A Few Lessons Learned on the Farm

I was born and raised on a farm.

Actually, that’s not quite true, I was born in a hospital but I was raised on a farm and I consider myself a farm girl at heart.  Together my parents owned a dairy farm and it’s still in the family, then my mom and us kids had a hobby farm where we had milking goats, pigs, horses, chickens, ducks, cats, dogs and even a pet baby skunk…but that didn’t last long and is a whole other story.  And wouldn’t you know it I also happened to marry a farmer…well, the kind of farmer who doesn’t like to get his hands too dirty…but I’m still ‘hog wild’ about him!

I love farming and everything about it and I realize that spending time on a farm can provide the perfect opportunity to teach a few important lessons…such as…

where food comes from

Yes, we often go to the grocery store to buy our food but food is produced on the farm before it finds it’s way to the store, our kitchens, our plates at the dinner table and eventually our mouths.

farming is hard work…but also very rewarding

We think farming is fun but it is a whole lot of work too.  Farming is a 24/7 job…a lifestyle.  A farmer needs to be ready to go when farming duties call.  It is true that agriculture technologies can alleviate some of the work but it still requires a lot of blood, sweat, tears and time to run a farm.  Understanding this helps us to appreciate farmers.  As they say…farming is our bread and butter.

farmers are great stewards & they care for creation

Farmers are all about caring for their land, animals and natural resources.  They need these elements to make a living so they do their best to take care of them.  The better they care of this earth the better things will go with farming. If they mistreat their animals, the animal performance will decrease, if they don’t take care of their land, crops wont grow well, if they waste or contaminate the water they wont have good water to use.  It’s important for farmers to take care of the earth…we should too!

 life, death & the facts of life

Farming provides a great education in the facts of life, from beginning to end.  On the farm we can learn about conception, witness the birth, watch the growth, nurse the ill and sometimes say goodbye at the end.  These topics are not always easy to navigate with kids but they are important to grasp and farming can provide these important life lessons.

So why not visit a local farm…you might learn a thing or two!