Killing the Fairy Tale: Conversations with City Folk

This post has been written over time, and not in one sitting as my other posts are.  It is based on real conversations I have had about agriculture with various city folk.  I have had plenty of these conversations that were very positive.  However, sometimes I hear comments that make me cringe.  These are not cruel comments.  They are just woefully uninformed.  I try to explain why these ideas are wrong, but sometimes I'm afraid I'll do more harm than good by killing the fairy tale that is a city dweller's idea of farming.  Allow me to give you, my readers, some examples.

At the end of April I attended a Bible Study retreat for a week.  There I got to talk with a number of people who didn't know much about agriculture, but were interested to learn more.  As usual, all of these conversations were positive, but one still has me shaking my head.  I was talking with two sisters from Grande Prairie during a break one day.  For some reason, I went into the discussion thinking they were at least slightly familiar with farm life.  I launched into an explanation of how I manage my small herd of cows, making the decision to either keep back heifers to build up the herd or to sell the heifer calves for immediate cash to help pay for school each year.  When I had finished the explanation one of the sisters said, "Oh, cool!  It's like a board game!"   I was speechless.  How could I possibly refute that without being harsh?  I was far too angry to give a respectful, reasonable reply.  But I had to say something.  The girls were looking at me, waiting for a reply.  So, I turned to sarcastic humour.  I said, "Oh, yeah.  It's great fun.  Except that sometimes you draw a card that says, 'The bottom just fell out of the beef market because someone got mad cow disease on their farm.'"  It was the best I could do in that moment.  Fortunately, the girls seemed to get the point without getting offended and I managed to calm down.  I should clarify that I wasn't angry at the girl who asked the question.  I was angry that agriculture is taken so lightly and that the general public doesn't seem to understand that agriculture is a dangerous, risky industry.  I'm not angry anymore.  Now I'm just disappointed and frustrated.

In May I went to the dentist.  My dentist is in Edmonton and I've been going to her since before I can remember.  During my check-up, she was asking me about farming.  She asked why I like farming so much.  I couldn't really answer.  I just said that I enjoy the work.  So, the dentist started chalking up all the good things about farming as a career: "It's good because you get lots of exercise from the manual labour.  And it's a nice clean job."  Wait.  What?  Is she serious right now?  The hygienist and I gave the dentist questioning looks before I said, "Well...actually, I get pretty dirty by the end of a day..."  I really couldn't understand why this highly intelligent person would think that farming is a clean job.  "Oh, of course you probably get pretty filthy working in pig poop and whatnot, but at least it's a clean sort of dirty.  I mean, it's natural, not with all these chemicals we have in the city."  We don't have pigs, but I chose to overlook that mistake.  I was too busy trying to figure out if I should kill the dentist's fairy tale and inform her that farmers actually do use a lot of chemicals and we have to protect ourselves accordingly.  I didn't want to turn her into one of those people that will only eat organic, though, and since I had only a short amount of time to talk, I let it go with a vague, "Not really..."  I'm still kicking myself for not thinking and answering faster.

Every summer I attend a Bible Study in town while I'm home.  A few of us are farmers or have grown up in the country, but most of the young adults there grew up in town and have only a vague understanding of what goes on at the farm.  I generally have to filter what comes out of my mouth when people ask, "So what's new on the farm this week, Valerie?" (because you just can't talk about castrating at Bible Study).  One evening I was chatting with my friend and her younger brother after Bible Study was finished and the brother asked, "So now that you're done planting, do you just wait until harvest and not have to work for the rest of the summer?"  Since I know this family fairly well, and because I was overtired, I forgot to filter my response.  Instead, I laughed at the poor guy and started listing all the things my Dad and I will have to do between now and harvest.  When I paused for breath, the young man said, "So, basically, if you didn't have cows you'd have a lot more free time." Momentarily speechless, I stared at him and mentally ran through my to do list again.  It was true.  Everything I said, except for one major project and spraying, wouldn't exist without our cows.  We've got some pretty insightful town kids out here in Barrhead.

I generally know just enough about stuff to get into trouble.  There is very little that I'm an expert in.  Unfortunately, many city folks assume that farmers know all there is to know about all forms of agriculture.  This can present us with some opportunities for a bit of fun when people come to us for advice.  For example, one of my mom's friends who has lived on an acreage for the past few years recently got some sheep.  My parents and I went over there one day and I showed her how to tip a sheep and shared some fun facts that I had learned from one lecture on sheep in my livestock class.  Several weeks later, we were having supper with this same family friend.  She was telling us the gory details of docking the lambs' tails and was wondering if there was a better way of doing it.  She asked, "Have you done that, Valerie?"  I was tired and was tempted to rudely sigh and growl, "No, I only had one class on sheep.  I'm not an expert on sheep and don't care to be."  Instead, I saw an opportunity to have some fun, so as seriously and nonchalantly as possible I said, "Naw, we don't do that to our cows."  There was dead silence at the table for just a second before my parents burst into laughter, while Mom's friend shook her head at me.  Oh but it's fun to mess with people sometimes!

This blog post is getting long enough.  I may do a sequel someday.  I'm sure there are plenty of interesting conversations in my future.  For now, thanks for reading.  And if you're a city person wanting to ask a farmer something, don't be afraid to ask questions.  We'll try to be nice if you say something weird.