Living the Dream

One thing that I have discovered during my short time in Oklahoma, is the beauty of canola. For most of you, you only see the finished product of canola oil in the grocery store on the shelf, but being in the country, we get the chance to see the beauty of the yellow blooms across the acres of flat land. Everytime I go by the fields, I think about how fortunate I was to grow up on a farm, in a rural area. It amazes me that I can live 20 minutes from Oklahoma City, but I have a dirt county road beside my house. Yet, the more people I encounter, the more they take for granted that the bottle of oil was just placed on the shelf, and they seem to have no concept of the farmer who made that possible.
If anyone has every seen the video "So God Made A Farmer," you know why this profession and these people are so dear to my heart. If you haven't, you should YouTube it...I promise it is worth your time. However, if there is any profession that is kicked around and over looked and taken for granted, it is farming. I challenge anyone to go one day without using an agriculture product. You can drink all the soy milk you want, but a farmer still raised those beans. Farmers are the backbone of our nation and without them, we will fail.
Tonight, my husband, an agriculture teacher, had about 400 FFA Members at his school to compete in speech contests. Because today farmers don't just have to be good at driving a tractor. They have to be communticators, web designers, and videographers. They have to be able to use social media and present their story to the masses, to show others what we really do. They have to know how to use the computers and keep electronic records (unlike my dad's generation, who, by the way, still records all of his farm information in his notebook...and that's not a computer). They have to have a love for accumulating debt and a knowledge that they will never get rich, just get by. But these people don't care. Because they have the best job in the world. They have a passion for what they do. The best part, they do it all for other people, and they never receive the limelight credit for feeding and clothing the world.
I am in awe of those that live this lifestyle and every single day, I wish I could be one of them myself. And even though I can't, I get the privilege of working with them everyday and fighting for what they need and deserve. So tonight, my hat is off to the farmer. Those who are on the front lines, like my dad and my grandfathers, and those who are raising the next generation, like my husband. And I know, that "on the 8th day, God looked down at his planned paradise and said, 'I need a caretaker.' So, God made a farmer."