This week we bid farewell to our middle child and most experienced farm employee, Andrew. The picture below shows him with Mom & Dad at the end of his first summer on the farm. Almost nineteen now, he departed on Tuesday to start freshman year at Northwestern University, where he plans to study physics and astronomy.
Beginning with brief stints of pea and tomato picking at the age of six, Andrew has worked, perforce, many hours on this farm. It seems likely that he did not enjoy some of those hours. As a child, he had diverse interests– airplanes, soccer, downhill skiing, Harry Potter books, the Dominion cardgame, etc. – but farming has not been one of them. As he leaves, we’d like to acknowledge the work he has done.
Even as a young child, he was not a complainer: he endured his tasks with patient, silent resignation or entertained himself (and his co-workers) with riddles, jokes or intense discussions of his latest interest. Just a few days ago, a morning’s work in the orchard with him included a discussion of whether the known universe contains a google of atoms. (The answer is no.)
In the end, Andrew has gotten a lot done. He has planted, mulched, weeded, trained and thinned. He has picked, washed, and packed a great, great many apples. He has built things and fixed things and put his tools away when he was done. He has worked with care, and cared for the people he worked with. He has worked with increasing skill, and, recently, impressive skill. When something needs to be done here, he likely knows how to do it.
His interest in big things with motors was apparent early on. By age eleven, he had learned to drive the tractors, and in the years after he became an invaluable tractor operator. For the past few seasons he has done most of the mowing and tilling on our farm.
What pride! What joy! The tractor has a boy.
Andrew always enjoyed silliness and jokes; but he is also a thoughtful, introspective soul. At the age of fourteen, he spent many hours building a trellis for a half-acre of currants and gooseberries. Several weeks later, he soberly remarked, “I feel a sort of pride whenever I look at that trellis.” [“Aha,” we thought. “He appreciates the rewards of hard work!”] After a few moments of earnest reflection, he added, “I don’t understand why I feel that pride.”
At Thanksgiving 2023, Andrew’s older sister came home from college, and his parents said, “Great! Everyone’s home! You kids are off from school! Let’s all go outside on Friday and Saturday and put a 3,075 square-foot steel roof on the toolshed.” Partway through this long and physically arduous task, amid the cacophony of impact wrenches, groans, exasperated exclamations, sibling banter, and shared hilarity, he said, “The time when our entire family has the most fun together is when we’re doing things like this.”
As he leaves for college, with the immense love of his parents following him, we think about his words from a college application essay:
“The early morning sun peeked over the treetops, its light scattered by the dewdrops clinging to the grass. The tree branches were heavy, weighed down by ripening fruit. This picturesque paradise has been my workplace for most of my life: my parents’ apple orchard… [Seriously! Picturesque paradise. We couldn’t make that up.]
Though I always knew farming wasn’t for me, my time on my parents’ farm was an invaluable experience… I will always look back on the farmwork with great affection. The time I spent with my family members while working has left me deeply appreciative of each and every one of them…
All the laughs we shared, all the stories we told, all the memories we made.”
