'JUST A FARMER', a short poem

For the past year since my return to Nebraska to farm with my father, when people ask me what I do for work, my usual response is: "I'm just a farmer". Some people laugh, some don't even believe me, but here is a little poem that made my day and I wanted to share it because it is NOT an easy life to live and still find time to enjoy it like my father does.

JUST A FARMER

"Just a farmer", you said,
And I laughed cause I knew
All the things that farmers
Must be able to do.

They must study the land,
Then watch the sky,
And figure just when
Is the right time and why –

To sow and to plant
To buy and to sell
To go to the market
With cattle and well –

You know the books
That farmer's must keep
To pay all those taxes
And be able to sleep.

And you know the 'fixin'
That farmer's must do
When machines like mad monsters
Blow a gasket or two.

I guess when God needed
Folks to care for His earth,
He chose "just farmers"
'Cause He knew their true worth.

- Helen G. Coon