Posts Tagged ‘advice’

Terrible Day

I am so sick of aphids.  Why are they everywhere?  Lord, what did I do wrong?  My farm has a huge natural population of aphids that just exploded once the succulent vegetable plants came on the scene.  Once the veggies arrived, the aphids latched on way quicker than the ladybugs, lacewings and syphids could eat them.  Geeeeze.

Farming is tough, for me.  I guess that makes the triumphs that much better.

I have learned a lot of lessons this year.  One is that, sometimes, farming sucks.  I wanted to quit earlier today, which is only about the seventh time this year I have wanted to.  How many of you farmers out there want to quit every season?

And, you know, farming is really good sometimes.  It isn’t the panacea to man’s problems… trust me.  There are way too many existential issues to tackle out there.  To give advice to myself, don’t go into farming thinking it is going to simplify life… no way.  It will make life way more complicated and you may experience anxiety and emotions that could land you in jail.  BUT… it also does a magical job of bringing people together, giving one the feeling of accomplishment that most jobs lack, and puts you in touch with an aspect of reality that is god-reminding.  So, it’s a mixed bag and the first-year farmer is somewhat of a martyr.  Since I still don’t really know what I am doing, I make a lot of mistakes, but I am learning and I think next year will be so much better (idealism is essential in farming).