Farm Travel Advisory
Spring is a great time to be out on the farm. People love to come visit and see the lambs, the calves, the chicks, oh my! And we love to have people come out.
Sometimes.
Sometimes people’s perceptions of farming are…surprising. Sometimes I forget how things look from the outside. (How I used to see things too!) And I forget that, while I’ve seen farms bigger and smaller and cleaner and messier and everything in between, sometimes our visitors have only seen us. And this is what makes it so important that we constantly allow people to come here, to bring those fresh, curious eyes, to question our methods, to stack us up against their books, their movies, their CNN Special Reports, and their grocery store labels…to challenge us to uphold the truth of what we’re doing.
So these are just some thoughts I wanted to share with you in case you’d like to visit your local farmer (with some lovely but completely unrelated pictures of our horse to keep you from getting bored!) ’cause we’ve seen and heard some strange, strange things since we started this journey…
This horse gets fat just looking at grass.
1. You should go to the farm. You really, really should. You’re eating it. You’re feeding it to your kids. (Do you know how many children die from food-borne illnesses a year?) You should absolutely be able to see where it comes from, what it looks like, what it smells like, and know who’s doing what to it.
So we put her in the alleyway between fields, away from the green stuff--and our gelding (who needs the green stuff!).
2. Farms are private property. Folks, this is not just a place of business, this is our home. And just because I said you should go visit doesn’t mean you should roll up in the driveway and demand a tour any old time ya want to. Call ahead. Or if you just stop by (because we really don’t mind that and have meet some wonderful people that way!), be polite and don’t be surprised if right this second is a bad time. (It usually isn’t, but it could be.) And DON’T–I mean DON’T–get out and starting walking around wherever because you’re just curious and want to see the baby animals.
She wasn't very happy about it so she spent 2 hours running back and forth (it's about 1700 feet long by 25 feet wide)
I can’t even believe I have to say that, but people tend to just pull into our driveway and somehow on their way to the door (I hope) just wander straight over to the nearest fence to see the animals. I’m sitting there scrapbooking while my kids are taking a nap and suddenly there’s a stranger’s head bobbing past my bedroom window…This is the country, people. That’s a good way to get yourself attacked by a dog. Or worse.  Not to mention it’s just rude. Look around, sure. If you see us, feel free to walk over. But don’t just start wandering around like you’re in a shopping mall or something–our garden hose is not for sale just because it’s laying next to the driveway.
Diet and exercise--killing two birds with one stone!
3. Don’t make smart remarks about the animals. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears (and money) go into these animals. Sure, some of them are unique and interesting looking. But if you don’t mean it as a complement (and saying “wow, that one’s eyes look really weird” is not a compliment) just keep it to yourself until you’re back in the car. (Especially if you happen to be a guy with several piercings, tattoos, hair colors, and are wearing platform shoes to visit a farm or country fair.) I’d hate to feel forced to “compliment” you back. We’re not raising 1,000s of animals here–even if it looks like a lot to you. We really do know each one and how they got that gimpy leg or funny twisted horn (and it usually involved a lot of blood, sweat, and tears from us AND them). And we love ‘um just the way they are.
And she does look beautiful in motion...
And the most important…
4. Don’t chase the animals. Sometimes they chase back.
I love your rules. A very good start to the weekend. B
Thanks for the light-hearted perspective on proper etiquette for visiting farms. I especially like the “I’d hate to feel forced to compliment you back”…that’s really funny!!
I should have added “wear proper shoes.” You can’t imagine… 🙂
Very good advice.
Ahhh…country living! One of my most memerable moments was a vistor who wanted to know where we parked our horses – and was stunned to learn that we did,in fact, drive a car. People can be so funny……
People are straight up crazy! I once had a girl (about 12 yr old) point at a cow patty and ask “is that poop?” Come on! 🙂
So very true! I too have a horse that stays fat just thinking about grass……sort of like me thinking about food! She’s beautiful by the way.
“City” folks crack me up and while I know we all have to start somewhere, the ones who like to tell me how to do things because they read an internet article or an issue of countryside magazine do get on the nerves! ;0)
I love when people look at everything you’re doing and ask about the one thing you don’t do. We have sheep, cows, chickens, a garden, an orchard (sort of) and someone always asks “why don’t you have pigs?” Seriously? Because there’s only 100 hours in a day around here! 🙂
I struggle with the philosophical ones that people think are so easy too. Like “why do you do this?” Well…why don’t you? (Although I usually say something like, “why do you go to the grocery store? this is my grocery store.” or something a little softer.) Hopefully we give people something to chew on when they leave.
I can’t believe that people just show up and start walking around your property. I mean seriously?! What could they be thinking?!
I’d never had much exposure to farm life until we moved to Arizona and our best friends have a ranch with ponies, cats, dogs, chickens, an orchard, and soon will have goats. It’s a lot of work!
I love this post.
We have had many people just drop by,we have had them ask anything from “why do you have so many bulls?” well there is only one bulls Highland cows have horns to…”How do you dig those big pumpkins OUT of the ground?” huh? ok well that’s what the tractors for,he he.
It can be nice sometimes,We hold open farm day once a year inviting the public in,last one brought over 600 people.
I like your blog!
I love this post! We live at the end of a 2.5 mile dirt road so we do not have many visitors but even friends and family should read this post 🙂 It is a lot of work and snide comments can really hurt.
Great post! I’d like to add that sometimes following an animal to try and pet it is chasing. We’re giant and very scary to chickens and other little animals.
People always ask if they can they can pet the animals and I don’t know what to say. Usually if we have one that’s ok with being petted, I offer to let them pet it. But mostly they’re not pets. It’s always awkward. We just don’t handle the animals much (we don’t have any that we milk) so they’re not really petting, pets. A lot of times I can call them over as if for food and they’ll come visit, but they’re not going to stand around and be petted just because. It also makes me smile when someone tries to coax them over with a handful of straw. 🙂
Love this post, funny, but also so, so, true! Great one.
Love the rules! Did the tattoo pierced guy really start commenting on the looks of your animals? Rude.
I also loved the horse pictures!
Yeah, he leaned over to his…girlfriend?…and said “Hey, that one’s eyes look really weird.” And I thought, “She probably things you look pretty darn weird too. She certainly doesn’t see that around here every day!” 🙂
I can’t believe people make snarky comments about family farm animals! Now that’s weird…