To The Editor:
A few days ago I happened to come across this. It is at least ten years old, but still says it all.
A Farmer Is
A farmer is dedicated to a life of hard work, difficult decisions, costly expenses, poor market prices, government intervention when the price threatens to go up, a battle against cheap imports, broken down equipment, a cranky wife (WHAT?), children who have a ballgame when most needed on the farm, know it all bankers who don’t really know anything about farming, and a God who doesn’t always send rain when it is needed or the sun when it’s time to harvest.
Yet a farmer is a God fearing man who has ultimate faith that his crops will grow, his children will grow up to be farmers, his wife will understand his odd hours (rarely seeing him in summer and put up with his constant presence all winter). He sees the beauty all around him, is a bird watcher, an authority on trees, wild flowers, and weeds, hears the song of the wind in the trees and appreciates poetic thoughts about farming as his way of life.
I might add that he believes that someday farmers will see a fair milk pricing system in which prices won’t be good one year and crash the next!
Gretchen Maine, Waterville