Tuesday, Kentland, Indiana

I’ve spent the majority of my life on the East Coast. Between New York and Long Island where I grew up and New England well went to school and lived for a time, I had little or no exposure to the Midwest. For good part of the past decade, however, I have lived in Indiana. My wife Sally grew up here and so now I have relatives who are Hoosiers. I’ve come to love them all.

Among my new family, one of my favorites is our niece and nephew, Brad & Jodi who are farmers. They grow crops and raise livestock and it’s been a great experience learning about what they do. For starters, I’ve been amazed at how technologically sophisticated farming has become. The crops are planted using incredible machines equipped with computers and global positioning systems. The care of their livestock utilizes the latest science about animal health and growth. I love going to the farm to simply watch how they do what they do.

Over the years we have celebrated the years of their bounty crop And we have prayed for them during the years when weather - too much rain or no rain at all - ruined their crops and meant that they essentially earned no money. What a life! But aside from the unpredictability of whether and other unexpected eventualities, what is most impressive to me is the steadfast commitment to life informing requires. The lifestyle allows very little flexibility for days off or time away. The livestock doesn’t take vacation and attending of the crops has its own in flexible schedule. Brad & Jodi, alone with their four children don’t miss a day of work because they cannot miss a day of work.

The demands and responsibilities that are inculcated with the children and farm families are unique. I don’t know of any other family lifestyle that teaches children life lessons in such broad strokes as that of a farm family. Farm kids learn about life, death and birth control or ability in ways that are profound, unlike anything I have never experienced. At a time and in a society where so many children grow up with a sense of entitlement, assuming that their needs will be taken care of by others, the lessons gained by growing up on a farm are probably what more of our kids need.

- Your farm does not have a barn

- The only tools you have in your barn are a hammer and a phillips head screwdriver

- You often plant crops while drunk

- You wear a jacket and tie every day

- You often feed your cattle table scraps

- Because of your neglect, your goats and sheep have mingled and bred

- Despite the consequences you insist on taking your vacation time during the harvest

- You keep forgetting to neuter the male calves and now you have two dozen mature bulls roaming your land

- Although your farm is in Minnesota, you planted 200 acres of bananas