Dear Farmer

Dear Farmer,

Thank you for getting up early, going to bed late, and always having dirt underneath your nails. Thank you for  starting seeds in January, February and March, knowing that there might be some cold nights that slow down the growth of, or even kill, the tender seedlings and you will have to do it all over again. And sometimes twice.

Thank you for planning your market garden, while everyone else is playing Farmville.

Thanks for hardly ever taking a day off, and for not having a negative attitude when someone asks, "what do you do for a living?" and then assumes that if you aren't at the farmers' market or on a tractor then you aren't "working."

Thank you for wearing out a pair of boots in one season, only to realize that you get what you pay for and finally break down to buy the more expensive but better-made boot that will last many seasons.

Thank you for buying the seeds that have not been treated, and for not using chemical and synthetic fertilizers on the plants to make them grow faster. Thank you for thinking of so many things months and years in advance to facilitate what you are doing now, early spring of 2013.

Thank you for having the courage to put yourself out there, to learn something you've never done before, to be vulnerable in a world that appreciates a 401(k) more than it might appreciate a crop of vegetables.

Thank you.