In an attempt to dive right into this slightly distressing, somewhat mortifying worldwide weblog (yes, I said web and log), I’m paying tribute to my previous years as an English teacher by starting this slightly cheesy Alpha blog post experience. In my mind, I’m thinking, “hey! what better way to make yourself a viable blog author by following an oversimplified suggestive list?!” I can’t promise that my country grammer will be spot-on (joke intended), but I can’t deny that I would like to sharpen my rhetoric and, in the process, enlighten some of you yay-hoos on an educator slash agriculturist’s life.
So to get on with it… Let’s start by talking about what agriculture has been to me.
I was raised, somewhat as a wild-child, on a small hobby farm in East Texas. Yes, it was cool. Yes, we had cows…and horses…and chickens…and just about anything that my dad decided he wanted. We once owned ostriches, homing pigeons, Longhorn cattle plus a few more other eclectic animals. We also grew a few fresh veggies and our own hay throughout the years, too. We sold timber from the back of our property and we also conned, nay convinced, an oil company to drop a necessary water well on our property so we could one day put our own water pump for irrigation. We were diversified, to say the least. What does all this have to do with what ag is to me? I guess one way to explain it, would be to say that a small piece of dirt is what agricultured me into the being I am today. And this work of farm-art is just about as diversified as can be.
I’m not saying it was always great. I literally left the farm and haven’t moved back since…regretfully. But I have come around to recognizing the “good life” by taking the long way around. Doing things on my owns terms, I left the farm and went to junior college on scholarship to wrap up my basics so I could transfer to Texas A&M to pursue vet medicine. Life took a sharp left turn- I just couldn’t grasp chemistry or physics while being a *cough* “social” college student. I changed my major, changed my mind, changed my allegiances, and deserted plans for adding Dr. to my name. I went on to the University of Texas at Austin and muddled my way through a Government degree in hopes of being a teacher. Fast forward six years and few more left turns and here I sit, trying to put the magnetism which pulled me back around from years of trying to escape the innocent farm girl persona into words.
I’m not the typical ag teacher (I did go UT and all…) but ag isn’t just an easily summarizable, typical subject. Alone I teach six different classes; my partner teaches a whole schedule that is completely different than mine. The state of Texas recognizes 25 courses in agriculture education- from Floral Design to Power Systems I mean, this is kinda a big deal. So what I’m trying to say is, try to open your minds and let what may have been your previous conceptions of ag be cleared up. The whole of agriculture isn’t bad even if there are bad events/people that have been horrific to our sensitive environment and the animals with which we share a symbiotic relationship. Stick with me while I get used to blogging and maybe I can drop a few tidbits of knowledge that will stick with you. After all, a is also for adhesive…
agREEDcultured 