For the love of the Farm Life

Hello folks, let’s chat…People take different approaches to getting their message heard. It doesn’t mean that one is necessarily better or worse than others, just different.

Take me and Todd Sanstrum for instance. Todd is the fellow from Massachusetts who recently kayaked 3 and 1/2 miles down the Taunton River in a 817 pound pumpkin. Todd had hoped to cover seven miles but propelling a giant veggie through the choppy water was tough! He had to call it quits halfway through. That’s okay, though. Todd’s pretty sure he still set a genuine pumpkin kayaking world record and he’s confident that he succeeded in raising agricultural awareness which was his primary goal.

By the way, there is no evidence that Todd had a wife and couldn’t keep her, so we will not report on that story here. Besides, I figure y’all are wondering what his messaging has to do with mine. Patience, grasshopper, I’m getting there.

As some of you know, I also enjoy kayaking, though my trips thus far have been limited to Lake Providence and I’ve yet to captain a giant vegetable. But more importantly, Todd and I share a mutual determination to raise appreciation for the American farmer. It’s why I’m always posting farm pictures on social media. Whether I’m capturing images of the men harvesting, grain carts rambling down the road, or the sun setting on a beautiful rice field, I love sharing pictures that celebrate farm living. My man is on board with this, too, except when I’m pointing the camera at him. He gets a bit camera shy. The other day I asked him to smile so I could snap his picture on the combine.

“Shellie,” Phil said, “Do you have to take so many pictures?”

I reminded Phil that I was the official documenter. And then I told him that, if he would prefer, I could always kayak down the Mississippi in a giant pumpkin.

What did Phil say? I was hoping you would ask. My favorite farmer said, “Cheese.”

Hugs, Shellie