Worth the read..

warning heartfelt post!
As many of you know, my mom side of family is from Zimbabwe!
Papa actually started farming along side his dad at the end of 1969! Their operation included 2 farms over 150 miles apart! That consisted of 17,000 acres: around 750 head of cattle, 400 acres of cotton, 1,000 acres of crops! Crops they grew include: soybeans, corn, peanuts, wheat and flower seeds!
…. had to sell farm in 1980 but not your typically sales situation they got NOTHING out of it.
In 1983 my granny and papa moved with my mom and uncle. Unfortunately not my choice but by force! Leaving their farm, and assets behind! They came to the U.S with only $900 and a couple of suitcase!
The rest of my family came over later!
You see here recently, my granny and papa joined facebook to catch up with friends back in Zim, see where they are at, how they are doing!
After reading some of the stories, it made me realize how blessed we are to live in this country. how free we actually are! We all are spoilt, even though you think the government is against you, reality is it could be worse!
Another thing I realized is how blessed we are to own land and to farm, you see when my family and many other families in Zimbabwe had no choice but to give up there farm, just had to leave behind.. and not a penny was given to them for it! It’s not about the money but think about the memories, think about the farm being passed to future generations, or future generations growing up there!
Could you imagen, leaving everything in the middle of the night? House,farm, memories,crops,animals everything. Even family, not all my family came over at once. Nevertheless, not knowing where you are going? What’s next? Is everything going to be okay?
It made me realize how thankful I am for farming over here.. and being able to work along side my papa just as he did his dad but also him being reassured everything he has worked towards is his..
He started Lively H, from the ground…and grew as the years have past and still continues to grow each day.
I’ve seen how much he has grown on his own, for the last 22 years of my life. I see his love for his cattle, his crops and his farm and family! I see the good and the bad! I see the stress, I see equipment breaks, I see a pleased face with crop yields or disappointed face when looking at the weather!
I see and hear the stories granny and papa tell me. I see granny providing for family just as much as papa, farm wife’s are just as important! They provide the farmer that feeds you with a meal on the table when they get in or in their lunch box. They do the laundry, they escort, they take care of the small children or grandchildren! They go get parts even if they are far away! They put up with the farmer when it’s rained for three days and he’s got crops still in field! They birth the next generations of your farm, or family!
I am thankful for my family, and their heritage! I am thankful for the stories they tell, their hard work, their braveness!
It makes me want to push harder towards my goals because I see what they did for themselves. You don’t have to have it all to have or make a good life. You rise from what you’ve been through and you grow to be better.
Farming is tuff, farming is fun, farming is full of unknowns, farming is full of decisions, and most importantly farming feeds the world.
Farm size doesn’t matter, farm location doesn’t matter, rent or owned, used or new, yours or borrowed, farmer-male or female doesn’t matter!
What matters?
You doing what you love, you love your land, your family, your a part of supplying goods and feed to animals and food on our growing populations plates and your a good steward of land!
Stay tuned tomorrow’s blog is their journey to US and how they made it here in Princeton!
•
•
•
•
•
#farmingstories  #agriculture #farmlife #farming #supportlocalfarmers #agrowersgranddaughter #farmer #farm365 #ag365 #familyheritage #rolemodel #sunday #farmblog