After my column in November’s
issue (“Farm writer realizes there is more to the story”),
I had the opportunity to speak to quite a few people who wanted to
share their stories with me. From people who were able to enjoy growing
up on a farm, to people who visited their neighbors’ farms,
to people who have no farming experience but shared with me how much
they appreciated their own parents, I heard numerous stories. Some
of them were funny stories that related day-to-day mishaps on the
farm. While others, in their entirety, were touching stories of childhood
experiences and grown-up reflection. Some even brought me to tears.
Joan Donaldson wrote to me that “the discoveries you made (in
the column) are the ones that I have learned over the past 28 years
of life wedded to a fruit farmer.” Donaldson’s grandfather
and uncle were also fruit growers.
“Farming is an act of faith...that God will provide the correct
weather and insights into the daily challenge that farmers face,”
Donaldson continued. “We work in hope, that even if this year
is not all that we expected, well, next year will be better. I often
think of Almanzo Wilder in the end of ‘The First Four Years,’
as he whistled...‘There's gold in these hills...’ and
then the words go on to praise the farmer's life. There is gold, but
it comes more from the joy of nurturing plants, relationships with
buyers and the pleasure of finding solutions to challenges. I'm sure
there are days when all farmers want to throw in the towel, but we
never do, because after all, ‘next year will be a better’
year.”
I also spoke with Carol Bennett who now works as a horticulture agent
at the St. John’s Extension office at the University of Florida.
Carol’s good friend when she was growing up lived on a dairy
farm. Every time Bennett wanted to spend the night at her friend’s
house, her friend’s father had her work on the farm –
up before the sun, milking the cows.
“It was a really great experience. It’s kind of shaped
me who I am today. They kind of became my second family,” Bennett
said. (We had a lot of second-family kids at our house, too.)
“For being a girl that did not grow up on a farm, going there
and spending so much time on the farm, it was great to see what a
close family they were. You have to be a close family to work together
like that, she said.
“Farming is a dying occupation,” Bennett said. “I
loved all the aspects, it taught me a lot of responsibility and what
it meant to be a family. It gave me some roots, and it is partially
why I went into horticulture.”
I am grateful that people felt that they could open up to me and share
what they were feeling. I want to thank everyone who took the opportunity
to share their story with me – it really was a learning experience,
and I’d love to hear more.
