A Jack of All Trades

While much has changed about farming since my early childhood, one of the truisms that has remained pretty constant is that a farmer wears a lot of hats in the course of an average day, and there is endless variety to the work. When I compare my day to week after week of entries which read along the lines of, Oct 6, 1893, " Plowed all day today with team. Got 1 and a half acres done" in my great-grandfather's diary, I'm not sure I'd have handled the monotony of farming in pioneer times very well at all. Whatever else it is, farming the way Melissa and I do in 2010 is rarely monotonous.

Most of the time, if I choose to do so, the only thing I have to do in order to be busy is to wake up and look out the front door. The rest of the day will look after itself. I spent part of this morning as a horse handler, helping Melissa and one of our employees get ready for farrier day. When this activity looked to be well in hand, I drove to our Lynnville farm and acted as construction supervisor/architect to our building and earthworks crew down there. While still in my construction supervisor role, I priced out some fencing materials, a trencher rental and some water line. On my return home early this afternoon, Melissa demoted me to stall cleaner and floor sweeper after which I came in the house to take over my secretarial role in doing some follow up with clients and some bookwork for the farm. I also briefly donned my sales hat when I set up some appointments to visit with potential clients next week. At about 4 pm, I switched roles again...this time back to chore boy, and in this role I mostly remain (along with aspiring world famous blogger) at 9:30 pm.

Most days I enjoy solving the problems that each day presents, whatever they may be. A long while ago, one of our Paradigm Farms blog readers summed up a perfect day on the farm by saying that all of the problems that presented themselves would be easily remedied with tools that were close to hand. Amen to that. But even when the problems presented aren't so easily remedied, it doesn't take long to remember that compared to my time as a warrior in Corporate America, I don't have many days that aren't pretty close to perfect any more. I'll take a tractor engine problem on a 90 degree afternoon over being stuck with no solution between a livid client and an irate boss any day of the week. Some folks find salvation in their hobbies. For me, it comes about three seconds after I open my eyes to greet the morning.