The fourth date
that I had with my boyfriend was spent chisel plowing. I got to ride with him
in his big green tractor, through the vast open land on the country side. Never
did I ever think that I would become a “country girl”, because although the
town I grew up in was definitely a small farm town, there were plenty of
neighborhoods filled with people between the corn fields. We were also only a
short 10 to 15 minute drive from shopping malls and chain restaurants. But that
evening, as we rode back and forth through about 60-100 acres of fields, I finally
caught a glimpse of why some people actually enjoy the country lifestyle that
includes living and working with the earth. I rode with him in the tractor from
about 7pm until midnight. It was peaceful; and from that day on my favorite
dates haven’t been to movies or fancy restaurants, but instead, my favorite
dates have been the ones where I get to ride along in the tractor.
While
I still have what my boyfriend would describe as, an astronomically long ways
to go before becoming an expert of all things farm related, I have gained a
little knowledge over the past year and half of my life. My boyfriend’s family
farms roughly 3,000 acres of farm land. They grow soy beans, seed corn, sweet
corn and commercial corn. They have all of the big farm equipment (most of
which I have not learned the name of quite yet). And it is all a necessary part
of their farming process. Because of the amount of land they farm, it would be
impossible to do without the use of tractors and other industrial farm
equipment.
Wendell Berry is a
famous poet, farmer and environmental activist. However Berry Farms a much more
modest piece of land than that of my boyfriend’s family, and his techniques and
beliefs about what farming should look like are far different than my
boyfriend’s views. Both my boyfriend and Wendell Berry grew up on a farm. They
however grew up with different techniques. In one of Berry’s poems entitled
“Horses”, he mentions that he learned from men before him. And this is exactly
what my boyfriend did as well. Berry uses teams of horses to farm his land. The
teams of horses are a practical way for Berry to farm because he has a smaller
piece of land, that is not completely flat and therefore the horses are of
great use to him.
Many people make
the argument that industrialized farming is destroying our earth, and while I
plan on doing more research on this topic, and updating you all at a later
time. For now I would just like to make the argument that any kind of farming
is a noble profession and vital to the survival of people. As our population
continues to grow we need more food to feed the higher quantity of people. And
that is what farmers do, big farms and little farms both have the same end
goal. And that is to provide food for people so that we can survive. And for
that reason people should thank all farmers.
