When friends come over to my house, they immediately note the fragrant aroma and question how I can stand it, but frankly, I don't really notice it anymore. Life on a farm has become a part of who I am. The smell of a harvested field of corn mixed with the ever-present aroma of the chicken houses - these are the fragrances of fall for me, not some pumpkin spice latte. Growing up on a farm isn't glamorous but I wouldn't have had it any other way as it has made me who I am.
1. You know the meaning of hard work.
Growing up on a farm, your definition of chores is inevitably going to be very different from that of your friends. While you have the normal jobs of cleaning your room or emptying the dishwasher, your parents also have you helping with the vegetable garden or taking care of livestock. When you do a day’s worth of hard work that requires you to get your hands dirty, a five page paper no longer looks so bad.
2. You are motivated.
In my family, there was usually a set list of jobs that needed to be done each day. While the list would generally get longer as the day progressed, if you should be lucky enough to finish everything, you might get to actually have some time to relax.
3. Getting up for 9 o’clock classes is like sleeping in.
In high school, you had to get up an hour before everybody else in order to get your chores done before you go to school. And if you lived on a dairy farm, it was even earlier. Even in the summer you are up fairly early in order to get things done before the heat of the day. You can text your friends shortly after you get up in the morning and not get an answer for the next four hours because they are not awake yet. Thus is the difference between someone raised on a farm and a city kid.
4. You know how to make even the most unpleasant tasks fun.
There is one simple truth to hard work - the people you are working with make all the difference. On a farm, that includes your parents, siblings, and maybe even your grandparents, which inevitably means there will be a certain degree of comedy. Only the members of your family can succeed in making turning work in the chicken houses into a game. Also, working with your siblings can turn any job into a competition as you rival the competitive dynamic of Ross and Monica.
5. Your sibling is also your best friend.
Growing up on a farm means your house is surrounded by giant corn fields, and being surrounded by giant corn fields means that you have no neighbors. So, as a kid, your siblings are your only option for social interaction and entertainment. As a result, my brother and I had come to an understanding - if he played Barbie with me for half an hour, I would play trucks with him for half an hour, and so on. You also find yourself sharing a lot of common interests with your siblings (Barbie not included). Older siblings become your first coach, teaching you how to throw a football or kick a soccer ball. If you had an older brother like me, it becomes a race to keep up.
All the time that you spend together inevitably creates a unique bond between the two of you, as you know what the other is thinking and can pull off a prank without ever having to say a word (much to your parents’ dismay). They are the person who can make you laugh yet infuriate you all at the same time. They know when something is wrong and you can always talk to them when you need advice, even though you know you won’t get a serious answer out of them 95 percent of the time.
6. You have a powerful imagination.
One of the perks to a farm is the endless space in which to play. You and your siblings could spend hours running around outside, climbing trees, and inventing new games. In the winter, snow provides endless fort opportunities with elaborate tunnel systems, complete with rooms and snow furniture.
If your siblings were busy or they just succeeded at getting on your last nerve, you had no choice but to play by yourself. You could spend hours drawing, reading, running around outside, and getting lost in your own world. You learned how to spend time by yourself while still appreciating the time you spend with others.
7. Appreciate what you have been given.
You have inevitably heard the stories about how different it was for your parents growing up and how hard they had to work. However, you have also seen how hard they work to provide for you and your siblings. Thus, you are thankful for the opportunities that you are given and are prepared to make the most of those chances, especially if you do not see farming as your future career. Instead, you are going to make the most of your education, as it is your one chance to get off of the farm and out of the small town you grew up in. However, the longer you are at school, the more you come to value the way that you were raised and the people in that small town in which you grew up. You find yourself actually missing the work, and above all you miss the people you worked alongside. Growing up on a farm may have been hard, but you wouldn’t have had it any other way.
