I know them.
Individuals, couples, teams.
I watch them, study them
with fascination and respect
Indeed there are rich soils
that mother them, father them
Sustain them,
keep them going
Most of them
just do their jobs
quietly, not in the newspapers
and not on tv
But
The teams they create
the contributions that are made
are truly amazing
Food is taken for granted here
the luxuries of meat prevail
beef, pork, chicken and turkey
fill grocery coolers…always
taken for granted
One farmer feeds himself or herself
and sets free 152 others
to use their gifts, find their niches
mostly in our cities
Nearly every local farmer
has a mate for life
together they are teams
side by side at church and meetings
side by side along life’s highways
In and out the driveways
salespersons of every ilk come and go
some delivering fuel, machinery, plant foods and more
I count some 80 team mates and more
lawyers, doctors, nurses
technicians of every sort
educators, past and continuing
I can see all their faces
Individuals, couples, teams.
I watch them, study them
with fascination and respect
Indeed there are rich soils
that mother them, father them
Sustain them,
keep them going
Most of them
just do their jobs
quietly, not in the newspapers
and not on tv
But
The teams they create
the contributions that are made
are truly amazing
Food is taken for granted here
the luxuries of meat prevail
beef, pork, chicken and turkey
fill grocery coolers…always
taken for granted
One farmer feeds himself or herself
and sets free 152 others
to use their gifts, find their niches
mostly in our cities
Nearly every local farmer
has a mate for life
together they are teams
side by side at church and meetings
side by side along life’s highways
In and out the driveways
salespersons of every ilk come and go
some delivering fuel, machinery, plant foods and more
I count some 80 team mates and more
lawyers, doctors, nurses
technicians of every sort
educators, past and continuing
I can see all their faces
Then there’s the neighbors
every team of them exceptional!
A farmer wears a lot of hats!
They volunteer, serve without pay
in a myriad of ways
making this whole thing tick
It starts and ends with the soil
Beginning with Adam, the rest of us are born
to study and work the soil, mother earth giving
Father earth stern with consequences
we grow our food for our seasons
then return to the soil
becoming a part of it
Haven’t we always been
aren’t we always now
a part of the soil
married in ways we are just now learning
The bacteria that live in us, that live in the soils
play their parts in living soil, in living beings
Yet we are more, as
we think and can learn
and ponder higher things
Creation constantly unfolds
revealing a Creator
From around the world
a stream of people come
to study us
Why do we have abundance
while so many live hungry?
The American farmer
lives the answers.
Come watch with me….
Lin, post harvest, 2014
every team of them exceptional!
A farmer wears a lot of hats!
They volunteer, serve without pay
in a myriad of ways
making this whole thing tick
It starts and ends with the soil
Beginning with Adam, the rest of us are born
to study and work the soil, mother earth giving
Father earth stern with consequences
we grow our food for our seasons
then return to the soil
becoming a part of it
Haven’t we always been
aren’t we always now
a part of the soil
married in ways we are just now learning
The bacteria that live in us, that live in the soils
play their parts in living soil, in living beings
Yet we are more, as
we think and can learn
and ponder higher things
Creation constantly unfolds
revealing a Creator
From around the world
a stream of people come
to study us
Why do we have abundance
while so many live hungry?
The American farmer
lives the answers.
Come watch with me….
Lin, post harvest, 2014