Is gardening a job?

     When I told a specialist at a world-renowned hospital that I farm for a living, he asked me, “Is gardening a job?” When I told him that yes, it was, he asked, “What do you plan to do with your real life?” In the moment, I was too shocked to respond. But now, I would like to share my real answer. Because unfortunately, it’s a question that I get asked all too often, in various forms.

    First of all, YES. I don’t love the term gardening, it’s degrading (especially when used in those types of situations), and I consider the act of gardening for profit to be farming, but YES. It is absolutely a job. And possibly the most real job there is.  

    Farming is not a vocation that people get into to make money. Tell anybody that you want to farm, and they will probably laugh in your face or tell you that you need to marry rich. Some farmers would say no, farming isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle. Farming isn’t a job you work 9-5 everyday before coming home to your family and your hobbies. Farming is a full-time, energy intensive job that becomes your life.

    It terrifies me, when the people we trust most with our health forget the most important truths. Food determines our health. What we eat becomes how we feel, and who we are.

    And contrary to some people’s belief, food doesn’t just magically get made in grocery stores. The process of growing food is one of the most amazing miracles of this life. Plants grow from the earth, taking energy from the sun and converting it into energy that can be used by animals. Using the sun’s energy and carbon dioxide we exhale, plants create the food and energy that sustains our life, and all animal lives on earth.

Eggplant seedlings

    For most of American history, we were farmers. Families lived on farms. Children knew that lettuce has roots, that garlic grows underground, and that lemons grow on trees.   

    I don’t know where these people think food comes from. I don’t know what people think they would do if farming wasn’t a career. I know that people don’t understand our dynamic and complex food system, even though it shapes their health, economics, and politics. I know that when people think of farmers, they think they’re old-fashioned, and they think they’re less intelligent, choosing to do manual labor because they’re less smart. But what these people don’t realize is that farmers are highly educated and there’s a very large and growing population of young farmers. People don’t farm because it’s easy, or because it’s the only job they can get, they farm because they know how important it is to them personally, and to society as a whole. Rather than spending their days in front of computers, in meetings, and filling out paperwork, farmers spend their days outside, caring for the earth that sustains our life, and growing food that feeds us.

Flowering lavender

Purple cabbage

Winter squash in the greenhouse

              Not only does farming feed us, but it is what allows all of these other professions to exist. If everyone spent their days hunting and gathering food, there would be no banks, no lawyers, no schools. People wouldn’t have time to do anything else except find food. But luckily for all of us, farmers spend the time and effort to grow the food we need.