Friday, July 11, 2014
1. Patience: Farmers are some of the most patient people you’ll ever meet- they have to be. They must have patience with their crop, their livestock, their equipment and most of all, the weather. Who else could wait for months for their crop with the hope that it will turn into something.
2. Optimism: The Farmer has to be an optimist or else he wouldn’t be a Farmer. Maintaining an optimistic outlook through it all is the only way to get through the days of droughts, broken equipment and sick livestock. Farmers know better than anyone else, maintaining the perspective that next year will always be better, is crucial.
3. Mother Nature: She’s a force to be reckoned with but Farmers could tell you more about the weather than the weatherman. They watch her daily and know what they need from her to get their crops growing, harvested and sold, not to mention, to produce feed for their livestock and to keep them happy.
4. Risk Taking: Who is to say that the seed you invested your money or the livestock you just bought will return the investment, but yet Farmers must take those risks and if it doesn’t work out, they will try again next year.
5. Wisdom and Knowledge: Books do not begin to contain what is necessary to become a successful farmer. The wisest of all is the Farmer, for they have been through more in a year than many go through in their lives. Combine that with the lessons they learn (good and bad), and there’s not much a Farmer couldn’t give you advice on.
6. The land: Who else knows your land better than you? For Farmers that rings especially true – their land is their everything. They could tell you more about the history of that land, what will grow on it and what won’t and most of all, the memories from that land. No one understands the land as well as farmers, because it not only supports them but nurtures their souls.
7. Perspective: To some its just dirt, but to Farmers, its their future. Farmers know they must maintain the right perspective on farming and life if they want to succeed.
8. Frugality: Today many farmers produce more to earn less so who better to know how to stretch a dollar than a Farmer.
9. Environment: Farmers do more today to preserve the environment than ever before. From technological advances to seed advancements, they continue to work and make improvements to their land, after all, that’s all they have.
10. Hard work: Farmers seldom have good years, just some years are worse than the others. But they keep on working hard knowing that with out them, the world would starve."
This describes my dad to a T. Me, I have always lacked with the big number one, patience. Dad was long suffering and more patient than I could hope to be.
I really appreciate these 10 traits and meet most of these "requirements." I am lacking in some but mostly in number 1. I must work on this every day.