The English word farmer did not refer to the soil. It came from the Norman French word for a contract between a landowner and the tenant who worked his land.
I too had a farming uncle, whose spirit was one of sober kindliness, like his father and grandfather before him. I didn't know the generations before them, but the evidence is that they were men cut from the same bolt of sturdy stuff. Stereotyping farmers as buffoons and bumpkins has been common in my lifetime, and is a horrid injustice.
As both a granddaughter of, and a mother of farmers, and living in a county surrounded by flourishing family farms, I couldn't agree with you more about the healthy minds, bodies and souls of those whose life is so closely tied to the earth and their neighbors. Their children even seem to enjoy the chores they begin doing at very young ages.
I too had a farming uncle, whose spirit was one of sober kindliness, like his father and grandfather before him. I didn't know the generations before them, but the evidence is that they were men cut from the same bolt of sturdy stuff. Stereotyping farmers as buffoons and bumpkins has been common in my lifetime, and is a horrid injustice.
As both a granddaughter of, and a mother of farmers, and living in a county surrounded by flourishing family farms, I couldn't agree with you more about the healthy minds, bodies and souls of those whose life is so closely tied to the earth and their neighbors. Their children even seem to enjoy the chores they begin doing at very young ages.
Thank you for this post. I grew up on a farm and this brought back many good memories.