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| When I was 18, I had had enough of farming. I grew up farming and raising livestock in a very hard situation with junk equipment and a lot of back breaking labor for no pay. This was the early '80's and we all know what that was like.
On top of that, Dad had just survived a bad health issue and we were even poorer than the dirt we farmed. He struggled for the next 15 years to climb out of that hole, he should have filed bankruptcy but that was just something you didn't do.
I went to school, got a job fixing cars but still worked on the farm every day helping out, not for pay.
Somewhere in there, I realized that I liked farming again, maybe never stopped loving it. As someone else said, "If you have to ask, I can't explain it."
It just gets in your blood, I could easier quit breathing that I can quit farming.
Each season is like a gladiator stepping into the arena to do battle against the forces of weather, markets, man and machine to claim the victory of another season, good or bad, to prove myself worthy of being a farmer.
I also think with each harvest, comes a confirmation to me of who I am.
I can say " I did this."
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