THE FARMERS

The land.
It was the land they loved.
It was their obsession, their pride.
The farmers love the land,
almost as much as they love their children.
It was passed down, generationally.
It was a Holy responsibility.
The land after all, is the giver of life,
much the same as God.
The land yields food, water, trees, sustenance,
and health from all its gifts.
The sun bathes it, and every spring,
sprouts are tenderly watched.
Dutiful planting, and sowing begins before dawn,
and ends when the sun goes down.
The rewards come from good food, wholesome families,
and mason jars filled with delicacies, stored for the winter.
Fathers and sons, chopped and stored wood.
Mothers and daughters, cooked and canned.
Knowledge was shared, and passed down.
Fathers and Grandfathers with calloused hands,
held babies, almost as much as the women.
Love ruled their lives.
The men knew everything about tools, and farm tractors.
Agronomics, mechanics, welding, market analysis,
were to be learned and applied.
Everything on the farm is respected, and used.
God is in their lives every day.
The seasons, the rising of the sun and moon,
and the sowing and reaping are mystical.
The farm is a wondrous place.
Animals are cared for, and loved.
The outside world must wait.
A farmer has no time for the world,
or its insanity.
Farm families pray together,
eat together,
work together,
and are in awe of God's great gifts.
Many of todays farmers in America,
have lost their land to corporate monoliths.
Either they were forced out of business,
or couldn't stay focused on new agricultural,
farming techniques.
A farmer's business can die,
if he doesn't understand the markets.
Farming is not an easy life,
but it is a blessed one.
As a heavy equipment operator,
I met a lot of young men who were farmers.
They had to have a day time job,
to make ends meet on the farm.
They were good men.
While I was enjoying a beer after work,
they were harvesting or working on farm equipment,
'til the wee hours of the morning.
These guys never slept.
They ran on fumes.
I don't know how they did it.
They had pride, and never failed on our jobs.
These men never complained.
They were the best, damned heavy equipment operators,
I had ever known.
Sadly, I listened to their fears.
They tried to keep their farms from failing.
When they did fail, I saw these men get sullen.
They moved to trailer parks, and some took to the bottle.
No one bailed them out. The banks now owned thier farms.
It's a damned shame.
These guys were Americans, tried and true.
They spilled their blood on foreign soil,
defending America.
They never got any help from the government,
although many of them begged for it.
America has gone wrong.
The government is helping bankers and wall street.
Let's help the sons and daughters, who made this country great.
Let's not help corporate farms, take away family legacies.
Let's get our priorities straight.
God bless the American farmer.