Farming
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This is the promised rant – though because I’m me it’s more of a reminder than full blown, all guns blazing fury. Right now, as I type, farming is valued less that it has ever been valued before. At a time when people fight in supermarkets for the last jar of sun dried tomatoes and debate the various qualities of baking flour farming communities are being broken up and ‘industrialised’.
I was infuriated this week to hear people laughing about upland farmers whose flocks have been decimated, though they sobered up when they contemplated their countryside walks ruined by the presence of the rotting carcasses of sheep, cattle and hill ponies frozen in the severe weather. Oh what a shame!
We seem to have lost the knack of equating the rack of lamb ordered in a restaurant with the man who put the ram in with the ewes, oversaw the tricky birth, checked teeth and feet, clipped dags, saw off bot flies and was there, every day rain or shine, hot or cold, until he was able to see that lamb off to market content he had produced a fine healthy beast that would make good meat. And they do the same for wheat, and carrots, cabbages, potatoes, strawberries – you name it. Farming is a year round effort, working 80 hour weeks for precious little recognition.
Next time you are out enjoying a meal with friends, or inside having a bacon sandwich, spare a thought for the men and women who got up at 5 am to milk the cow, sow the seed, give the pig a pill and do a quick head count of the sheep.
Rant over – I’ll leave you with pictures to make the visit worth while.
Elin Gregory 
Thanks for writing your post.
I don’t like industrialized agriculture. I like independent farmers who feel deep connection to the land and their work. They can and some do raise animals for meat but still treat them with respect which is not seen in the industrialized agriculture at all.
And yes, it is very hard work. You feel it when they squeeze your hand in greeting. Calluses and strength.
I once attended a village wedding. The men from the family disappeared in the early evening like one. It was time to tend to horses. They returned when they were done with their duties in the stables but yes, they put the animals before the wedding revelry.
People who mock the animals who are suffering because of the weather should be put in the hills to spend the night. Farming is far from the romantic vision that some people have: farmers are reliant on weather, market, pest, economic conditions. They rarely can take time off and have to be on call at all hours. Yet those I’ve met love their work – it takes sheer dedication and I have so much respect for them. Industrialised farming leads to modified crops, additives and drugs in our food that can cause deadly diseases.
My mom grew up on a farm. She was telling me the other day about how impossible they government has made it for farmers to thrive. It’s sad, really, because that’s probably the healthiest lifestyle. Not that I could survive it. Darn allergies.
The food we get now is usually not local Everything is mass produced and shipped where ever. And the farm land is being sold and scooped up for condos we don’t need. One of the first jobs my husband had here was at a school for deliquent boys and a farm was part of the school. The farmer was in awe of my husband’s education. But my husband was in awe of the farmer’s knowledge to produce a necessary product. (excuse the typing I am exhausted)
Love this post! I’m first & second generation “off the farm” (depending on which side of the family I’m claiming at the time) and have always felt cheated that I had to grow up in the city. I’ve turned every back yard (and most of the front yards & balconies) I’ve ever had into large producing gardens (sometimes out of necessity, sometimes because that’s just what I do), but it makes me sad to think about all the knowledge that faded away once those farms were lost. It’s a crime that some families have to sell their land to stay alive — but I won’t rant in the comments on your blog, that’s not nice. 🙂
Hi Elin! I just learned of your blog thanks to Susan Roebuck’s site and I’m so glad I did. It’s great to meet you and I’m looking forward to following your A-Z. And I agree with your rant!
I spent a lot of time on my grandparents’ farm as a kid. Sad that people have reached this point, but that’s true for so many things. We’ve lost respect for the origins of everything. It’s so easy to get now, that why would people think of where it’s coming from?
Shannon at The Warrior Muse
I agree. Food is the basis of society. Without the people who produce food, we’d all be… well… dead. That deserves a little respect, IMO.
Smashing photos there, especially the third one. The main reason I buy most of my food via an organic delivery service is so I know exactly where it’s come from (not just location, but who’s produced it) by going to the website. Ideally, I’d buy direct from the farm or from a proper butcher, but that’s not likely to happen before I move back up north (I sometimes pop in at either Jody Scheckter’s place or Chatsworth when I’m passing, though).
And when a harvest fails… I can’t stop thinking about the Year Without a Summer and its devastating effects. Ought to consider just how badly it’s going to hit my wealthy landowner, even though I’ve handwaved some diversified manufacturing investments for him. EVERYTHING suffered, that year.