Reflection has always been one of my strengths. Pondering, thinking, overthinking perhaps. As Mayor Bloomberg's quote on farmers continues to swirl around with Eisenhower's quote on farmers, now more than ever, it's the perfect time to chew on both.
“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, Mayor Bloomberg, a Presidential candidate, was quoted saying:
I could teach anybody — even people in this room, no offense intended — to be a farmer. It’s a [process]: you dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn.”… and then goes on further to say “The information economy is fundamentally different because it’s built around replacing people with technology and the skill sets that you have to learn are how to think and analyze, and that is a whole degree level different. You have to have to have a different skill set, you have to have a lot more gray matter.”
-Mayor Bloomberg
And lest there be any confusion, gray matter refers to the dark tissue in our brains.
Basically – you have to have a bigger brain to be in tech than you do to be a farmer.
As a farmer, even a small scale one, I'm not angered by this. I don't know Bloomberg and he certainly doesn't know me. But it does cause me to momentary reflect on our time here on the farm as first-generation farmers and what we've learned of it – especially as we've built it alongside our digital-based businesses. As they say, we have a foot in both ponds.
On our farm, we grow sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and cows. We also grow all our produce in an organic garden. There are many species, many varieties, and many factors at play on a diverse farm like ours – this is far from the mono-crop farms that build up a huge part of our country's agriculture foundation, so know that I am speaking from this perspective.
Also know that what I've learned, I've learned in the last two decades. I “met” my first cow when I was 16 and instantly fell in love. At 18, I went to Washington State University and at 19, I graduated with my BS in Animal Science – Beef Production.
(I love cows, what can I say.)
During my time at college, I always felt out of place as a first-generation “farmer”. I sat alongside people in my studies that grew up with eyes trained to see things I couldn't see.
Staring at a field of pregnant heifers and trying to visually spot the “open” ones (meaning not-bred). Couldn't see it.
Driving through fields in the middle of the night to identify cows that were close to birth so we could assist if needed. Couldn't spot them.
Working through pens of cattle and sorting out those ready for harvest by their fat layers and “finish”. Nope. nothing.
Good genetics. Feminine heads. Properly shaped udders. Round butts.
I. Couldn't. See. It.
A farmer growing cattle has to deeply understand weather. Birth. Genetics. The lifecycle of a dozen different grasses. Soil. Topography. Sales. Marketing. Futures. And they have to be tough as grit (if you've ever pulled a calf or held in a prolapsed uterus until the vet arrived, you may be able to relate here).
It wasn't until I bought my first dairy cow and spent every day tucked up under her flank that I began to appreciate the nuances of a cow. My very first cow, for example, had a very butch-looking head compared to my uber-feminine Sally Belle. Kula's teats were much longer and skinnier than Sally's short, plump teats. Sally had a hard time keeping condition on in the winter time, compared to my current dairy cow Cece. Sally required vigorous, fast milking or she'd angrily kick at you once she was finished with her feed whereas Cece will stand quietly while you finish. Sally hid her pregnancies very well, whereas Cece almost instantly plops her midline down into a saggy beach ball.
My points is that there are nuances. There are differences. And I had to work hard mentally and physically to train my body and mind to see these nuances and respond in a way that keeps my animals safe, healthy, and strong members of our farm.
I spent a lot time staring at my animals backsides before I had trained my eye to instantly see when a birth was imminent. Spotting a full udder, loose pelvic muscles, and the tiniest differences in ear movement, actions or attitudes can make the difference between life and death for your animals and their babies. (If you've ever had a ewe drop a lamb in a field during a snowstorm, you may be able to relate here).
The same goes for crops.
If you've ever gardened for more than five seconds, you know it's far beyond putting a seed in the ground and watching it grow. Plant the pea too early and the quail will eat off the sprouts. The onions too late, they won't have time to mature before the fall frost. The wrong variety, the carrots won't hold over until spring. The wrong location, the eggplants won't get hot enough to produce fruit. The wrong planting pattern, the corn won't pollinate correctly. The wrong depth of hole, the seedling won't ever make it out of the ground. The wrong planting date, the okra will collapse under the frosty chill.
There are a thousand nuances for my garden. My space. And those nuances are completely different than those of a garden ten miles way from here.
No one can teach you nuances. Unfortunately, failure is the very best teacher for us farmers – lose a crop or an animal and you're likely to never repeat your same mistake.
But you have to have eyes to see it. You have to be trained, conditioned, battered, and rebuilt by your experiences and hard-lessons. You have to train your eyes, and your spirit, to your land and your animals. You have to shut up and listen to what it's telling you.
Farmers aren't in charge. Nature is. And we're constantly having to analyze the world around us to keep our farms viable and strong.
Mayor Bloomberg, our world doesn't need to be farmer vs. tech. Farmers thrive on technology and anyone working in technology thrives on FOOD.
We aren't meant to be autonomous in this world – we're meant to be in community. We need each other.
There are many farmers not cut-out for the tech world. Great. Let them be the best friggin' farmers this world has ever seen.
Likewise, there are many techies not cut-out for the farming world. Great. Let them take our technology to the moon and back.
We aren't better or worse. We're different. We should be different. Because we have different histories… different personalities… different experiences… different callings… different passions… different skillsets… we have different jobs.
So let me get this straight.
Dig hole. Put cow in. Cover with dirt. Water. Grow milk.
That's how it works, right?
Dear Mayor Bloomberg, I fear you've oversimplified the glorious, earth-feeding, hard labors of farmers whos hearts have been trained for this exceptional work.
No more valuable or less valuable than your precious tech-world. Different. As it should be.
Lana Popejoy
I love this!
As the granddaughter of farmers, I totally agree with you about there being a place for both.
I heard his remarks and immediately thought, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He needs to spend some a week or more on a farm, then maybe he’d appreciate the hard work that farmers do everyday. No snow days or holidays for them.
Sheree
Well said. I didn’t grow up on a farm. But I married a farmer’s son and I came to understand how much of the farmer goes into the farm. Nothing is simple. No less guaranteed. And a suit and a shiny set of wing-tips can’t be nearly as sexy as a pair of dirt-stained overalls.
Sandy Schafer
Well said!
Lori K Zitting
I couldn’t agree more..!! why does it have to be a competition .. We need each other , and I for one would not want to live in a world without so many diverse people and circumstances.. This diversity helps us grow and learn mercy and compassion. It makes us stronger, at the same time more flexible and understanding.. What a beautiful world we are blessed to live in..Lori
Kyle
Very insightful, thoughtful and so true.
Dee
and Amen.
Gayle
This is great. Raising our food (along with raising and teaching our children) should be honored as the basis of life. I believe we should end all corporate agricultural subsidies and put the money toward real family farms run and owned by the people who live on them. Local food, local control, and a chance to rebuild local economies are the only sustainable way forward. Congrats on your hard work and growing success; I eagerly follow your blog.
Allie
Yes! Local, local, local!
Shari
Beautiful! Well said.
Christy
So very well said, Shaye. I’m proud of you for addressing this, and in such an eloquent way!
Jolene Stagg
Admittedly, I am a hot head and an eastern Washington country girl and a born fighter… how do you wax eloquent when what this man needs (as do all big brother, communist, egomaniacal power wielders) is a mob of farming peons with pitchforks. There is no negotiating with men of his ilk. He hates you (and me). You with your bible and your God, your self sufficiency, your plucky entrepreneurial ways, your call for strength in your local community. There’s a reason he doesn’t want people like you nor I to own weapons (pitchforks & rifles alike). I like following you and I’d love to see some teeth in some your posts.
Kelli
He just needs a good week in the middle of harvest time or the madness of spring planting to set himself straight. (LOL) He doesn’t know or understand what he speaks of.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Farmer (Tennessee) 🙂
Lyn
Politicians have a lot to say from a distorted perspective. As state senator Walsh said that nurses just play cards. I’m a nurse and I promise I’ve never played cards.
Debra M Gorsline
Wow! Thank you for standing up for the farmers! You made your point with class.
Shellie Floriani
Very eloquently written! Despite the comment from the mayor about gray matter you managed to tell the story of a farmer without sounding defensive or accusatory. I grew up on a dairy farm. We grew all our own food and every animal had a name and a personality. The equipment we used was old and also had a personality! My mother was like you in that she wore makeup and always had her nails done while she chopped hay or shoveled cow manure. Farming requires a great deal of patience that not many people in this world have. I can relate to learning how to recognize when an animal is ready to deliver. Although, I learned this at a really young age as I’m sure your kids are. I remember coming home from school one day and my parents were in the hay field. My sisters and I went to the barn looking for them and noticed a cow that was struggling to give birth. We reached in and tied a rope around the calf’s legs and eased her out safely onto the hay. We cleaned out her nostrils and gave her a good rub and put her in front of her mama. Our dad walked in as we were admiring the mother and calf and was so proud. We were 8, 6 and 3 at the time. That’s farm life.
Mary J Dollman
An eloquent nuisanced response to yet another arrogant comment from yet another arrogant billionaire. Great post. Thank you.
Lisa Steele
Bloomberg’s comments just show how out if touch he is with the rural parts of this country. You’re right that you can’t understand until to DO…but to pass judgement with no knowledge counting from a presidential candidate is election suicide in my opinion. Some if the smartest people I know are farmers.
Jeanine
You are very gracious in this post, way more gracious than Mayor Bloomberg deserves! Talking about putting your foot in it, I bet he wouldn’t make it two feet into a cow pasture!
But can we talk about your getting a B.S. at 19? I knew you were smart, but whoa, how did you manage that?
Kathryn Miller
Amen sister. As we pour over the seeds and planting guides for each plant and worry over not getting seeds in the ground early enough or if we will have healthy soil full of good microorganisms, we understand well how complicated farming is. If we have had any measure of success in our farming endeavors then I suspect we have more gray matter than the average politician. You said it all very well in your post. Wendell Berry would be proud!!
Kat O
Very well-said – anyone who doesn’t understand the knowledge, skill, and critical thinking that goes into farming hasn’t thought for two seconds about what farming really entails! Bloomberg is just another out-of-touch rich dude, and lord knows we don’t need any more of THEM making decisions on our behalf.
Karen Jones
Well said. In this time of quickly changing tech, even our FFA farmers have enough gray matter to combine both tech and the historical skills of farming. Good bless them all.
Lady Locust
He displayed great ignorance! Let him feed himself and see how far tech. gets him. Like yourself, those of us who actually do grow our food have “practical knowledge” rather than “book knowledge.”
Good of you to share this in kinder words than I would have used.
Lavender Blue
Exactly! Where would Bloomberg be without farmers? If I were to rate which is more important, I would have to say farming!
Neo
He is not the only one to think so. And it is people with this type of prejudice that, in Politics, make the laws that govern Agriculture (large and small scale). Think of seed barons, water barons, land barons … all while real workers suffer.
We need to vote, and vote with more quality.
Kaffes
He has not got a clue what he is talking about , he needs to stop talking about things he doesn’t know squat about , which is about everything except his techies
Shirley
Spoken from hard work and experience…to a city dweller with no experience. Well said! Thank you for sharing.
Michelle Elsten
I’ve been anti-Bloomberg from the start. But this! This takes it to a whole new level. He is an arrogant, out of touch billionaire and has no business being our president. I would love to see him sweat, worry and do the back-breaking work of your average farmer. Not to mention the analytical and business skills it takes to run even a small farm. At the risk of sounding like a schadenfreaud, I’d actually love it if he either a.) Not be allowed to eat until he fully appreciates the scope of what it took to get that food on his plate. Or, b.) Do a years labor on a hardworking farm. Or, lastly c.) Just be turned into the ass that he is
Angie
Beautiful!
Sherry
Very well said! You managed to refute his comments in a meaningful way that could be received by someone of an opposite opinion without offending them. I love it and hope you send it to his campaign headquarters and I’d send it to President Trump as well. Truly an simply put educational piece! Thanks!
Deborah wilson
Very respectful, thanks Shaye I herd him say that , I could not believe it. Farming I’m sure is hard work, he should try it , would not last long. I’m waiting to see your spring bulbs you planted. Can’t wait
Hope @invisionhope.com
Just found your website and blog. Love your post and thoughtful words.
Serious baker
What do you expect from someone who never did a hard days work in his life. The mayor doesn’t have a clue what it takes to be self sufficient. It takes all types of people to make the world go round, I think some have forgotten that.