Monday, September 28, 2009

Living off the land


Every Wednesday, weather permitting, Bend, Oregon, has a farmer's market. I snapped a picture of this gentleman chatting with the lady in red. I didn't overhear the conversation, but I must assume, no surprise, it has something to do with agriculture. If you have ever questioned the validity of the adage "clothes makes the man", I think this should assuage any doubt. I believe that this fellow can grow a righteous crop of almost anything, knows plenty about chicken manure, and can fix damn near anything, except probably a computer. I love listening to these country folks. The experience generally humbles me . These farmers have learned so many skills and develop incredible knowledge of their occupation. They work long hours and have to endure the caprice of the weather, the insects and the market prices. In any case, it is easy to forget, when biting into that sandwich or eating green beans, what effort was required to deliver that to the table. I think the guy looks great, and deserves to be memorialized by this post.

6 comments:

tapirgal said...

That's very thoughtful, and the picture is inviting. It's nice how you can see right between the people into the background. Excellent, Lee!

Small City Scenes said...

Yep, the overalls do make the MAN!!! MB

B SQUARED said...

I could not agree with you more.

Lowell said...

So many of my family (on both sides) were farmers. It is a very tough life, but can be very rewarding, too.

I think this photo portrays well all those things you said (a gently-humorous commentary)...

What got me first, though, is that he's a dead-ringer for a friend of mine from Massachusetts...who was not a farmer...

cieldequimper said...

He looks like he has just stepped out of a book about the first half of the 20th century! Very nice photo, but you know, he might be very good at computers!

Sylvia K said...

So, true! We can all use a reminder about the effort that goes into supplying our tables. Great post!

Enjoy!

Sylvia