1. You don’t get anything you don’t work hard for: As Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed like overalls and looks like work.” Farmers don’t get anything they don’t work from sunrise to sunset on.
2. Be Patient: Who better to teach the lesson of patience than farmers? They wait seasons to see if their crop will turn out; or if their livestock will turn a profit much less break even.
3. Never hope for it more than you work it:“Farming is a profession of hope,” as Brian Brett put it. However, with that hope comes the knowledge that it won’t turn in to anything without working tirelessly to make it happen.
4. When you feel like quitting, remember why you started: When the temperatures are below zero and nothing seems to be going right – Farmers know that the end product is worth the work and the struggle to get there is worth the fight.
5. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you: Our farmers deserve praise not condemnation. Knowing where your food comes from is incredibly important, however, without Farmers there would be no food. So organic, conventional and anything in between, thank the farmer for what they do and don’t criticize for how they do.
6. Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life: There’s a reason farmers farm until the day they die – it’s not work to them when they love what they do day in and day out. As Wendell Berry once said, “Why do Farmers farm?…Love they must do it for love.”
7. Always look on the bright side: A Farmer has to be an optimist otherwise he wouldn’t be a farmer. Farmers know to always look on the bright side of things even when there wasn’t a bright side to be found. Whether it’s when a new born calf doesn’t make it through the night or when mother nature wrecks a crop, for farmers there is always next year.
8. Live a life of frugality and thrift: “What I learned growing up on a farm was a life centered on hard work, and on faith and thrift.” – Rick Perry. Farmers make the most of what they have because they have to. With markets unpredictable and equipment as expensive as it is, every little penny is treated as gold.
9. How to live a life to be proud of: Farmers will be the first to tell you, there is nothing better than seeing the product of your hard work. What better feeling to have than knowing your job is one of the most important ones there are.
What’s your favorite life lesson you’ve learned from Farmers or the farm? Leave a comment with your life lesson!
Source: Fastline
