As you recall, last week Luke and I took a little date night to see the documentary "Farmland." The documentary filled me with a sense of pride, ownership, and love that I had not felt for our farm in a long time. Why did it take a documentary about people I do not know to restore those feelings in me? Why did I lose my pride in the farm? How did this come about?
I believe the reason this all occurred was because of loneliness. Farming requires countless hours spent in the fields, in the greenhouses, in the wash shack. Luke works incredible hours. It means, for the greater part of our marriage, I have spent a lot of time alone. In the past, I would join Luke in the fields - bring him a beer and chat as the sun set around us. During the school year, I was surrounded in my own immense workload, and so times when I had to pick peppers until sunset were frustrating, but also meant time together. I could be in the fields with Luke, or chat in the basement while he watered sprouts; it wasn't as lonely, it didn't seem so separated.
The factor that changed this year was Henry. Henry is my world, he is everything. He is my greatest blessing, my heart completed. But as far as parenting the first year, there is not a lot of give and take. Rather, it is one great give-a-thon. And I love it. But, it has caused me to be a lot more home-bound than I ever have been before. I am a social butterfly - I love to be with other people, I like to conversate and share. For me, to be tied to my home, has been difficult. This, combined with one of the worst winters, followed by one of the worst springs that I can recall, has meant that I spend a great amount of time inside with Henry, while Luke works outside. I have great conversations with Henry, but they are pretty one sided. And so I have become lonely - lonely and longing for more quality time with Luke. And this loneliness has caused me to hold a grudge against the farm. But I cannot continue having that sentiment, because our farm is truly something to treasure and love.
Farmland helped remind me that I need to take pride in our life. I wrote in my last post about the beauty of the farm, how wonderful of a place it will be to raise our children. Another great principal that "Farmland" reminded me of was tradition. That farms carry with them a great deal of familial tradition. I was reminded of that great essence of tradition today on our farm.
Luke started the produce portion of our farm, but Luke's father and grandfather started a Christmas tree farm many years ago. A farm that has provided thousands of children with smiles as they have awoken to their presents appear on Christmas morning. A farm that has allowed hundreds of families to continue their holiday tradition.
Christmas tree farms are a lot of work. The work varies throughout the year: grinding stumps in the spring, planting new seedlings, fertilizing, picking pine cones, shearing trees, and finally, preparing to give the trees their home for the holiday. Today, I was reminded of the great familial tradition of farms. Today, Luke's grandfather, grandmother, father, and Luke planted the seedlings that in 6-8 years will be lit up with both lights and with smiles on Christmas morning. Luke's mom was watching Henry while I worked, so we both arrived to the farm after the planting was already done. But, then the greatest part of the tradition occurred.
Luke's grandparents, parents, Luke and I gathered in the front yard of his grandparents. We sat on the chairs, watching the cars driving bar. We talked casually, we reflected on our days. Old-fashioneds or beers in our hands, we sat; men to the left and women on the right. Tobshu panting eagerly, playing more fetch than he had in months. And, this year, our greatest new addition - Henry, crawling on the ground, walking along the wagon, showing off his near-readiness to take his own first steps without anyone or anything helping. I sat there, listening to and partaking in the conversation, but also thinking about what a great tradition we have on our farm. A tradition that we get to share with each other, a tradition that we get to share with Henry. Farms are a beautiful place to raise a family, they are also rooted in beautiful tradition. And for that, I am also grateful.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Friday, May 2, 2014
Farmland, Part 1
I fell in love last night. With what, you might ask?
Luke and I had a date night. The fact that we went on a date during the spring is surprising - the fact that it was on a weeknight was even more surprising. What could pull Luke away from the farm you might ask? Earlier in the week I saw an ad that a documentary entitled "Farmland" would be playing for one night only at the movie theater. It seemed like something Luke would like, so I watched the trailer. The trailer made the documentary look awesome, so I asked Luke to go with me. (View the Trailer here: http://www.farmlandfilm.com/#trailer).
As Luke and I drove to the movie theater, it was quite obvious we were cutting in close on time. Running late, as usual. Why do farmers always run late???
I said to Luke "Well, there will probably be a lot of farmers in the audience. They might as well start the movie 5 minutes late so that everyone will technically be on time." Luke chuckled, and agreed. He told me that by always running late, he was adding years to my life. I disagreed, saying the stress of perpetually running late was taking years off my life. His argument was that knowing that no matter what, we will be late, means I never have to stress about being on time. Faulty logic, but I suppose I would stress less if I didn't hold myself to the notion that being on time is incredibly important. Or, I could just do what I do now, and blame Luke!
The documentary was excellent. The film acknowledges that farming is a relatively old profession, but yet that we need young people to return to farming to keep the farming tradition alive. The movie celebrates the work, the lives, of 6 young farmers. One thing I loved about it is that it didn't bash any type of farming. So many farming movies these days ("Food, Inc." for example) promote one side of agriculture while bashing the other. I loved that "Farmland" celebrated all types of farmers: the small-scale CSA farmer, the large- scale organic farmer, the cattle rancher, the pig farmer, the chicken farmer, the GMO cash crop farmer. It didn't push judgment against any one type. The farmers in the video even said while they prefer their own method of farming, their job is not to bash other farmers. I very much respect that and appreciated that about this documentary.
So, why did I fall in love last night? Because the video filled me with a lot of pride for the farm, pride and love that I haven't had in awhile. I have been very apathetic toward the farm in the past year. I did a lot of reflecting on that during and after the video. I could write a short novel on it - so I will spread out my digestion, and my overcoming, of my apathy over a few blog posts.
One reason the video filled me with pride was to see all the farmers and their young children (4 of the 6 farmers had little girls and boys.) To see them riding on the tractors with their dad, the love they had for the farm, to see their squeals when they opened up a toy John Deere combine for Christmas. I can already picture that for Henry. Henry loves to grab his toy tractor and push it all around our house. I can see how wonderful it will be to have Henry grow up on a farm. The smile that forms when he goes to look at the pigs running around the pasture. The manner in which the fussy boy settles down when he listens to the clucks and calls of our chickens. Henry has his own little mini petting zoo that he is growing up on. I can't wait until this summer, to see him explore the farm for the first time. To watch him munch on a cherry tomato right off the vine, grab off a cucumber and enjoy it right there in the fields. This fall when he will be staining his hands red with the juice of a raspberry as he picks them with his mom. Wiping the dirt off his knees from falling in the fields when he runs to visit his dad. I can picture it, and it is beautiful.
This is a picture that I took of Henry when he was watching the pigs run around their pasture. The pure joy on his face. And on Luke's. If that isn't a reason to love farmland.....
....To be continued....
Luke and I had a date night. The fact that we went on a date during the spring is surprising - the fact that it was on a weeknight was even more surprising. What could pull Luke away from the farm you might ask? Earlier in the week I saw an ad that a documentary entitled "Farmland" would be playing for one night only at the movie theater. It seemed like something Luke would like, so I watched the trailer. The trailer made the documentary look awesome, so I asked Luke to go with me. (View the Trailer here: http://www.farmlandfilm.com/#trailer).
As Luke and I drove to the movie theater, it was quite obvious we were cutting in close on time. Running late, as usual. Why do farmers always run late???
I said to Luke "Well, there will probably be a lot of farmers in the audience. They might as well start the movie 5 minutes late so that everyone will technically be on time." Luke chuckled, and agreed. He told me that by always running late, he was adding years to my life. I disagreed, saying the stress of perpetually running late was taking years off my life. His argument was that knowing that no matter what, we will be late, means I never have to stress about being on time. Faulty logic, but I suppose I would stress less if I didn't hold myself to the notion that being on time is incredibly important. Or, I could just do what I do now, and blame Luke!
The documentary was excellent. The film acknowledges that farming is a relatively old profession, but yet that we need young people to return to farming to keep the farming tradition alive. The movie celebrates the work, the lives, of 6 young farmers. One thing I loved about it is that it didn't bash any type of farming. So many farming movies these days ("Food, Inc." for example) promote one side of agriculture while bashing the other. I loved that "Farmland" celebrated all types of farmers: the small-scale CSA farmer, the large- scale organic farmer, the cattle rancher, the pig farmer, the chicken farmer, the GMO cash crop farmer. It didn't push judgment against any one type. The farmers in the video even said while they prefer their own method of farming, their job is not to bash other farmers. I very much respect that and appreciated that about this documentary.
So, why did I fall in love last night? Because the video filled me with a lot of pride for the farm, pride and love that I haven't had in awhile. I have been very apathetic toward the farm in the past year. I did a lot of reflecting on that during and after the video. I could write a short novel on it - so I will spread out my digestion, and my overcoming, of my apathy over a few blog posts.
One reason the video filled me with pride was to see all the farmers and their young children (4 of the 6 farmers had little girls and boys.) To see them riding on the tractors with their dad, the love they had for the farm, to see their squeals when they opened up a toy John Deere combine for Christmas. I can already picture that for Henry. Henry loves to grab his toy tractor and push it all around our house. I can see how wonderful it will be to have Henry grow up on a farm. The smile that forms when he goes to look at the pigs running around the pasture. The manner in which the fussy boy settles down when he listens to the clucks and calls of our chickens. Henry has his own little mini petting zoo that he is growing up on. I can't wait until this summer, to see him explore the farm for the first time. To watch him munch on a cherry tomato right off the vine, grab off a cucumber and enjoy it right there in the fields. This fall when he will be staining his hands red with the juice of a raspberry as he picks them with his mom. Wiping the dirt off his knees from falling in the fields when he runs to visit his dad. I can picture it, and it is beautiful.
This is a picture that I took of Henry when he was watching the pigs run around their pasture. The pure joy on his face. And on Luke's. If that isn't a reason to love farmland.....
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Pig Poop < Baby Poop
My tough-guy farmer husband has handled a lot of "dirty" jobs. He cleans the chicken coop without a second thought. He takes no issue with grabbing a shovel and scooping a trailer's load worth of chicken excrement. If he takes a break to get a drink of water, sometimes he even absentmindedly leaves his boots on and brings chicken feces-coated bedding into our kitchen. (This is one of the many reasons I need to vacuum my house every single day, especially since our sweet little H has hawk-like vision, and can scope out a microscopic speck on the floor over ten feet away from him, that he just MUST put in his mouth. If you remember back to my ladybug post: yesterday, I saw him chewing and making a strange face. I open in his mouth and what do I find....a ladybug! I can surround him in toys and vacuum daily, and he will still find the one thing that he can't have, and try to eat it....but I digress).
Anyway, back to the point. Luke also has the responsibility of shoveling the pig manure. Typically, the pigs go to the bathroom in their pasture, but the pigs that we have when there is still snow on the ground don't like to venture outside, so they go to the bathroom in the pig pen. I find pig manure to be foul stuff. It stinks. When their is an east wind and I have the windows open, the smell quickly consumes my house, and forces me to shut windows. It is terribly nasty. But Luke will not hesitate to grab his shovel, and clean out the pig pen, stench and all.
Pigs, chickens, ducks, even Tobshu's feces....none of it bothers him, and he cleans it up without a thought. So how is that little H can go to the bathroom in his diaper, and Luke high-tails it out of the room? Or pass him to me and scoff at the smell? I don't get it. In my opinion, baby poop is not nearly as bad as pig poop. Luke disagrees. Now don't get me wrong, he has changed plenty of dirty diapers in his fatherhood debut, but if he had the opportunity, he would pass the job on to me every time. I find it hilariously ironic.
Little H isn't feeling well this week, and therefore left us something of an unpleasant surprise. Tough guy, manure-shoveling farmer-man was beyond disgusted. I needed assistance with that one - Luke sort of awkwardly laughed or cringed the whole time. Now, don't get me wrong, it wasn't a glowing-motherhood moment for me either. But I guarantee I would rather change the diaper of a baby before shoveling pig manure. I guess that is just another way Luke and I are different from each other. And I suppose, it establishes a good balance between us as well!
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