The farm

 My first exposure to real work was on my family's farm. It was difficult work, building fences, mucking the barn, tossing hay, clearing brush, splitting wood, and stacking 50lb feed sacks among other things. We were out from sun-up to sun-down in the sweltering summers, and wind chilled winters. We raced against storms, and fought against hard-baked clay. We had cows, and goats, and chickens, ducks, and rabbits, a handful of dogs and cats, and two old horses to care for each and every day. I did not appreciate any of it at the time. I wanted to stay inside and work on my writing, or drawing.Nevertheless, I was need outside filling up water troth, and gathering eggs.

It was till much later that I appreciated what the farm work had done for me, but eventually I found out. I knew how to work hard. I knew how to push through exhaustion and frustration and keep working.  I knew how to handle heat and cold. I knew what patience was from wrangling all that livestock. I learned how to do things I did not want to do, because they had to be done. It was all needed out on the farm, and I found it was pretty useful everywhere else. 

As far as skills... Well, I reckon I tell if rain is coming fairly well. I know how to plant a garden, and how to use most simple tools. I drove a tractor and worked an auger. I know my way around animals. I haven't really drawn not he skills so much when I am away from the farm. It was the character lessons that transferred. 

I still help from time to time. It is nice to remember the early days of my working life. It is nice change of pace as well. I don't mind doing farm work now, but one thing I learned on my first day out there was that I didn't want to do it for a living. To be clear it wasn't the amount of work that turned me away, it was how we ended up tied down to the land. I have other aspirations, and I want the freedom to purusue them.