"A Farm is a Gift from God"

Another issue of Lancaster Farming is going to press.  And, this is the second edition for my F-A-R-M blog on the website.  It has been an interesting challenge getting the page ready to go, with graphics and photo, but I always enjoy learning something new.  I have to give credit to my daughter, Emilie, for taking the photo and helping to develop the page.  The newspaper staff performed the technology magic and F-A-R-M made its inaugural appearance on Lancaster Farming’s web page last week.  Amazing what can be done in today’s information age.  And now I've learned how to log on and add another column to the blog.  Give it a try yourself and post a comment on this blog if you would like to share your thoughts on what farming means to you.

This week I was reminded that one of the real meanings in life is meeting, making and keeping true friends.  I received a message from a fellow Hereford breeder in New Jersey who read the article and logged onto the website.  Along with an update on his beef cattle herd and this year’s calves, Chris R. shared with me what it means to F-A-R-M.  He told me that it is “preserving a way of life for my grand kids, having the opportunity to show the next generation in a small way how the simple ways can be the most meaningful.”  He added that even though he and his wife are not fulltime farmers, they “love the ability to have our own small slice of heaven.”

His message brightened my day, especially knowing that Chris and Bev farm in New Jersey, between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.  Before visiting their farm, I couldn’t imagine there could be any farms left in that highly-populated area.  I was in for a great surprise when we drove through acres and acres of productive farms that are holding their own, despite the development pressures around them.  While Pennsylvania leads the nation in preserving farmland, I have to give credit to the programs in our neighboring states that help keep crops and livestock growing on these fields, rather than houses or casinos.

Saving the land for the next generation is a true gift. It is coincidental that one of my favorite tee shirts was purchased on a rare day-trip to the ocean many years ago.  The shirt caught my eye in one of those board walk shops.  It reads:  “A farm is a gift from God.”  Those words surround “homespun” graphics of a barn and various foods that are raised by farmers.  Friends ask me where they can find a shirt like it but I’ve never seen it anywhere else since that day at the seashore.  It is a special shirt and I wear it with pride.  It reminds me to give thanks for the privilege of farming the land, a job that lets me make many friends and help feed the world one customer at a time.

Perhaps you have a special shirt, or hat, or sign that serves as your inspiration to keep on farming.  It may be a special person who keeps you tilling the land even though it may be easier and more lucrative to sell out.  Feel free to share what motivates you to keep on F-A-R-Ming.

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