Thankful for farmers
In case you missed it last week, I introduced a
Thankful Thursday Giveaway series.
Every week, I will post something I am thankful for and challenge you to think of something you are thankful for. I think we all need to stop and take time to appreciate what we have.
So this month, I challenge you all to stop what you are doing and take some time to be thankful and appreciate the world around you.
I ask you to 'like' Almond Girl Jenny Facebook page AND this post AND then comment with something you are thankful for. I will pick one person each week and send them some 'nutty' cheer to help them spread their happiness.
This week, I wanted to think of something that I did everyday and should be thankful for. Often times, we do things and don't realize how it impacts others. What do you do everyday and take it for granted to be able to do?
Well, I eat everyday. Three times a day, sometimes more than that. How do I get my food? Before you can answer with "the grocery store". Let's think beyond that. The people who get the food to the store. The people who plant, care for, and harvest the food. The farmers!
I am thankful for farmers.
I am a fourth generation California farmer on both my mother and father's sides. Before that my family had been farming in other parts of the world. My dad's side of the family were wine makers in Italy. My mom's side were sheep herders in the Mid West. But they all came to California in the early 1900's for one reason, to farm.
I am lucky to have married a fellow fourth generation California farmer. His great grandfather came to California for one reason, to farm. California seemed to be the land of opportunity, the land of hope, the place to make a fresh start. California had fertile land and seemed like a great place for many to plant roots in agriculture.
Farming was their passion. Their desire to move to a new and unknown place, to start fresh and be a successful farmer. Becoming a farmer was what gave them drive and hope. It was the sought after career, the lifestyle of their dreams.
Today, farming can often be an under rated or looked down upon occupation or lifestyle. Farmers can be looked at as dumb or uneducated. In the movies or advertisements farmers are depicted as okies with overalls, wheat in their mouths or missing a front tooth.
But if you ask me, farmers are some of the smartest, most educated, eternally optimistic, and nicest people I know. Farmers have to be smart to be able to figure out how to do more with less. More and more land is being taken up by urban sprawl, city development, environmental regulations, or lack of resources. Yet, we are being asked to produce more. We are being allocated less water and given more regulations. We are being told to use less pesticides but grow a crop that looks blemish free and has no signs of insects.
Farmers are the modern day superman, producing more with less.
Farmers work day in and day out to produce food to feed us all. They often do it without any praise or acknowledgement. They are the backbone of everyone's lives. Farmers are the unsung heroes.
How many of you expect that food to just be there when you want it? The farmers work hard every day to ensure your food is where it needs to be. I am thankful for the farmers in my life and all the farmers across the globe that work hard every day to provide a safe and reliable food supply for you and me.
What are you thankful for?
Until Next Time,
Almond Girl Jenny