Wow. Growing your own food is hard work.

For the past month, I’ve been living (and continue to live) in the Canyons of California on Puma Canyon Ranch. Here on the ranch (what most people would call a farm), there are dozens of acres of avocado, lemon and orange trees. However, there is more than fruit here on the farm, we’re also growing produce.

Over the past week, I’ve been helping to turn an area into an organic produce field. We’re growing the produce for a local restaurant in Santa Barbara called Pizza Guru. We began by tilling the field (although the land will never be tilled again) and then we created a series of raised beds. Each bed is 4 feet wide with 2 feet of walkway between each bed. Once that was completed, we built a drip irrigation system. From there, we began to plant.

Yesterday, we planted rows of tomatoes, lettuce and onions. Today we’re planting more lettuce as well as garlic and squash. Once we planted everything, we added a homemade fertilizer and then we added a homemade mulch to the top. Now we wait….

The lettuce will take about three weeks to start producing and once it is done, the bed will be overtaken by the second crop (either tomatoes or onions). This fall, we’re going to have completed the construction of both a shade house and a greenhouse where we’ll continue to grow produce year round.

The coolest thing about the ranch is that we have gardens all over and each night, I can go out and pick what I want for dinner. My new favorite food is kale.

However, what I’ve taken away so far from my short experience, is that I want to give a shout-out to all the farmers around the world who feed us. This is a very difficult and thankless task, one I will never again take for granted.

BTW – I’m photographing my experience on the farm and you can see my pictures here.

Today, I thought I would share some reflections from my role as a cattle producer, instead of an agriculture writer. Thanks for letting me stand on this soapbox so often…

Nowadays, it seems the worries of a farmer and rancher are monumental. High input costs, ballot initiatives, strict regulations, bad media coverage, consumer misconceptions, animal rights activists’ agendas and low prices seem to plague the agriculture industry. Most depressing, it’s been said that for every consumer dollar spent in the grocery store, the farmer and rancher only receives 18 cents. Yet, true agriculturalists don’t let these negative things get to them. Nope, they endeavor to persevere.

Despite the challenges and obstacles, we have a lot to be thankful for in the agriculture industry. There is nothing better than having a career that provides nourishment for the world. For me, I live to watch my calves grow up, and it’s always a good feeling when we can fit the needs of our customers with our seedstock offerings. It’s amazing that the calves in my own pasture will someday move down the beef industry chain to backgrounders, feeders, processors, the grocery store and finally, to a dinner table around the world. The best part is knowing that the folks involved in every stop along the chain are great people that are dedicated to the same things as I am.

I’m thankful to be able to work alongside my family in a career that I love. I’m thankful to be able to work with my hands to help create something bigger than myself. I’m so blessed to be capable of the well being of so many animals, and I feel fortunate to live in America where food is abundant, healthy and safe. Today, set your worries aside and think about the things you are thankful for. You will quickly find that the list is much longer than your stresses and fears. God Bless the American farmer and rancher!