The Farmer

August 2022

Today I ponder change.  The continuous movement of time, and the impact that it has on the way things once were.  Some people call it progress.  One thing for certain, it is inevitable.  As I age, it makes me a little sentimental.  Actually, kind of sad. I guess it is just the nature of growing older.  At least I am glad I am doing that!

We had a farmer at the edge of our neighborhood for years.  A real farmer.  His cash crops were generally corn and soybeans. He had fairly substantial acreage and all the requisite tools.  He seemed to work the entire operation himself. He also had some smaller fields, where he grew consumer ready crops, like beans, tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, cucumbers, and potatoes.  He sold them at a little roadside stand. 

You generally never saw the guy.  He just trusted you to pay for what you took.  And we took full advantage of his produce.   Not meaning we didn’t pay for it, but we frequently purchased the crops that were in season. They were always delicious!  Truly farm fresh.  We looked forward to his harvest in July and August for many years.

When you did see this guy, he was extremely helpful.  Always good natured, in his dusty flannel and overalls. Over the years we watched as he aged, until we began to realize, he was becoming an old man.  At least he looked that way.  Hard work will do that to you!  Sadly, this year in early summer, he died.  Later we found out he was well into his 80’s and yes, he had tended his fields, mostly by himself, all his life.

We subsequently found out that his wife had passed a few years before him. They had adult children, and that they lived locally.  My wife and I stopped and bought produce that summer and one of his kids was tending to the stand.  I say kids, but she was at least 40 years old.  And you could tell she was a fish out of water.

After expressing our regrets and condolences, we learned that the farmer’s children had no plans to continue to farm.  None of them had any idea how to do so.  They barely knew how to pick vegetables, or if they were even ready to be harvested. They were now city slickers, to say the least. They also had no plans to seek out someone who might wish to continue to farm the land.

Later I learned that the plan was for the farm to be subdivided, and a new housing area was going to be developed.  Maybe even a strip mall.  I felt sick.  Another piece of the past lost to progress. I could hardly stop thinking about this. It took me weeks to really get over it.  I’m not sure I ever really did.

The American Midwest used to be blanketed with family farms, just like this one. Including my grandparents’ rural home.  Now, many of these are paved over, with urban development and suburban sprawl.  It seems small farmers are no longer a priority.  Farming in itself yields far less cash than the land that the farms occupy.  And there really are far fewer “farmers” than ever in our history.  We just don’t need them. Farming is now technology driven and big business.

It’s not just farmers.  Given the nature of today’s high-tech economic landscape, specific skills that were once considered essential or highly valuable for my generation have declined in relevance or demand. Cobblers, masons, wheelwrights, even machinists have been replaced by technology.  Also consider cashiers, telemarketers, travel agents and librarians.  No longer a need.

And it’s not just jobs or careers, it’s lots of other things that are truly disappearing. Cursive writing, driving a manual transmission, balancing a checkbook, rotary phones, phone books and car keys. I could go on and on.

Soon cash will disappear.  No more bills stuffed awkwardly in my wallet. We will pay with everything using our phone. Startlingly, even Jello salad, a staple at every gathering my family ever attended, has gone missing. One thing I am happy to say goodbye to!

But seriously, consider the brands and companies that are gone; Radio Shack, Pier 1, Borders, Pan American, Woolworths, Toys R Us, Blockbuster, Tower Records, Compaq, Oldsmobile, Howard Johnson’s Restaurants, and Sears.  Just to name a few.  They are no more. 

And why are they gone?  Because they failed to adapt to changing consumer preferences and technological advancements. Progress!  So, now they have become part of nostalgia, reminding us of a different era.  Like small, independent farmers.

My biggest concern is for other, less tangible things that might also disappear.  Like privacy, decency, courtesy, loyalty, kindness, and even empathy.  When will these things become victims of progress?  Some people think that this is already happening. 

I pride myself on staying contemporary.  I do my best to keep up with the times, technology or otherwise.  But sometimes “the times” move too fast and too far away from my comfort zone. Sure, progress allows us to gain a great deal.  But we also need to evaluate what we have lost as we progress. 

There are times I would like to go to a Radio Shack or stop at Sears. To stop and have lunch at a little local café, that a decade ago became a Denny’s restaurant. Or better yet, visit my little roadside vegetable stand run by my local farmer.  

The crazy thing is, as many times as I stopped at that stand, as many times as I spoke to the old farmer, I never got his name.  To me, he was just “The farmer on Watkin’s Road”.  Nameless, except for his vocation.  Shame on me!  As I progress with my own progress, embracing change, I plan on addressing that.  It looks like I could already use some work on my decency and courtesy.