Singapore Expats

As outsiders, we know little of their lives. The farmers who put food on our table.....


https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyor ... 95307952:0

earthfriendly wrote:As outsiders, we know little of their lives. The farmers who put food on our table.....

Oh I don't know, I grew up in a farming community, and all my friends were sons of farmers. My first school, nursery, was in a big greenhouse in the yard of a working dairy farm. Most of those friends later went into farming and many have inherited the farms I grew up on and around. Before my teens I'd helped milk cows, 'pull' oats (out of wheat fields), dip sheep, groom horses, muck out the milking parlour, ride combine harvesters and tractors in the fields, collect eggs from the hen-house and was going out with my dad to shoot game to put the weekend dinner on the table. I worked a vendange (the grape-wine harvest season) over in southern France too, from picking then > pressing them > fermentation tanks > enjoying last years product each night for free Oh and I went on to study agricultural veterinary. So I'd change your quoted text to 'some of you know little of their lives' But that's ok, we don't tend to 'know' the lives of our family doctors or the ships crew that brought that cargo of bananas from Ecuador of which we've just bought a bunch in NTUC, and I don't suppose they'd wish you did either.
IIRC SMS is a country boy too

p.s. EF, have you considered going and volunteering to work a harvest season on a farm? [My sister worked the apricot season in Switzerland one year]. I sense a pining to 'get back to the land' thing going on
Here's some inspirational music for you to accompany this post
Lyric: 'Got to get back to the land and set my soul free. We are stardust, we are golden. We are billion year old carbon. And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.'
-- Woodstock-Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsGDiYlMFuk

Yeah, and it was udderly hard work in my case.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Yeah, and it was udderly hard work in my case.

I don't believe you just did that

Yeah, I know there are some farmboys on this forum. I was referring largely to us, those without farming background. I don't have a green thumb. Set up a vegetable plot a few years ago with poor result. I kept forgetting to water or care for them. Now that bed just looks sad. Luckily, it was tucked in a far corner. Quite a neglectful farmer I am . I do try to get to the farmers' market. The closest thing I can get to farming .

Anyway, started this thread to share the human stories. May probably be USA centric as that is where I am located.

This one is about loneliness. I am sad the he feels a need to bring something to the table in order to be "worthy". Surely, we beings can learn to enjoy each others good ole' company without expecting this and that? I get bouts of loneliness. And I remember James Joyce wrote that each person is essentially "alone". Maybe it also depends on the person's expectation i.e. how jointed does he / she wants to be with fellow mates.

https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyor ... 00360018:0

Gawd how depressing. Perhaps a few days out amongst nature harvesting her own dinner (incl throttling it where necessary) might re-attune her back into real life.

Me?

Sorry, didn't mean it like that. 'She' was equiv with he, it was just with reference to the sentiment expressed. The sense of a person lost living in the frozen section of NTUC, detached from everything re: where their fresh food comes from.
I sense the neo-hippy crying out (not you, generally speaking) wanting to connect, but not really knowing how. Or knowing how, but not being happy to accept that it involves 12/+hrs a day of sweat and grime and wringing some necks to truly be the promised 'real' experience.
X-ref my earlier idea re: working on a harvest. I think it would be a positive for you, perhaps an epiphany.

So much truth in what you are saying. Nature is a powerful healer. I tried, albeit half heartedly. I really not so outdoorsy wan. As I was saying to Mr. EF, I am a runt that is never meant to be. Surprised that I lived to this day. Apparently, Darwinism did not work in my case . A little weakling, this I am.

Nahhh, I don't think it's about 'strength', it's about being open to the experience. Farmer's daughters aren't born strong, they're strong because they have to be, and they learn it's to their net advantage. I'm a believer in constantly testing boundaries as to what one can do. In a professional and controlled way when it's dangerous, diving, guns, flying etc. The biggest limitation and hold-back is your own belief of what you can comfortably do. IME this inner-limiter is usually understated and wrong.

It is interesting that you mentioned gun. Lately, I have been thinking about learning to shoot.

earthfriendly wrote:It is interesting that you mentioned gun. Lately, I have been thinking about learning to shoot.

you can do that in Singapore suprisingly enough.... air rifles, shotguns, hand guns and even rifles.

I find shooting very rewarding. Each shot is the sum of knowing your gun, ammunition, target, and then the skill of 'that 1-2 second period' of bringing it all together. So each shot is a challenge a measure of your skills, reactions, self-control. That's certainly why I find it great fun, as I'm not as good as I wish I was
Some gun-clubs are membership only, but many (worldwide) offer some form of day membership. If you're new to it or rusty, making a visit and an hour on the range with a coach is how to get the most out of the experience. Effectively having a shooting lesson. Example: ->
http://www.singaporerifle.org.sg/DayShoot.php

--- And IMO there is nothing macho or male-exclusive about shooting, and IME that kind of thinking wouldn't be welcome at a range.

I feel very macho when I hold my pink pistol though JR8.,