but with one common link… our love of the land and the gift of watching things grow.
Well. I’m not a rancher.
One of favorite activities on the farm growing up was flying model rockets. Found a few lost rockets later in hay bales and in corn stubble after harvest. No country music for me either. All Rush, Cars, Beatles, Boston, Van Halen and even Talking Heads on the tractor.
But I did do FFA and many years of 4-H (model rockets of course)
Funny, that list could almost fit me too. I will go deer hunting and I was in 4-H all through my youth…only difference.