I guess we ain't that kind of farmer.

[WoodChuckDad]

My wife was asked, at her work, what she was doing this weekend. She said working the orchard. Some of her coworkers laughed and one of them said "she hasn't figured out yet, that farmers hire other people to work". We got a laugh out of it. The Girl who said it is 26 years old, living at home with her parents and engaged to a guy who grew up farming, and they plan to farm some of his family land. I have no idea how big it is. Maybe it is an established farm, large enough to be able to have other people do most of the grunt work while you do the management. But the description of their situation makes me think it isn't quite big enough to make that profitable, and he plans to have 40 hr job in the public sector as well as having the farm. I have a feeling that she is going to experience some pretty radical eye opening.
We are in our mid and late 40's and building our Orchard from scratch. It takes all of our time and most of our money. We are enjoying it and my wife really likes to drive the tractor and gets out there and works side by side with me every weekend. My wife has said a few things to the young girl about running the tractor naming the tractor (she now only refers to the tractor as "Wiley") and the girl made it clear that she has no intention of getting in or on a tractor, ever. She will be keeping house while he works. I'm sure family farms run the whole scale from women owning, working the farm up to managing the house, or working a non farm job and never touching the farm part. Somehow, I just can't imaging living on a farm and not being involved in it at all. Images of that old TV show "Dallas" come to mind, where they had thousands of sprawling acres with beef operations and oil wells. Sounds like a pretty good gig. Where do I sign up?

I have tried to craft this post so I don't sound like I'm begrudging toward someone who has a bigger, established and profitable operation. That's not the case at all. Compared to many people on this board, my 20 acres orchard (only 3 of which has apples at the moment) is little more than a hobby garden. I feel like my situation is blessed and I am constantly grateful for this opportunity.
I am also, just entertained by the combination of differences and attitudes. I have 5 children ranging in age from 13-26 so I think a part of it is my feeling that kids today are detached from reality until they get out on their own and life smacks them around a little.

 

[brasco426]

I'm 35 and amazed at how uninterested in Real work most people my age and younger are. Sounds like that girl doesn't have a lot of life experience yet and has no idea what she's in for. Everything sounds so easy bouncing ideas around inside your head until it's time to put those ideas to work. Farms i.e. Working, Hobby or what have you require hands on work. Unless you are planning on being penniless, most of the work is done by getting in there yourself and doing as much, if not all the Real work yourself. Glad to hear the Orchard is coming along, 3 acres is a nice little project while still holding down a day job. If you keep it up, sounds like your retirement will be accompanied with some additional income from hard work invested now. Donnie

 

[super55]

Kids these days are coddled and myself as parent as well am just as guilty. Every parent wants their kids to have experience all the things we never got to do when we were younger. Kids these days are involved in all sorts of extra curricular activities these days but work is somehow looked down upon like there is no value in working at a young age or you are somehow robbing them of their childhoods.

When I was a kid my dad got laid off from his job for two years before he got called back to work. Back then unemployment only lasted 25 weeks. One summer in order to help the family my mom, brother and I went to work the fields with all the migrant workers. We were paid the same as everyone else out there based on the quantity we picked. I was only 8 years old and by far the slowest but my parents couldn't afford to get us school clothes so we earned them. I didn't have the nicest clothes that year but I sure was proud of them.

I don't know why but for some reason everybody thinks these days that if you do manual labor that you must not be educated or smart enough to figure a way to have someone else do it for you. To me it seems the smart man would do the work himself/herself if it can save them from paying a 30k a year salary.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

There are a lot of cultural notions about work; friend of mine who is a Chemical Engineer, lived in England for several years. He said the he was looked down upon by his neighbors because he did all of the maintenance, yard work, mowing, etc. at his home. Seems that they aspire to progressing economically to the point to where they can pay others to do the menial tasks. I personally enjoy gardening and yard work; there is a physical need satisfied that you don't get sitting at a desk all day.

 

[JRobyn]

There are a lot of cultural notions about work; friend of mine who is a Chemical Engineer, lived in England for several years. He said the he was looked down upon by his neighbors because he did all of the maintenance, yard work, mowing, etc. at his home. Seems that they aspire to progressing economically to the point to where they can pay others to do the menial tasks. I personally enjoy gardening and yard work; there is a physical need satisfied that you don't get sitting at a desk all day.

You nailed it. What happened to pride in workmanship? Especially a nicely self-manicured yard!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

People who live on a farm, but hire out all the work aren't farmers, but managers.

 

[BigCountry1689]

I am 31 and my wife and I are both from rural communities. I was raised on the families 2500 acre beef ranch. I was taught from a young age to work for what I want. I wanted a cell phone I had chores, and we wont even get into my first truck, that was 125 acres of fence I will never forget. My wife was raised on a smaller lot and instilled with the same work your own mentality. After I finished college I moved to south Florida and started my own mini farm (20 Acres) I am in the process of purchasing another 30 from the neighbor who has decided that 87 is old enough to move. While I don't consider my farm anything like what I grew up on there isn't a day goes by I don't appreciate all the lessons learned at my parents expense $$$$ that allow me to run my operation. As for my wife, we work together with everything. I plant a 5 acre garden every year, mainly for our consumption and the neighbors. She will not run the tractor just not her thing, but I can't keep her out of the dirt. I work in the public sector, and run my farm part time. I have no helpers except the 2 I'm raising and right now their not really much help (3mo. and 3 yrs.) I go to work and people see my hands and arms scraped up and ask me what happened. When I explain that this weekend I was building fence, or cutting trees, or any number of other things they look at me like I'm crazy. Of course I ask what they did...."Oh, well I got caught up on Game of Thrones." and I say "That sounds nice." I'll stick with my life I just cant imagine my life revolving around a box. And there is no better sleep than the sleep you get after working outside all day. People today think everything is grown from a box. It will blow their minds when they find out that there is no such thing as a frosted flake tree...:laughing:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I am 31 and my wife and I are both from rural communities. I was raised on the families 2500 acre beef ranch. I was taught from a young age to work for what I want. I wanted a cell phone I had chores, and we wont even get into my first truck, that was 125 acres of fence I will never forget. My wife was raised on a smaller lot and instilled with the same work your own mentality. After I finished college I moved to south Florida and started my own mini farm (20 Acres) I am in the process of purchasing another 30 from the neighbor who has decided that 87 is old enough to move. While I don't consider my farm anything like what I grew up on there isn't a day goes by I don't appreciate all the lessons learned at my parents expense $$$$ that allow me to run my operation. As for my wife, we work together with everything. I plant a 5 acre garden every year, mainly for our consumption and the neighbors. She will not run the tractor just not her thing, but I can't keep her out of the dirt. I work in the public sector, and run my farm part time. I have no helpers except the 2 I'm raising and right now their not really much help (3mo. and 3 yrs.) I go to work and people see my hands and arms scraped up and ask me what happened. When I explain that this weekend I was building fence, or cutting trees, or any number of other things they look at me like I'm crazy. Of course I ask what they did...."Oh, well I got caught up on Game of Thrones." and I say "That sounds nice." I'll stick with my life I just cant imagine my life revolving around a box. And there is no better sleep than the sleep you get after working outside all day. People today think everything is grown from a box. It will blow their minds when they find out that there is no such thing as a frosted flake tree...:laughing:

Good for you, BC...I believe you have a handle on what's important in life and you and your family will benefit tremendously. As the F.F.A. creed says, "I believe that to live and work on a good farm is pleasant as well as challenging...".

 

[gwstang]

"It will blow their minds when they find out that there is no such thing as a frosted flake tree..."

Excellent! Really cracked me up...lol :laughing:

 

[Cjm005]

I love to hear stories like yours. It's funny, I've spent twenty years in corporate USA and make a great living, but dream about the farming life. My wife and I are also working on a part time, hopefully to be eventually full time dream. We've got 30 acres and hoping to start our orchard next spring. Life in the gerbil wheel isn't all it's cracked up to be. I love getting out there and busting my butt. Keeps me grounded.