It’s been a very long time since I have posted on my blog. Mostly because I have been too busy working and partly because I just don’t know what to write.
After thinking about writing for a few months, I decided that I would start a type of farm diary. I generally hate it when people use the internet as their personal diary, but it won’t be like that at all. People seem quite fascinated at what we farmers do on a daily basis, so I think I will share.   If it gets too boring, I guess no one will read it. 🙂

With the loss of farms and lack of people interested in farming over the years, I’ve realized that there are very few farm/ranch blogs from “real” farmers/ranchers. I’m sure most of that is due to the fact that farm/ranch people are typically very private and are too busy working to spend any time on the computer. It seems that the majority of country style blogs out there are written by hobby farmers or Mary Jane types. Don’t get my wrong, I have nothing against hobby farmers or city women that want to be farmers. I think it’s really great actually, (I also don’t want to insult Mary Jane or anyone that reads that magazine as I really enjoy reading that magazine as well.) but I find myself having a really hard time relating to any of them. There are some really cool blogs out there with some nice, handy ideas but after reading a little farther I realize that the people writing them are independently wealthy or have a spouse that makes a six figure salary and supports the farm. Again…..can’t relate.

After watching a documentary this summer on young people that farm/want to get into farming, I realized how scarce the young farm types are.  I really don’t have much for friends my age that farm, and the ones that do don’t live around here. I do have a couple of friends that are much younger or much older than I am that do a little farming, but it’s getting to be very slim. The small farmer is getting harder and harder to find and is getting replaced by the bigger, more corporate farmers. Not all “corporate farmers” are bad but quite a few of them only care about production and nothing else.

I’ve explained to people many times that there are two different kinds of farm people. There are “farmers” and there are people that “farm”.

People that “farm” generally run things more like a corporation. It’s all about production and bottom lines and there is very little thought put into the land, the animals or the crops. They do the very minimum to save money and make a bigger profit. If they loose a few chickens or cattle, or a few hundred acres of crops, oh well. I obviously am not a huge fan of these types.

“Farmers” take great pride in what they do no matter how big or how small the farm is. They care deeply about the land, the animals and the crops. Loosing even one calf is gut wrenching and not just when it comes to the pay check at the end of the year. “Farmers” do the best they can to keep their animals and crops happy and healthy throughout the year to provide the best product possible to the consumer.

Whether or not you “farm” or are a “farmer” the real bottom line is that the income is very low because the expenses are very high. Farmers and ranchers are considered the “richest poor people” because they own a lot of assets that are worth a lot of money, but they make a very small income compared to their city counterparts. Most of this income is subsequently put right back into the farm. The rest is spent on bills and food. It takes a special kind of person to live this way and most, like myself, would tell you that they would rather struggle and live out in the country than live in town.

So this is the start to my Minnesota farm diary. I will hopefully have time to add some photos here and there. Not sure how often I will write; I guess it depends on how much time I have. Today was a little slow and all I really did was morning chores and clean the duck pen, and spin some yarn for a friend.  My parents hauled a steer to the butcher shop and picked up some food and supplies along with the regular chores.  My dad worked some more on the outside of the house to repair the fire damage that we had over Thanksgiving from a stove pipe fire.  The damage wasn’t bad, it was just one wall and could’ve been much worse.  We have a lot to be thankful for this year.