I rode the bicycle to work yesterday. It was a beautiful spring day - a little breezy - but a good day to be outside. On the way home, just about every farm field I passed was either being tilled up, sprayed, planted or had just recently been so. When I came to an intersection, a semi pulling a flatbed loaded with tanks of farm spray passed me and right behind the big truck was a pickup with a kid who looked to be about thirteen in the saddle. I couldn't help but smile when I saw him.
Since I'm not in the farm game, I forgot how much farm kids are involved in the business at an early age. My brothers and I were all driving something around as soon as we were able to reach the pedals. Hell, we were sitting on the old man's lap and steering the old pickup when we were only five or six. No seat belts, no air bags, no collapsible steering columns, nothing. Simpler times, that's for sure. There are still lots of risks on the farm and way too many young kids are injured every year but I still remember all the fun we had as kids growing up in the country.
When I got home, Mr. and Mrs. Farmer were tag teaming my property, her chisel plowing and him planting twelve rows at a time. They got it finished last evening and it's raining this morning. It was nice heading down the lane and seeing the freshly tilled black dirt and the big John Deere sitting next to the barn. Things have really changed over the last 40 or 50 years, but the thirteen year old kid helping with the planting is still the same.
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