Growing up on a Farm?

I did not grow up on a farm but so wish I did. Growing up we spent just about every weekend out in the country with family friends who had a few acres with horses and a pond. Some of my best memories are from the time spent out there. I know this is nothing like the reality of a real farm but I did enjoy it. I love farm animals so much that I became first a zoo keeper and then a biologist at zoos specializing in farm animals. I think I'm one of the few people in the zoo world that specifically wanted to work in the farm area. I loved my work. My brother too wanted to live on a farm and actually now has a hay farm. It's nice for him because it's a bit flexible in that he doesn't have to be there and can work another job through the winter. I would love to eventually live on a farm but my husband is not at all the country type so maybe I can convince my brother to get some farm animals LOL. I guess he and I are just country people at heart.

I grew up on a farm and hated it, BUT it taught me a lot. My father was of the belief that the reason you had kids was to work the farm, so we got up at 3am every morning (starting at age 7) did our chores, came in, got ready for school, did school, came home did chores again until 7pm, dinner, homework and bed. Didn't leave much time for just being a kid and having fun. The cows had to be fed and milked everyday.

I went as far away as I could for college to get away and I do love the city.

All this being said, growing up like this has taught me to be a hard worker and how much it takes to get what you want. It has also helped me to teach my children.

When I was younger I dreamed of living on a farm. My parents weren't "farm" people at all. We always lived in the city until about 9th grade and then we moved out to a country area (still no farm though). I used to visit my uncle in Louisiana every summer so I could spend time on his farm and I even spent one spring break on a sheep/pipe ranch in Ozona to to live the country life. I did a lot of dairy judging in highschool. I think it's what I wanted for a long time.

However, now that I have kids and I'm super adjusted to life in the city with all the conveniences it offers, I'm not sure I could handle a farm.

I do appreciate farmers, though, and am slightly envious that they can be nearly self sustainable on most of their own foods with out depending on gross meats from Wal-Mart and fruits and vegetables that have come from other countries when you could get a lot of them from the same town. I also love taking my kids to pick-your-own places so they can see a small sample.

Out of curiosity, what kid of farm does you family have?

My dad farmed with his brother on the family ranch that had been in the family for over 100 years. The land had to be sold for taxes before I was born and my dad died when I was very young, but I did learn a lot about farm life from my grandmother and uncle. On my mom's side many in her family were apricot and walnut growers. I grew up picking and cutting cots and harvesting walnuts...those are some of my best memories every. Here in California, specifically, all of the orchard have been torn out and developed into tech firms or housing. It makes me very sad that my children will not share the same experiences.

I didn't grow up on a farm but I wish we lived on a small hobby farm right now. I would love to have chickens and a few goats and maybe a horse or two :) Not more than 20 acres would work for me. Someday...I just keep dreaming and praying for now.... :)

I dream about living on a farm, but I know I don't have a stomach for it. (helping animals birth, killing for food, etc.)

I love taking my kids to farms as often as possible, though, and they learn the sounds and animals they are eating, just because ;-)

We also compost and have a veggie garden, and lots of flower gardens, so we "urban" farm as much as possible ;-)

I did not grow up on a farm. We grew up in the country but my parents didn't farm. I married a farmer and we are raising our children on a farm. It is wonderful...I love it. The kids have their chores to do and it really is a team effort to get things done. I have learned as an adult to drive tractors and semis and my kids can't wait until they are old enough to do so. I am sure when they are 15 & 16 they will wish they didn't live here but when they are small they sure love it. Its hard work and LONG hours. I had no idea. Sunday's aren't taken off either. We go to church and back get back to work but we do it as a family and it works for us. My sister lives in the city & I am sometimes jealous of her accessibility to everything.Our nearest town is 20 minutes away so when you go, you better have your list ready!

I didn't grow up on a farm in daily life, but I sort of did anyway due to the farmer-mentality that my parents instilled in us kids. My father grew up on a farm before moving into town as a teenager and my mother grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere with a family farm just a few minutes outside town. We would stay with my grandparents for every single vacation. We all had our own chores around the house (our house and our grandparents') and we were expected to be hard-working at a young age.

We would go out to the farm (always an exciting time to ride with Grandpa!!) and help spin honey, or feed cows, or pet bunnies, or hunt down the barn cats, or pick apples in the orchard, or drive through the backwoods to check out the beaver dam to make sure it wasn't flooding the creek. This was the farm (2 farms, actually) my grandfather was born on. The frontier-like house he was born in was still standing across the road along with the car my mom killed as a young adult. His farm dog, Sarge, "saved" me from a garder snake when I was little. I'll never forget the verocity with which that dog went after that snake all because it was sneaking around his kids.

It breaks my heart that everyone moved away...or died...that could take care of the land, so it was sold and/or leased and my ties to the area and my history are effectively cut. Unfortunately, the economy in northern Michigan just wasn't enough to entice any of us 16 grandkids to move back "home." And I am saddened that I haven't been able to give my kids these life-changing experiences.

I was raised on an emu ranch. We had a lot of other animals (for pets mostly, not food) and farmed our land for our own produce. My dad raised rabbits for awhile for food, and did a lot of hunting. I moved here to a suburb of Chicago from very rural NC and it's a totally different world.

I think it's important for kids to know where food comes from and how to be self sufficient. Farming teaches you a LOT about life that you can't get anywhere else.

We support local farms and farmers' markets with the food/way that we eat, and teach our kids about why we do this at every turn. We visit the farms, meet the people that help put the food on our plates, and grow a lot of our own food as well.

I can't see a thing wrong with raising your kids on a farm, as long as you are teaching them to be respectful of the earth. I think now, more than ever, we need to be teaching our kids to not pollute, not buy into the GMO/Monsanto/etc hype and go back to the old ways of growing and living, not consuming, consuming, consuming and wanting more more more bigger and better things. Simple, whole foods grown organically, and animals treated and slaughtered w/respect!

I didn't grow up on a farm, but relatives had farms and ranches. I really hate that my sons did not get to have the experiences I did getting to see life outside the city.

I grew up on a farm and loved it. Loved watching the seasons change, the corn harvest, etc. We didn't have too many farm chores to do though I have walked my share of bean fields and painted shed roofs (for $$ of course). It was great to boast to my friends that I could drive a tractor in junior high.

The downsides were that we didn't participate in a lot of community events "in town." No softball, etc. Town was only a mile or two away, but it seemed like we only went there to go to church and grocery shop. My friends were all in town or on other farms so we never saw them unless we were at school. We rarely had playdates. My friends were surprised once they started driving how close to town I actually lived.

I do have a great appreciation for hard work and family, which I think ties directly into growing up on a farm. Life and death are something you see everyday. We weren't sheltered from any of that. I wish I could be raising kids on a farm or at least in a small town.

Just wanted to add, a big downside was that we never took vacation. Couldn't leave the lifestock. However, looking back I'm sure neighbors would have pitched in and fed the animals while we were away. Our "vacations" were a day trip to the state fair or Six Flags.

LOVE IT!!!

My only problem is that I'm so used to the quiet that when I spend the night at a hotel I'm up all night because it's too loud.

But I wouldn't change it for the world :)

didn't grow up on a farm, but had a wkend lake home. I was 6 when my parents bought the place. Fully-wooded lots which they cleared by hand. 1 room house & a single garage for our boat for many years.

Slowly we added on...ending with a well/running water when I was 15! Woohoo! I remember hating the outhouse, freaking over the sound of snakes on the gravel driveway....a sound I'll never forget! Catching tadpoles, picking blackberries & fighting the snakes for the biggest berries. Picking & processing persimmons....& black walnuts. Knowing that my Mom was lying when she said "don't worry. Spiders & lizards can't climb your cot frame". Yeah, right, Mom....:)

Wonderful memories! Thanks for bringing them back! When we moved from the city to our small town, I insisted on living in town....in a neighborhood with other kids. Our younger son is 15 & I'm soooo ready to move to acreage! & since my Dad passed away 2 years ago, we're in the process of preparing to sell our lake house & buying another one closer to home. Can't wait to have our own fish camp at Lake of the Ozarks!

All good thoughts....thank you!