farming

Every once in a while I come upon an ad or post by someone wanting to become a farmer.  I find these laughable because they almost certainly have no idea what it means to be a farmer.  I think our two most important professions are farming and teaching, neither one of them gets paid enough to make a decent living.

The people writing these ads seem to envision getting up, having breakfast, wandering outside to feed the chickens, check on their gourmet greens, and perhaps making some artisan cheese.  They don't picture my neighbors who are up and out before I am every day no matter the weather (and I'm generally an early riser).  They don't understand that to have a small farm means you have a full time job somewhere else and you do your farming before and after that, because even the most frugal can't live off a small farm.  So when I see people writing about wanting to become a farmer I know they are either not familiar with farming, looking for someone to bankroll them, or independently wealthy.  It's usually not the last of those.

I'm not a farmer.  I could never hack it, I simply don't have the stamina.  I need a day off now and then.