So, you think you're going to retire...

   I don't know what it's like to climb up to or down from a tractor seat a dozen or more times a day. But I did spend 10 of my post-prime years (i.e., I was getting up there) hopping onto and off a forklift truck dozens of times a night. It takes a toll.
    I was happy to retire from that job a year-and-a-half ago and more than happy to get back to newspapering, which has always been my vocation of choice. I'm semi-retired now, with a part-time job. I'm hardly a trailblazer, but the trail behind me is getting wider and wider as more and more people continue working beyond "normal" retirement age. I know a couple of accountants who plan to never quit. A classmate who retired from selling heavy equipment who still calls on clients every day. A feed salesman who unretired to work the coffee equipment at a Wawa and quit after less than a month. A feed mill owner who retired but said he'd come into the office several times a week. After two weeks, he stopped going to the office. I know former teachers who paint houses. A retired surgeon who farms. A retired chemist who works at volunteering.
    I can't think of any retired people under the age of 80 who actually don't do any kind of work, paid or unpaid.
    I don't know exactly how farming works. If your farm has been your home, your life and your passion for 30, 40 or 50 years, it's not going to stop being your home, your life and your passion just because the candles on your birthday cake set off the smoke detector.
    It would be interesting to delve into the ways farmers retire and don't retire. Maybe I'll do that. It would take some time to look into it. But hey, I'm retired. I've got nothing but time.
    What started this train of thought was an article last Thursday in The Economist. You can read it for yourself here:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13900145

    We usually have only one Bupp in our pages, but this week there are two. Leroy Bupp, husband of Lancaster Farming columnist Joyce Bupp, had some sage comments to share with readers on the subject of no-till farming. He's been been a no-tiller for 30 years, and his most potent message is, "Be patient." His advice in Section A is worth reading.

    How to have fun with your food. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgDynGCzpjg