Recently I had the pleasure of dropping in to Lisa of Cornell Creme for a visit down on the farm. you’ll recall I did some shots of Lisa’s amazing ice cream awhile back. Jolene and I came by, fittingly, the day after Open Farm day. If you’re at all interested in where your food comes from, never been to a farm or just like to get out of the city for a drive I urge you mark Open Farm Day in your calendars. It’s the one day farmers encourage the greater public to drop by for a visit. Not that farmers generally don’t like visitors. On the contrary, many farmers are busting with pride about their operations and once you get them going they’ll tell you what ever you want to know. Its just that farmers are busy people, farm life is 24/7. No where is that constant commitment more apparent that at a dairy farm. When we arrived Lisa’s husband was busy doing something in the barn, her father in law was working on the engine of a farm truck and her mother in law was digging up the garden. Hard working folks like these don’t usually stop for photos! But we managed to convince them to sit still longer enough for a group shot.
I encourage you to read Lisa blog entry that lead up to Thanksgiving, its really quite special and explains a lot about the emotions that run through this farm. While many of us in the city have some sort of work life separate of our family life, on a farm that’s not the case. Work/life family/farm all get rolled up into one. Lisa writes:
My husband and I purchased the farm in 2001 and my in-laws have always supported our ideas with giving advice. Respecting our decisions along the way. My husband and my in-laws work together every single day. My husband considers it a blessing in life to have cookies & coffee with his dad everyday. I think that is something to cherish….The piece of advice I would give is to respect each other’s differences and even celebrate them. Know not everyone is like you nor should they be. We have a saying in our house and that is ‘everyone brings something different to the table’. This makes for a bountiful meal. A meal of only potatoes day after day can be quite boring.So next time you pour that big glass of milk, or fire up the BBQ for that steak, think hard about the people who spend their lives working on the farm.
