Year-End Reflections on Farming

This peaceful photo (screen shot) of dairy cattle grazing on pasture overnight comes from an Organic Valley "Who's Your Farmer?" virtual tour of an organic dairy farm.  This virtual dawn-to-sunset visit to an organic dairy farm came to my inbox through the web-based journal, "On Pasture."  (Here's the "On Pasture" article as it came to my inbox.)

One of the best moments of the tour is toward the end where the little boy sings the cows in for their evening milking, just like his father did in the wee hours of the morning.  Farming is hard work and something most farmers do because they love the way of life, not because it's "fun" or lucrative.  It touches me to see young children growing up into it naturally.  They are our future farmers, absorbing a wealth of knowledge and experience and a love for their animals that is irreplaceable.

What Herb and I have here on Zephyr Hill Farm is a dim reflection of that kind of farming.  Our farm will not be carried on by our kids and grandkids.  It's our dream, not theirs.  We came to it late in life, and we don't expect them to pick up where we leave off.  We're happy that we can share it with them for now, and we love to see them enjoy it.  At least our grandkids know where milk and eggs and meat come from because they've watched me milk a cow, they've picked up warm eggs from under a chicken, and they've eaten meat from animals that lived on our farm.  Our grown-up daughter Katie recently laughed out loud for the pure fun of riding beside her dad, watching the manure spreader spray its contents behind them.  We realized years ago that our children and grandchildren are our "customers."  Our farm (sometimes) feeds us and them, but even more--it feeds all of our souls.

We'll never make any money doing what we do, although we do make lots of joy and lovely memories.  That's reward enough for us.  But at the same time, we tip our hats to the "real" farmers who spend their lives on the land to feed people they will never meet.  I have so much respect and admiration for them.  I also have a wistful wish that I'd known so many years ago what I know now--how much I love farming!