Farming: Is it a Job or a Hobby or Both?
As I sit at my desk on a very quiet (just the way I like it!) Friday afternoon in the office I am reflecting on what I accomplished this week and making a list for the week ahead. I consider if I want to work in the office over the weekend or maybe in my new home office. There are tasks I could be doing and honestly I will get more done on a Saturday in the office than any week day. So yes, I plan to work on the bin storage plan, organizing our seed field maps for Delta Soy and maybe some financial analysis. All tasks that require my full brain power and attention. Then I wonder, what could I do on a summer Saturday that I would enjoy?
Lay by the pool, work in the yard, read a book, go shopping? Sure, but all of those feel very lazy. What would I accomplish on a productivity scale with any of those tasks? For me, it feels like not much! I would be much happier checking items off my list at the office. This is a problem many farmers have. Is this a job or is it a hobby? For me it is both. I have a difficult time separating the farm from life.
I love what I do. It is like a drug. The seasons change and so do the jobs. This is hard work. Not that it is any harder than another job but it is my life. So that wraps it up into a different package with a different bow. All of my family is involved in one way or another. We have a common goal of success and work together daily to achieve it. At times we must work when the weather allows and that can make for long days, long weeks or even months which we work sun up to sun down every day. “Just take a day off.”, they say. The one day we took off could be the last day we had available to harvest our crop for weeks if rains set in and cause delay. The crop in the field is our investment in the bank. Walking away for a day or a weekend is like leaving the bank vault open and the front door unlocked. A rain equals a huge drop in the stock market for some or maybe a job lay off for others. As my Dad says. “Nothing good happens to a mature crop left in the field.”
Most people cannot understand this work. It is not simply a job to provide for my family. It is a lifestyle. It is a feeling. It is a legacy of many. Our current success pays tribute to the generations that have come before us. Farming is a culture that the other 98% of Americans do not understand. I believe this divide is growing even wider since the pandemic. As the phrase “work life balance” has become more popular farmers are asking “why?” Why is this just now coming to the forefront in American culture when we as a family unit have been managing this concept for decades?
Some of my fondest memories as a child were being on the farm with my Dad. Having picnics at the edge of the field with our family as a child and even now. There is nothing better than a pizza on the tailgate beside the combines during harvest. I think we forget that just because we are at work doesn’t mean everything is work. It is all blended together for a farm family and those memories are much more cherished than my memories of cheering at the football game and my parents watching.
The job demands our time to be successful. To excel at a hobby you must put in the time as well. In the end, farming is our job and our hobby. From a mental health standpoint is this healthy? Due to the high suicide rates for farmers- probably not. What are some techniques and activities that you have implemented in your life to help keep your mental health a priority?