By TRISHA PENNING
Ellis County Extension intern

My name is Trisha Penning and for the last four years of my life I have been attending Fort Hays State University, which has led me to this wonderful opportunity to intern with the Ellis County Extension Agents this summer.

Living within city limits has taught me to really appreciate the type of life I lived while I was back home on the farm in Atchison County, Kan. Some people who have spent their whole life in the city may think it smells weird or gross or any of the like adjectives, but to me the smell of the farms around Hays takes me back home to my childhood.

Being raised on a farm has taught me a lot throughout life even with all of my bull-headedness (I get it from my Dad). It has taught me to enjoy the peaceful stillness of the mornings and evenings that one can spend just looking around taking everything in. As a person grows up it seems that peacefulness becomes more difficult to find but easier to cherish. Living in the city it seems there are always sounds such as vehicles driving down the street, or a train rolling through, or even the sirens of a police car, ambulance, or fire truck.

As a farmer’s daughter I have learned to enjoy the little moments and the simpler things that happen in life, including riding with Dad during harvest, helping him spray thistles and weeds, and, of course, my favorite, spending time in the pastures checking the cattle and making sure all is well with them and their calves. All the while, Mom is in the house doing laundry or cleaning and canning (I thoroughly enjoy helping with those tasks as well).

Farm life has taught me about pride and humility. There is nothing like looking out over your crops or herd at the end of a long day and thinking, “I didn’t do too bad.” Sometimes it doesn’t always turn out like planned and it might not be the prettiest picture out there, but you can always say “I tried my hardest” or “I’ll work at it again tomorrow”. Along with plans not always going the way I wanted, the farm taught me to take all situations one step at a time. It is okay to have a plan but on a farm you had better be ready to be flexible because it seems something is always coming up or going wrong, and the best way to keep from going crazy is to breathe and deal with the new circumstances as you come to them. We all know that Mother Nature has a plan of her own, which is sometimes opposite of ours.

The value of hard work is probably one of the most recognized lessons that a person can take away from being raised on a farm or ranch. This lifestyle requires long hours and is filled with grueling manual labor, but every farmer or rancher knows deep down inside that they would not have it any other way. Every drop of sweat and every scratch on their arms and hands or scuff on their boots is worth it because the work that they do is so gratifying. They get to see their work manifested in those little sprouts coming out of the ground, which will eventually turn into a ripe crop, or the newborn calf stumbling around trying to get the feel for his legs.

As my life has progressed in Hays I have started working in retail, which is quite different than the work I used to do with Dad. I used to fix fence and help clear brush and I used to gripe and complain about it sometimes.  Now I find myself missing that kind of work as I clean jewelry and take in repairs at the jewelry store where I work. I love working with people every day (it is one of the joys of my current job) but I often find myself at work or in class and missing the cattle as they wander about the pastures grazing on the tall grass that had accumulated during the early months of spring.

I find myself remembering some words I have heard over and over again from those older and wiser than I. “Be grateful for what you have” and “Time goes faster as you get older” are words that young people would know all too well, and as I grow farther into my adult years I find them to ring true. With all the lessons that I have taken with me from the farm, I look back and am truly grateful for what I had then and what I have now and what I am preparing for in the years to come as they will pass faster than I’d like.