day 11 of farmacology: national farmers' day

One of the things you may not know about farm folks is that

we don't actually celebrate National Farmers' Day. But we totally should!  

Because if we did, today would be our day!

I imagine the day would involve things like: sleeping in, no phone calls, perfect weather, pulled pork and a beer, a good book, a nap, a farm dog that knew the value of personal space . . . 

But as it turns out, most farmers are celebrating National Farmers' Day by . . . well . . . farming. It's harvest, after all. Maybe we should see if Congress can move this little gig to December or some other calmer time of year. 

So even though the farmers I know are busy at it, I'm going to give them a shout-out anyway, and maybe they'll read this in a month or two when the combine is put away and they're prepping for the first snow. 

Or the tenth snow, if you're living in Iowa. 

Happy Farmers' Day to my two favorite farmers: my husband and my dad. 

Thanks to Chris for putting in long hours without complaining, for eating meals at midnight during silage instead of at 6:00 p.m., for giving tours to people who have never been to farms so that they can see how much pride you take in your animals, for explaining how terraces are built to me verrrrrry slowwwwwwly so I can at least partially understand it, for not making me learn how to drive a tractor in the first 24 months of marriage because you're smart like that, for wanting to grow and expand the farm so that our kids can come back here and do the same thing you love doing. 

And thanks to my dad, who let me name hogs and have pet rabbits, who loaded out pigs and then came home and ate nachos (which was pretty much the coolest thing ever because then we kids got nachos too and that was thee best treat), for teaching us that that farming is as much intelligence and discipline and foresight and business sense as it is agriculture, for making us raise chickens so that I could have fond memories of it and attempt to do the same before remembering why it wasn't so great after all, for always teaching us the value of forward motion because it meant that we were learning, and for raising us in the country and on a farm, where we could run and play and imagine . . . and still smell hogs when we went to bed at night. 

You'll always be my two favorite farmers, even if you can't agree on whether hogs or cows are better, because as for me, I get the best of both worlds: a husband and a dad, bacon and beef, and two farms to take pride in. 

And that's a pretty sweet National Farmers' Day, no matter what. 

Want to read more of my 31 day farmacology writing challenge? Click here.