Why do you Farm?

[RebeccaB]

My husband just recently started writing for Epicurious.com. It's the online magazine for Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazine. They have a section for blog entries called the epi-log that he was asked to write for. I am so proud of him!

For his last entry, his post was titled "Why Do I Farm?". You can find read it here or go over to his bio (Ethan Book) on the left side of the Epi-log page to see his posts.

So after he put up his post, I was curious about why others choose to farm. It would be fun to hear your reasons.

[piglady]

We do it because we have never been happeir than when we are with our animals!

[MTplainsman]

I've just never known better...

It makes me a living, it's honest, it's productive, it pulls me close to the earth and it's animals, and it keeps me far, far away from any city (less exposure to fruits and nut bars).

[EasyDay]

It's in the blood, I guess. My family has farmed this country for about 350 yrs. I've been planning our farm since I was about 15 (WAY too many moons ago!).
And all of those reasons listed by Plainsman, too.

Each week (or at least monthly) I'm reminded why when I watch the news about what's going on in the rest of the world. We'll stay right here on our mountain where we can avoid the whackos and food recalls.

[Sonshine]

I like to know what is going into the food I serve my family.

[Ravenlost]

I grew up on a farm and it is a big part of who I am today.

[RiverPines]

Because I want food for my family that isnt full of chemicals and whatever else they put into, on or around the things that will be on our plates.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by piglady

We do it because we have never been happeir than when we are with our animals!

there ya go!

[feelingsheepish]

I think for me, it is like a progressive disease. As a kid, it was horses. I turned 17, and added sheep to the list. At 25, chickens infected my brain. At 26, I feel the tickle that keeps whispering thoughts that pigs are cool. So I had to buy a farm to accomodate the horses and sheep that had outgrown the 1.5 acres. I love it, but I do worry sometimes about where it is going to take me....

[TC]

It's in my heart and soul. It's what makes me...me.

[oldmanriver]

I had some money to spend and this was the fastest way to do it ..:banana02:

[RebeccaB]

Thanks for the replies everyone! They were fun to read. It sounds like most people on are a common thread - family, good food, and enjoyment.

[DianeWV]

I think the self-sufficiency part of it, is what turns my crank. Husband and I are probably hobby farmers because we do earn income from outside sources. That term burns my husband's hide, but I am a realist, and if the shoe fits, I wear it!!

We do enjoy raising cattle, pigs, and chickens. We grow gardens and field crops. I like to mow and put up hay until the baler breaks down and then the storm clouds start to roll in, and you end up cussing quite a fit, but you just get it done, one way or another! Then when the hay is in without getting wet, I look up to the Good Lord and ask for forgiveness and thank him for what he has given me! You know, it seems like I can't get through a hay season without throwin down my religion in some way! I need to work on that!

Plus, workin your backside off for pennies on the dollar, plus being at the mercy of the weather and Mother Nature, ya got to love it. It truly is rewarding. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[Ravenlost]

I have to side with your husband DianeWV. What you describe is not a hobby, it is a way of life. You are farmers.

Personally, I've always thought the term "hobby farmer" was for those who hire others to tend their gardens and "exotic" breeds. You know, the Martha Stewart type of farmer.

[Bencooper21]

Originally Posted by piglady

We do it because we have never been happeir than when we are with our animals!

Congrats!

[alpha phi]

Well,.....I am not a farmer....yet, but I am working my way up the ladder.

There are so many reasons, but the final straw was:
Went to the grocery store, where I saw a nicely packaged rabbit. (yummy)
It was only $2.99 a pound (Wow)
I started to place the rabbit in my cart.....when I noticed a little round sticker.
It read "Product of China". (What the......?)

Some company can afford to raise, and butcher a rabbit in China.
Ship it accross the Pacific ocean.
Put on a train, send it all the way to North Carolina.
And still sell it for $2.99 a pound? (and expect me to eat it?)

If those ships stop moving, it would be catastrophic to our food supply!

So in a nutshell.... to secure my food supply

[hillsidedigger]

To learn how to farm in a way that is productive without machines and chemicals.

[BetsyK in Mich]

Years ago I found this quote and saw my dad in it. I am not a farmer in the true sense, I don't have to depend on weather and the whimes of markets for my livehood, but my dad did. They don't make men like this Papa or my Dad anymore.

Love of the Land

To the very end of his life, my father was a farmer. For Papa, there was nothing else, no other calling had any more value, worth or meaning than farming. He was as rooted into the black-loam earth of central Mississippi that he farmed as were the crops that he raised year after year.

For Papa, farming wasn’t a way of making a living or getting ahead financially. Farming was life. Farming gave him everything - food, clothing, shelter, hard work, leisure, love, children, grief, fear, danger, triumph, hope. The only act of infidelity for which Papa could have ever been accused and found guilty was a love affair with Mother Earth. And yet she could dash his hopes, change his mind, defeat his purposes. He loved her with a passion, and his greatest moments of triumph, his highest achievements, were those times when she would return a harvest so bountiful his barns couldn’t hold it.

I admit my view about Papa has come off a bit romantic, a bit flowered. But there would be no music, no literature, no medicine, if not first there was farming. Farming is the guarantee, the security that give us time to pursue all else. by Earl Goolsby in Cadillac, Mich., News

[Shepherd]

Hi Rebecca. I just happened onto this thread and wanted to post a reply.

We felt led to this place (our 'ranch' or hobby farm) but we decided not to try more than one thing at a time, to make sure we could afford it and could handle the workload while we both worked full time and commuted 1 1/2 hours a day to our jobs. Our jobs were what made buying this place possible - and we had to remind ourselves of that a lot during the winter months when it seemed so difficult.

Fortunately we have hayfields that a farmer cuts and bales for us to help a little. The rest of our land is heavily forrested.

My advice would just be to move slow, only attempt one thing at a time and try and stay out of debt while you're doing it. It's easy to try tackling too many things and get overwhelmed.

I didn't realize you were another Iowan! So "hi neighbor!".

[big rockpile]

Brought up farming.I just figured thats what you did go out buy some ground and try to make money off of it.

big rockpile