Farm Life is the Best Life

Happy Thursday!  One more day until Friday!

Today is a little different. I did not plan on really ever talking about anything like what I am going to talk about and I don’t know for sure if I will ever talk about it again. But, I’m just going to try it because it is a HUGE part of my life and why I am whom I am.

As some of you may know, it was National Agriculture Day on Wednesday. Yay for farmers! As I stated in my first post, I am working on an Agricultural Business degree from SDSU and I also grew up on a farm. With that being said, agriculture has always had and always will have a substantial place in my life.

As I was doing the daily creeping on Facebook act, I came across an article that was shared several times by several different people. It was written by a girl name Nicole and her blog is called Farm Girl Facts of Life. Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the adorable name? Two snaps for that girl! This is her link to the article by the way right here!

In this FABULOUS blog post, she talks about young farmers and how much of a struggle it can be to be a young farmer. This lady was preaching to the choir as I was reading. I have witnessed first hand how much of a struggle farming can be. It is expensive, especially when things break and then you literally HAVE to fix them NOW because otherwise you’re going to be sitting idle for days (big surprise that breaking things costs money so say goodbye to some cash), you don’t sleep very much because you work long ass hours, there may be a few tears here or there, you can have some pretty huge family fights, oh and EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING seems to revolve around the farm. Kiss the whole family vacation idea goodbye because someone has to be around to take care of the livestock. Tootles to a nice family vacay!

Even though farming has its downfalls, the farming and agriculture is also a beautiful thing and also a wonderful lifestyle. I come from a farming family and also farming community. I grew up on a corn, soybean, and pig farm in good ol’ south central Minnesota. My dad and MY MOM both farm… Yes, I said my mom. My mom fricken ROCKS at the farming life and she looks damn good doing it too!

My two brothers are also a part of the operation!

There is my wonderful family on my brothers wedding!
My basically-brother-in-law is missing though. 

My childhood was pretty much amazing and I would say it is because of the farm. I used to roller blade in the pig barns when I was little, I got to play veterinarian on the baby kittens, I could bottle feed the lambs every spring, I would get an unlimited amount of tractor rides, I could rip around on four-wheelers all day long, I could play around in my moms huge garden, the list goes on and on.  It was the best!

As I grew up, there were times I hated growing up on a farm. I hated picking up rocks, I hated having to shovel off the snow on the roof of a pig barn in the freezing cold (even though it was just one time it, still haunts me because I thought I was going to fall right off the roof), I hated having to help my dad in the test barn, I hated pretty much everything about it for a while. I was a brat for a while there, I will own it! Ask my family and they will probably be happy to tell you how much of a brat I was… And they will most likely tell you that I still am a brat! Ha! What else is family for right? ANYWAYS, next thing you know and I think that farming is the bomb.com! I love the farm again! Funny how your personality changes as you are maturing, isn’t it?  I began to understand how big of an impact agriculture has on peoples lives. I started to want to become part of the farm. I started to wait for text messages from my brothers asking me to pick up lunch for them and bring it to them. I started to go grocery shopping for my mom because she might not of had time that week. I started to be an avid Hy-Vee Gatorade and PowerAde sale watcher. Ten for $10 is a steal! Seriously, watch for it in the fall months and it will change your life! I started to clean the house so that everyone could come home to a clean house. I pretty much became obsessed with trying to help in everyway that I could without actually operating a tractor because that could have been a disaster! Did I mention that farm boys also started become all the rage? I have dated a few farm boys in my extensive twenty years of life and let me tell you, tractor dates are still the best dates! When else can you trap a guy in a tractor with you and force them to talk to you? It’s perfect! Boys are probably reading this and being like oh my God! Sorry boys but it is kinda true!

When I was deciding on what I wanted to go to school for Agricultural Business kept popping back into my head. Everyone is probably like, what is that? Honestly, it is just a business degree with a hint of agriculture thrown in! I take a majority of economic and business classes with a touch of agriculture classes. I am still nailing down exactly what I want to do with it. That’s the beauty of agriculture, it doesn’t have to be me sitting in a tractor! In my case, it can be me helping farmers achieve their dreams and achieve their goals! What is better than that? I go to a school that can sometimes scream agriculture. It sometimes even smells like agriculture, if you know what I mean...  I love me a little SDSU action! It is not all farmers either. It is a great school no matter what you go for! Can’t go wrong when you go to State! Since I am an agriculture student, I do spend a lot of my time in classes that have a lot of farm kids in them. There are several people that I talk to that want to farm once they are out of college. Whenever I meet someone who wants to farm I can’t help but think how awesome I think it is! Being a young farmer is not an easy job and it takes a good kid to do it and do it well! That is where Nicole’s blog comes into play, she ever so lovely illustrated how hard it can be but also how awesome it can be to be a young farmer. She talks about whether or not it is worth it to be a young farmer or not. And Nicole and I both agree that  YES it is worth it to be a young farmer because it could turn into an AMAZING thing just like every other chance people take! You just have to take the chance and have some faith that it will work out in the end. That saying doesn’t even pertain to only young farmers.

Farming and the agriculture industry as a whole is a slippery slope to climb. Farmers are usually under constant criticism and also constant watch.  Now, with me talking about this I do not want to start some ginormous argument about the industry. I am not a farmer… I am just a farmer’s daughter. Everyone can believe in what they believe in and I can have an opinion and so can you!But, I am obviously going to pick team agriculture! I am team young farmers, I am team old farmers, I am team go out and follow your farming dreams!

I love being glammed up, I love wearing makeup, I love wearing heels, and I love a good night up in the cities BUT I would not trade the farm life for anything. I did not choose the agriculture life but I did choose to stay with it. I hope that young men and young women still choose to stay in the farming industry regardless of the struggles. A few bumps along the way makes for one hell of a ride. I  guess all I am trying to say is that I hope everyone takes a second, a minute, a day, or even all year to appreciate a farmer and the farming industry because whether or not your life was shaped around agriculture like mine, agriculture still shapes your life in some way. Fun fact; if you ate today that means that agriculture is already a part of your day  (I really do hope that you did eat today and if you haven’t eaten yet then I would recommend it to you because you may be a little hungry by now).

Have an amazing rest of your Thursday!

Don’t forget to thank a farmer!

And don’t forget to read Farm Girl Facts of Life. Here it is again darlings!

XOXO,

Clarissa

P.S. I actually will have a blog about makeup coming up VERY soon! Like, I am hoping early next week. So stay posted!

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