General Forum

Does playing FarmTown on Facebook count? I used to do that, but the time spent on that pretty much stopped in 2012 when I started posting here. 

I grew up in Maine and when I was in college everyone asked if I lived on a farm.  That must count for something.

Trade On!

I live on the funny farm

Grew up on a then 1000 acre sheep and beef farm here in New Zealand. (Yay, a sheep farmer from NZ - such a cliche!). Farm is a good deal bigger now as have purchase some neighbours' land and expanded the operation to include vineyards and a share of a seperate dairy unit.

I am the black sheep of our family however as I am the only one of four sons not to work in agriculature. My brothers are a dairy farmer, bee keeper and the youngest runs the family farm now.

Well, rdbade, I'd say you're certainly one of the few true farmers on this site, or at least one of the very few who post in the forum. But kudos to you for what you do.  As someone else said, farming is a great life, but a tough way to make a living.

I grew up in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis and have always been more city-boy than farm-boy.  But my Mom grew up on a farm, my grandparents and multiple uncles/aunts farmed, and a couple of cousins of mine are still farmers in the area.  My sister and I spent a week on my aunt's farm every summer for a few years straight. At the time I thought that Mom was just trying to build character, familiarize us with our roots, expose us to all you can learn on a farm (nature, work-ethic, animal care, etc.).  Now I kind of wonder if Mom & Dad just wanted (or perhaps needed) some time to themselves.  But either way, I remember it fondly, despite always having hated working with my hands and getting dirty.  (Did I mention 'city-boy'?)

May God bless the American farmer...heck, the farmers of the world.  Generation after generation of us have survived only because of their efforts.

I grew up on a dairy farm and I did what I was "supposed" to do and went off and got a graduate degree.  I worked in the "real-world" for 5 years was extremely unmotivated running the rat-race in corporate businesses.  Ten years ago I started my own dairy farm 2.5 hours from the rest of my family.  It's been tough with no family support but we have survived.  Next year my brothers and I are combining businesses and are going to take over the home farm.  Hopefully that will allow all of us some time off occasionally.  So in 4 months, I will be a flat lander again.  I could never go back to the real world.  

Odd that this topic came up because earlier today I was reading a story of a guy who had a farm and for the last 25 years has hired Mizzou football players to help him in the summers, mainly baling hay. It only caught my attention because the guy they talk about used to be a sports anchor in the 90's, and that was around the time he bought his farm.  Then he left TV and became a bank president, then I believe a spokeperson for the local university hospital.  I've known of him for 30 years almost but never realized he was a farmer.  It's a pretty good story, here's a link if anyone is interested- https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/tiger_kickoff/football-players-find-safe-haven-on-columbia-farm/article_def23d7c-40b5-11eb-a6c6-ff8f81c7061d.html?utm_source=SocialNewsDesk&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SND_scheduled_post

As for being a farmer, I never have, but I lived on a farm for a few years.  I enjoyed it for the most part, as the land owner had cows in the pasture behind the house and I believe either wheat or corn along the driveway (I was 6 when we lived there, I can't remember).  The only time I didn't like living there was when you'd smell the cow manure, or the couple times snakes came into the yard.  I don't think I could be a farmer myself, but respect the ones that do.  With that being said, I do enjoy playing Farming Simulator, and when I get a little stressed, its a fun game to calm me down, especially planting the seeds and harvesting.

I'm not a farmer either, but I'm surrounded by them and I do grow my own veggies and have a couple fruit trees. I had a walnut tree too until it got struck by lightning last year. I can WALK to a cow pasture in about 5 minutes or several different planting fields in the same time. I've mostly lived in country/farming areas during my life. Driving to work, I'm sure I pass over 50 fields every day. So I see corn, soybeans, hay, wheat and tobacco on my way to work for about half the year. I totally respect what the farmers and their workers do b/c I see them doing it a lot. My only problem is the corn attracts deer after harvest and I'm coming home at night. ALWAYS on the lookout for them and other animals.