Why Am I a Farmer?

The question of the week...why am I a farmer? Extremely long hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, intense physical challenges, uncooperative animals, work that needs done all at the same time, extreme stress, short tempers, words spoken (or yelled) that aren't meant, feelings hurt, animals that die and break your heart, hail storm, wind storms, storms in general that kill the crops that you spent the whole year trying to make, hours working with my spouse in all the aforementioned circumstances which leads to the words that aren't meant, the hurt feelings and hours of guilt for having said such awful things to the one person in the whole world that you are to SHOW the action of love to at ALL times.

This week has been the most difficult week of my married life. Yes, all 9 months of it. It's been a week filled with extreme stress, 500 jobs that need done RIGHT NOW or better yet 3 hours ago, several fights between Matt and I and tension with Henry. Hay needs mowed, brome seed needs cut, the brome head needs to be moved here, the wagon to hold the brome seed here, hay needs raked, brome head needs moved again, the wagon to here, the hay needs baled, the head needs moved, wagon here, hay needs hauled, wagon needs to be dumped, cows are out, and the list has gone on and on and on and on and on and on. The past couple weeks we've been working 14-15 hours days. Our routine has been to get up early, grab breakfast on the way out the door, work hard all day long, come home shower and fall in to bed exhausted, get a few hours sleep and repeat the next day. It has been physically and mentally draining.

The thought has crossed my mind more than once this week...why am I a farmer? I have an associates and bachelor's degree, I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activites, I'm a hard worker, I show up on time, I work while I'm there, I'd make a great employee to the right company. I could work an 8-5, come home in the evenings and work on the home improvements that I think about doing while driving the tractors, I could have the weekends off to do whatever I want, I could actually cook rather than using only a microwave. Several of you have told me, "Wait until you have kids...you think you don't have any time now, just wait." So why don't I do it? Why don't I walk away from the grueling hours, the stress, the arguments, the heart break?

I don't know. Yep, that's my answer. I don't know why I don't. Life would be a lot less complicated. I don't know why I don't. But I've created a list of some of the reasons that make farm life worth it.

1. I love Matt more than words can express. He's my whole life. He makes me so incredibly happy. He's the best thing in the whole world. He is my Forever and ever. Ask Matt what I've thought of him this week and I GUARANTEE those 5 sentences are NOT going to be the what he tells you. Having the chance to work with him everyday is a blessing that most married couples don't get to experience. Often I have to remind myself of what a blessing it is when he's telling me I'm doing something incorrectly. Correction-I'm not doing it the way he does it-which, of course, makes it wrong. Weeks like these make our marriage so much stronger. Somebody told me on our wedding day that couples that can work together stay together. I know, I know, it's only been 9 months, we're hardly experts, but I cherish every moment we have spent together (some moments more than others) and don't want to spend the days away from him with an 8-5. 
2. The rush of adrenaline, pride and sense of rightness (is that a word?) I feel usually early in the morning and late at night after a long day of working and accomplishing a lot. There is no other feeling in the whole world that competes with the feeling of turning that last cow/calf pair out to grass for the summer, beating the storm to get everything in and get done just as the first big drops of rain start to fall, or harvesting a good grain crop that you've been working on for most of the year. No other feeling competes with it. 
3. And last, but certainly not least, I am feeding the world. I'm a very, very, very, very, very small part of feeding the world, but I am part. I am part of the reason that we are making huge strides in making sure that every person in the world has adequate nutrition, in making sure that by 2050 when the world population gets to 9 billion that there will be food to feed everyone. Me in our own little part of the world am growing food, fiber and fuel that is shipped all over to feed, cloth and power the world. I am part of the less than 2% of America's population that is involved in production agriculture. The food, fiber and fuel that I help produce is feeding the scientists that are working to find a cure for cancer, putting clothes on the backs of the children in America and elsewhere that need hope and can get that hope from knowing someone cares enough to produce clothes for them, and fueling your car so you can get to work so you can continue to make the positive difference in the world that you are making. I'm a very small part, but the work that I do is helping make all those things possible. There's nothing else that I would rather do. 

So there you have it. I farm because I love working with my Forever, the feeling I get knowing I'm making a difference and knowing that I'm a very small part of feeding the world. Trust me, I will be reading this blog again, probably this week to remind myself again of these reasons. 

On a less serious note, I've had several people tell me they couldn't comment on the blog. I believe I have changed that so anybody can comment without having an account. Please don't abuse this or I will have to change it back. 

Another side note, I've been thinking about changing the name of the blog to something much shorter. To those creative ones of you, please comment your suggestions. The two I was thinking about are

1. Blessed Farmer
2. Why we Farm

Names need to be much shorter than my current one and something memorable. I was going to try to leave the blessed part in there, but not opposed to changing it if something better comes up. Please let me know your ideas! 

Thanks for reading and have a great week!