I am very proud of my small town roots. I know that growing up on a farm has affected who I am. I also know that not everyone else has had this same opportunity. But, everyone I knew in high school has at least some connection to a farm, so I didn't think much about it. It's safe to say I wasn't totally prepared to learn just how different growing up in a city was when I got to college. I found my friends' sleeping schedules strange, and they thought mine was downright crazy. I began noticing differences in how we thought about things. It finally dawned on me that not everyone knows what farming life is like. It has taught me so many things about life, and it makes me sad to think not everyone could have experienced these things for themselves. These are some of the most important things my farming childhood has taught me.
1. 8:00 a.m. is sleeping in
Especially in the summer, you were lucky to sleep until 8 a.m. on a weekday. With our Midwest humidity, it was often more desirable to wake up at dawn to begin the day's outdoor jobs. Then, when the hottest part of the day rolled around, we could retreat back into the air conditioning, knowing our work was done. Other times there was too much left to do to take the afternoon off. I always think of straw baling when I think of this lesson. We would bale all afternoon to fill as many wagons as we could. Then we would get up early the next morning to unload so that we would have enough wagons to bale all afternoon again. Work schedules like this really let you appreciate sleeping in, even if it is only until 8 a.m.
2. Life revolves around farm work
Planting, haying, harvest. My life growing up has always been affected by what needed to be done on the farm. We took vacations at the beginning of July because it was after the crops got too tall to pick rock and right before oats would be ready for harvesting. This kind of schedule comes with a lot of give and take. Right when school got out was when rock picking began. This meant that for the month of June, every nice day was spent in the field instead of with friends. It's an important lesson for a kid to learn that work came before play, and sometimes you had to do what you didn't want to do.
3. You learned how to drive a stick long before you could legally drive a car
As a member of a farming community, I want to remind you to watch for tractors and be patient when passing them on the highway. Oh, and don't freak out if when you do pass them you discover an eight-year-old boy at the wheel. Many my age have been driving for ten years or more, and they're not even twenty. When the weather gets nice, it's all hands on deck. Sometimes that means telling your elementary kid to climb up in the tractor and haul two wagons full of grain a few miles down the highway to the grain bins on the farm. Personally, I was eight or nine when I started learning how to drive a tractor in a field, and probably ten or eleven before I drove one on the road. While I may not be the best at it, I know there are young kids out there who can drive a tractor better than some adults can drive a car.
4. A farmer's tan is something to be proud of
After that first warm weekend in April, you could guarantee all of the farm kids would be showing up to school on Monday with a farmer's tan. It is a way to tell what they did all weekend. Whoever helps on their farm the most, has the darkest tan lines. Yes, kids did compare tans in the hallways. But what else are we suppose to do in our small towns?
5. The work isn't done until the work is done
This is another tough lesson to learn growing up. This isn't some desk job where you can put off what you don't finish until the next day. The next day it might be raining. That means sometimes you have to stay up all night trying to finish harvesting that field. Or you might not get a Sunday off because all of the corn should have been planted yesterday. Farmers run on a 24/7 schedule. But hey, the pigs have to eat too. You just have to push through and do what needs to be done, otherwise it will all be for nothing in the end.
6. You are your own boss
As a farmer, you are your own boss. So, only person in charge of making sure everything gets done is you. Farmers don't have a scheduled 8 a.m. start time forcing them to get up in the morning. Heck, if they wanted to they could sleep all day. But, they do have hungry animals that need to be fed and fields that need to be tended. So, if they want to get everything done, they're going to have to get up. I have learned so much about perseverance and determination from watching the farmers in my life. No one is forcing them to do anything, yet they truck on with an iron-will to do things long after I would have given up.
7. Family is everything
Finally, one of the most important things you learn growing up on a farm. Farming is a team effort. Without working together with your family, you would never be able to get everything done. We lean on each other because we have to. Farming is like the glue that holds my family together. We may go off and do things on our own, but when there's work to be done we all pull together to finish it. It's a never ending cycle to provide food to the world, but it's one I'm very proud my family is apart of.
