Occupation: Farmer. That's a bold statement for me. I had been hesitant to totally embrace the title of farmer. Maybe that's because I was raised with the image of a farmer as a male in overalls next to a John Deere. Maybe it is because our farm doesn't have fields of waving grain or a big red silo.  Maybe I felt I haven't quite earned my stripes yet.
 
I do the work of a farmer. I sow seed and harvest  produce, herbs and flowers to sell at market. I till and weed. I discuss the weather more than is normal. I operate three (soon to be five) greenhouses. I complete all the paperwork (on a good day) a farm operation requires. I run a tractor.
 
But now that I have learned (from our area's most respected sustainable farmer) that my lifestyle includes two things that other respectable farmers do, I feel I belong to the club and can fully embrace the title:

 

I take a Saturday afternoon nap and I quit the farming profession every year.
 
You see, in my former life as a corporate cog, Saturday afternoon was the time I got my worthy work done - outside in the dirt. It took me two years to let go of the Monday to Friday for them and Saturday and Sunday for me mentality. One Saturday afternoon after Market ended at noon, it dawned on my exhausted mind that I had already put in an eight hour day following a twelve-plus hour day preparing for Market. A guilt-free nap was deserved if I wanted it! And let me tell you, it is a sweet sleep. I have learned that the Post-Market, Saturday Afternoon Nap is a common and guarded ritual among farmers with a lot more experience than I.
 
I have also learned that farmers quit the long, hard work of farming each year, vowing to return to a former professional or retooling themselves for a new one. But the cold weather settles in and we aren't getting up a the crack of dawn to beat the heat and bugs. The new seed catalogs arrive and the dreams of new varieties and planning for the best harvest ever begins. Before you know it, you are digging in the dirt again. It's a bit like childbirth, you forget the pain.

 

For the future, I learned that as a farmer I should not carry keychains that make pig grunt sounds or other animal noises or change my cellphone ringtone to sound like a rooster crow. Those type of things tend to add confusion to your farming day.
 
So here I am at the beginning of another season at Market. Stop by our booth on Saturday and say hello. But please don't call the farm between 1 and 4. It's nap time.