CITY FARMER

I have been doing research into cover crops. They appear to be very beneficial to the land and in turn to the homestead as well. We have also been wanting to grow our own wheat so that we may process it into flour for our baking needs. So, I had a bit of free time after work and decided to stop at the local feed store and see if they carried a variety of such seed. Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not a 'farmer'. I do not have an educational background in agriculture, didn't grow up on a farm, etc. [Though, I have worked for farmers as a youth.] I am a well educated and pretty intelligent man though. I learn quickly and know how to do research. But, even with doing research and reading, there is always something more that comes from talking with those who have the knowledge firsthand - so I like to ask questions when the opportunity presents itself. So I go into the store and there are two gentlemen working. One is a small dairy farmer, the other I am not positive about. I have talked with the one farmer quite a few times about various topics. So I begin asking questions about growing winter wheat. Find they have it available, that in our area you plant September 15th till late October. Nice! So then I ask a few questions about cover crops such as barley, oats, rye, etc. They give me bits and pieces of info. I then told them how nice it was to ask questions and get some first hand knowledge from them. They told me no problem, anytime I had a question to stop by. Now the farmer knows about our homestead and what I have been trying to do. So I explain that to the other gentlemen. He asks why I want to grow wheat, and I tell him to make out own flour. He tells me that it is way too much work. I told him that I am making hay by hand, and we like a bit of work. At which point he says he can just sell me the wheat berries and then I can go from there. Grr...missing my point. But I thank him anyway and tell him we might try that to experiment. Then he tells me "Oh I see, you are what I like to call a CITY FARMER." WTF? Really? Now I know in all honesty [ I keep telling myself anyway] that he didn't mean anything by it. But it started to piss me off. I continued the conversation a bit longer, asked a few more questions, bought some corn and off I went. The whole way home though, it kept irritating me that he called me a CITY FARMER. I kept asking myself why he said that. Does it make a me such because my family and I want a better life, a more sustainable, in sync with the land, wholesome real life? Was it because I didn't want to follow his advice and buy things instead of grow them on my own? Was it because I didn't want to use chemically treated seeds? Because I pasture my hogs? Cause I don't use chemical fertilizer or Round up? Because we keep so many different animals? Cause I am not planting hundreds of acres of row crops? Because I am not doing what he does? Guess in the long run it really doesn't matter but for some reason that name just irritates the shit out of me - but I think that is a good thing!