The blue sky smelled of manure. Even the allure of coffee and raw milk, homemade bread with rhubarb jam and omelets plucked from their mother just that morning couldn’t overcome the scent that distinctly said, “You’re on a working farm.”
The distinct sound of a tractor pulled up to the farmhouse door. The farmer offered us a hay ride around the farm and explained the difference between hay and straw, silo versus barn. The farmer named each machine and it’s purpose, but not the animals.
That night, I briefly wondered if the chicken that gave her life for our pot pie dinner also sacrificed her progeny for our breakfast. And if the rooster that would wake us in the morning, knew what happened to his family.
Plastic and foam trays
Deception and protection
Farmers eat the truth
Yes, that’s me on a tractor – picture courtesy of one of my sorority sisters who posted some “throwback pictures” of a reunion we had a bed and breakfast in the Pennsylvania countryside a few years after we graduated college. I don’t think the tractor was actually moving for the picture, but it was a first for this city girl!
Coincidentally, Jamie Dedes’ Wednesday Writing prompt requested: This week share poem/s out of your own nostalgia, experience, impressions, gratitude, concerns, or convictions about farms, farming, or farm policy. Despite now living in “farm country”, I still don’t know about farming although I do appreciate the numerous farmers markets in our area.
One thing I do know: I am very appreciative of the men and women who work on farms because I know I don’t have the constitution or inclination to grow things or kill things to eat. Maybe because living in cities, I was never exposed to that reality and thus my aversion to being close to the true source of what I/we eat. Food came in a package and didn’t have faces. Maybe if more people were aware of the reality of farming, there would be less food waste and a better understanding of the need to conserve and protect the environment/nature and animals as finite resources. But what do I know…I’m just a city girl…
©️ iido 2018
I Do Run 
Your insights/asides/commentary always add more meat to your verses. We city breds are so far removed from farm realities!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true! I never really thought of the specifics of where food come from but now living in “farm country” I am more aware. It has helped me be less wasteful and also be more aware of conservation and environmental issues. It is work though to change that mindset.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know…mindsets are so difficult to change but thankfully we have so much information available to help us along.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it’s what people decide to do with the information – use it or ignore it – that decides their mindset and consequent behavior.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadly most people tend to ignore it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
this is such a good PSA for farmers who toil, all the hard work to get food to us. love your exuberance!
LikeLiked by 1 person