I never thought about being a farmer......

.

No really.. I never thought that I would be a farmer.  You know that question everyone asks when you are young "Hey little lady what do you want to be when you grow up?"  I not once said farmer... now when I was little as my #6  my response was princess. As I grew "princess" seemed out of the question so on came the many "girlie" jobs.... teacher, mom, nurse....never farmer.  Well, here I am now a few... ahem... years from that princess answer, a farmer.
   I have been surprised in my farming by many things.. I am not overly concerned with the old farmers that really like to tease me or that the feed store and the vet think I am odd.  The biggest thing has really been my ignorance to farming.  Before we bought our farm I never thought about what the animals ate or how much medication had been given to them.  I thought that farmers who fed crappy feed to their animals were rare.  I thought that the growth hormones and such were just for some of the big farmers, Tyson and those type.  I was horribly shocked when we got our first animals.
  I went to the local feed coop to buy feed, and came home empty handed.  All of the sheep,chicken,hog and cattle feed had some sort of hormone,antibiotic or animal by-product in them!!  I had no idea that it was so common to feed these things.  I had a difficult time finding feed.  I called all over our area to find some good quality feed.  It took quite some time, but I finally got what I thought farmers fed their animals...grain that's it just whole grains.  Now almost 8 years later I have convinced the local coop to carry whole grains.( I think I am the only one who buys it) I wish I had been more educated as a consumer when I did not have a farm.  I have always tried to be healthy and give my kids the best..I just didn't know how bad the problem was.
I am still learning as a farmer and make more dumb mistakes than I care to admit.  One thing is for sure
after that experience it completely solidified my desire to provide safe healthy food for my children.
I am proud to say I am a farmer.   I am a farmer that works to provide healthy non medicated, hormone free,animal by-product and anything else creepy out of my animals feed.  In doing this I provide myself with peace of mind and a satisfied hunger, being a farmer is good.