Learning

I've been learning a lot lately.  That's probably a good thing, considering that I'm in school.  The cool part about the learning, though, is that it isn't all happening at school.  I want to talk about some of the different learning experiences I've had in the past few months.  To keep it simple, I'll stick to instances in which I've learned about agriculture-related things.

1. School

This one's pretty obvious.  I mean, the whole point of going to school is to learn, right?  I have to admit, though, that I never expected to learn as much as I am.  Somehow, I always figured that whatever I would learn at school, I would just learn again at home (and vice versa).  The only thing I knew I wouldn't learn from my dad is everything computer-related (sorry Dad).  But, I'm learning so much more and it's exciting and interesting and sometimes it makes my brain hurt.  Do you know how many business-related classes I have to take?  Let me fill you in on a few of them.  There's Agricultural Management Principles (read, hardcore economics), Agribusiness Accounting (our professors like to remind us that we will be in charge of multi-million dollar businesses), Workplace Communication, Principles of Marketing, Advanced Product Marketing, and more!  And that's not even counting all of the crop science, animal husbandry and simple ag mechanics courses I have to take!

I have a confession to make.  When people used to tell me that I'm too smart to be a farmer, I used to believe them.  Once upon a time, so very long ago, when I was in high school (okay, so it was only about seven years ago that this happened) I had a friend from town with whom I loved to argue.  One day we were talking before church and he said, "I think farming must be the easiest job in the world."  As you might imagine, I nearly took his head off for that and quickly set him straight.  In an effort to calm me down (and perhaps save himself from my wrath) this friend quickly amended his statement: "Oh, I know it's physically hard, but I mean mentally it's one of the easiest jobs out there.  I mean, you just drive the tractor all day and don't think about anything."  That had me so mad that I just sat back in my chair and didn't say anything.  I wasn't particularly mad at my friend, though.  I was mad because I had no good response.  At that point, I just did whatever my dad told me to and really, I did just drive the tractor all day with nothing to think about (unless, of course, the tractor broke down).  Since then, I have been slowly learning that my friend was indeed wrong.  There is so much to think about and to know to become a successful farmer!  Most of what I have learned regarding this has been in the last little while in school, as I contemplate my future as a farmer, rather than a farm hand.

2. The Farm

Working for my dad the past four summers and growing up on the farm has allowed me to learn more than I even know.  I learned to drive standard before I could drive automatic (to save my city friends from an  alarming case of high blood pressure, I won't tell you how old I was when I started to operate the heavy equipment on which I learned to drive).  I can tell what's wrong with a piece of equipment when it breaks down (given enough time to investigate), and can occasionally figure out how to fix it.  I have learned some basic carpentry skills (no thanks to the shop classes I took in Jr. High that gave me a terror of power tools).  There's so much else that I have learned in my work and in listening to my dad, but a lot of it is random snippets of information that I can only remember when I need them.  It always amazes me to think of how much my dad knows.  I can only hope to one day keep as much knowledge in my brain as he does.  And he didn't even finish high school!

A lot of other things that I have learned on the farm I don't even remember learning.  It is so natural to have these skills that I don't even realize that they are special until I talk to someone who doesn't have those skills.  That brings me to the next section of learning:

3. Talking with City Slickers

First off, I mean no disrespect when I use the term "city slickers."  It's just what you are.  My professor calls you urbanites, but that just sounds odd.  Now that that's cleared up, I must explain what it is that I have learned from interacting with city slickers.  Often when I talk about all that I do on the farm, I run into some city slicker that stares at me in awe and says that they can't believe I know how to do all of that.  Really?  You're impressed that when the neighbour was away at work and the cows got out and his wife didn't know what to do, I went over, chased the cows back in, fixed the fence, and fed the cows?  That's not impressive.  It's normal to be able to do all that - right?  Apparently not, because there were people who were impressed that I did all that.  It was weird.

The other night I was talking with someone who recently moved to Calgary from Toronto.  We were talking about learning to drive and I'm afraid I may have shocked her a bit when I told her that it's totally normal for farm kids to learn to drive early and that we operate equipment when we are still fairly young (again, I won't specify ages).  It was very strange for me to realize that the skills I assume are normal, might not be, especially in the city.

Finally, it is interesting to learn what city slickers think about agriculture.  Do they think we all live on idyllic acreages, raising crops and animals in primitive conditions?  I know that children are still taught that farms have cows, horses, dogs, cats, pigs, sheep, ducks AND chickens.  At home, we have cows, dogs, and cats.  And we used to have horses.  Almost no one has that many different animals on the farm anymore.  Then there are the people who think we all live and work on "factory farms," where we keep animals in cramped conditions and ruthlessly pollute the environment.  Yes, these things do happen, and the media goes wild with such stories, but it's not normal.  The people I most enjoy talking to are the ones who know that they haven't got a clue what happens on the farm and are interested in learning and in sharing what they have heard.  

4.  Farm Friends

Here at Olds College, I've made friends with a lot of farm kids, most of whom somehow know a lot more than I do about farming.  Sometimes it's almost embarrassing how little I know about farming compared with these friends, especially when it comes to talking about equipment.  This Sunday after church some of my classmates invited me to hang out with them at Tim Horton's.  I ended up being the only girl there, which was a bit strange, but it was sure a fun and educational experience.  The young men covered every topic from cattle dogs  to trucking.  At one point (during an intense discussion about air seeders that I was barely able to follow), they asked me what kind of seeder my family uses.  My embarrassed answer was, "Um, not an air seeder," which the guys correctly interpreted as, "oh, so you use a seed drill instead.  What kind?"  This took a little more thought, but I eventually answered, "I think it's an International.  It's red."  I still can't believe that was best answer I could give.  The best part of these kinds of conversations is that I am challenged to learn more so that I can actually contribute to an intelligent farming conversation.  For the record, I called my dad later that day to find out what kind of machinery we have.  I now have a list to study as soon as midterms are over.  Next time, I'll be ready: "What kind of seeder do we use?  Why, we have an International 6200 drill."

I'm sure that there are many other situations in which I have learned about agriculture, but my brain is too full of midterm exams to think of them.  For now, I hope this list is sufficient to adequately express how much I have learned and to explain that farming is not the easiest job out there (mentally or otherwise).