Music artists, especially country music artists, often sing about farms, tractors, trucks, dogs, and other stereotypically farm related things. Many of the songs are catchy and fun, but it is hard to relate to the lyrics without spending some time on a farm.
About a year ago, my husband, Paul, and I decided to make a drastic lifestyle change. We bought a cheap property in the middle of the desert, left our city jobs, and decided to reconnect with nature. Paul grew up on an organic apple orchard. His first love is working to produce fruits and vegetables. I, on the other hand, did not know what I was getting myself into.
Farm work leads to bone-deep exhaustion and constant aches, pains, and injuries in joints and ligaments I had not even thought about previously. Farming requires emotional and physical strength, passion, drive, and at least a dozen other character traits that I am in the process of improving each day. It is not the simple and fun life that country music had me believing it to be, but it is lifechanging and extremely special!
“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the cornfield.” - President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Farming is far from what I expected when I agreed to make this leap. We are less than one year into our new life, and I am still very much an amateur. Yet, I quickly learned that farm life is frustrating, overwhelming, beautiful, exhilarating, exhausting, rejuvenating, confusing, adventurous, and oh-so real.
The longer I live out here, the more I learn about the real world. I also learn to appreciate the truths in the songs that I have known for years, yet did not fully understand. I am now beginning to relate to the lyrics and deeper realities behind them.
Below are just five songs that help my perspective on farming. I hope my realizations and new appreciation for the lyrics are also meaningful for you!
1. Real - James Wesley
It does not get much more real than trying to get a crop to harvest or trying to save a sick animal's life. We have lost rabbits, cats, apricots, peaches, apples, and pomegranates between our homestead and my father-in-law's orchard. Machinery has broken, coolers have malfunctioned, and we have shed quite a few tears over the losses.
Want to know a secret?
Loss is guaranteed. Keeping plants, trees, and animals alive is challenging, and no one ever has 100% success.
That is the real world, and I was not prepared.
James Wesley offers more truths in this song than I could comprehend before the start of this adventure. I now understand the second chorus about too much rain, drought, weevils, weeds, and praying while planting.
2. Big Green Tractor - Jason Aldean
A few months before we decided to make this leap, Paul brought me to his father's orchard for a few days. We spent those days working. Paul let me ride with him while he drove the tractor. It was special. It was real. It was the moment I realized that being on the orchard was far closer to the life I wanted to live than the life we had in the city. Paul quickly and easily fell back into farm life, and it was fascinating to watch him change.
I loved riding on that big green tractor with my husband, and I cannot think about anything other than this memory when this song plays.
3. Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys - Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings
I used to think this song was silly and portrayed an old western cowboy stereotype that was not realistic. I sometimes played and sang it at open mic nights, usually beginning with an old western movie reference or joke. I did not realize how much truth is in the lyrics. I will not go so far as to say that mothers should not let their babies grow up to be cowboys, but I cannot deny that I feel these lyrics on a deep level. Working on a farm or ranch is hard work, and that hard work creates complex individuals. Sometimes they can be rough around the edges, and they are not always the easiest to love.
However, can we stop and acknowledge why? They deal with greater challenges day in and day out for entire lifetimes than most people in the United States will experience in a week. They work 12-15 hour days (sometimes longer) in all weather conditions and regardless of injury or sickness. Their life expectancy is significantly lower than other occupations because it is dangerous and the consistent hard labor wears on their bodies.
It is not easy to be a cowboy, rancher, farmer, or the wife of a cowboy, rancher, or farmer. I now greatly appreciate anyone who is willing to take on those challenges and do what they need to do to take care of their families.
"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness." - Thomas Jefferson
Some days, my attitude and perspective are far from perfect, but all in all, I am grateful for this life we are creating, and I am thankful for my growing appreciation for farming and farmers. Each new experience and idea is a blessing. These beautiful songs are just a few reminders of this life's unique nature and the importance of not taking each moment for granted.
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