I grew up on a farm...

I just read an enjoyable post by a lady who was raised in a small town and thought there should be a post about being raised on a farm.

I was raised on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley of central California. We grew alfalfa hay, cotton, and raisin grapes as part of the Sun Maid co-op. We also had some livestock, including a milk cow and chickens. We drank our own milk and made our own butter. We grew a huge “organic” garden, but we didn’t know calling it that made it special. It was hard work, and we all had to do our part. I started driving (steering) a tractor for simple tasks before I could reach the pedals. It saved having to use a full grown farm hand for a task that didn’t require size and strength. We irrigated our fields continuously during the growing season. The mosquitoes were unrelenting when the sun was going down. I was often hosed off before I could enter the house at the end of the day. I can never remember one time waking up in the morning thinking: “Gee, What do I want to do today?” Going eight miles to town was an event. It only happened on Sundays and perhaps once or twice during the week. Most of my school friends had a very similar lifestyle. We were farm kids. I worked hard and played hard, hunted and fished alongside my father, day after day. It’s what I knew.

We rarely ever ate fast food or processed food. My grandmother was a world class country cook. Her chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, and pot roast were my favorites. Our treat was a soft serve ice cream cone on the occasional trips to town.

I attended a country school named, “LaVina,” because of the vineyard agricultural industry in that area. It was a K-8th grade school. My grandfather was one of the custodians and my school bus driver. I personally knew all the teachers, cooks (they cooked real lunches on the premises) and the principal. There was a healthy respect for authority woven into the fiber of that system. It has served me well.

Our town was Madera, California. I had family history there. My uncles, aunts and cousins lived in and around Madera. We were involved there. My relatives included the county sheriff, furniture store owners, teachers, a probation officer, a barber, mechanics, and so on. I grew up with a sense of belonging.

My background has served me well. I have never been arrested. I have never been drunk. I have never used any kind of recreational drug. I have never been fired from a job. I finished college and have a graduate degree. I have spent the past 40 plus years in full time ministry. I have traveled all over the world, and I have great friendships from every place I have lived and traveled, including the farming community where I grew up. I have never accumulated wealth. I have lived within my means, and have been blessed with an abundance of things that make life work. Does being raised on a farm guarantee all the good things I have known? No, but it helps. It gave me a great foundation for managing the gains and losses we all experience in life. Most of all, it has helped make me thankful human being.