Gardener vs farmer, where's that magical tipping point?

[nittygrittydirtdigger]

I was honored and pleased the other day when one of my friends referred to my "farm." Well I have 2 & 3/4 acres of sagebrush and tumbleweeds, a 40'x70' veggie garden, a strawberry patch, 5 apple trees, 2 peach trees, a pear tree, a cherry tree, an English walnut tree, (no partridge-in-a-pear tree), several not-very-big flower beds, a dozen laying hens, a lawn tractor, a Mantis tiller and a bunch of hand tools. I never thought of all that as a farm, but I'd sure love to become a farmer.

What's the difference? At what point do we cease being gardeners and turn into farmers? Do you think of yourself as a gardener or a farmer?

When I grow up, I want to be a farmer!

 

[NwMtGardener]

I think you become a farmer with your first big actual farm tractor. And you're a really old farmer when you have, like, 20 of them!!

 

[curly_kate]

NMG - I like your definition because that makes us farmers!! That's probably also why my DH likes to mess with it so much.

 

[momofdrew]

I live next door to a school and the first day of school a new student to that school looked out the window and exclaimed "Wow there is afarm next door"
I have a 1/2 acre of land with a 24X50 veggie garden which at that time had crops still in it...a chicken coop a dozen chickens ...I donot have a tractor or even a riding mower...I do have a barn attached to the house... For that city boy it is a farm...At heart I am a farmer wanna be...
If I had a few mil I would be a farmer with a John Deer or 2 and all the attachments to go with it...with cows and sheep and goats...and a couple of green houses..lol...

 

[curly_kate]

Cute! I guess the farm is in eye of the beholder!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i think of a farmer as someone who works their own land as their sole career. a gardener is someone that has had to work a career in something other than around plants or animals on their own land.

 

[seedcorn]

i think of a farmer as someone who works their own land as their sole career. a gardener is someone that has had to work a career in something other than around plants or animals on their own land.

I tend to agree with this altho may not be their own land. altho there are part time farmers who do it as "weekend warrior". Basically if someone asked you what you do for a living, what would be your answer.

 

[OldGuy43]

i think of a farmer as someone who works their own land as their sole career. a gardener is someone that has had to work a career in something other than around plants or animals on their own land.

I tend to agree with this altho may not be their own land. altho there are part time farmers who do it as "weekend warrior". Basically if someone asked you what you do for a living, what would be your answer.

I agree with both of the above. If your land is your major source of income than you're a farmer. "Farmer" is a profession, "Gardener" is a pass time.

 

[lesa]

I was taken aback the first time someone said to me "oh, that farm on the right side of the road?" Huh? I would love to have a farm (land, and more land), but what I really have is a very large city garden, with a few chickens and bees! Even a small garden seems like a farm to city slickers!

 

[897tgigvib]

To farm, the verb.

There really are some semantic connotations about the word farm. When I lived out west in Montana, (oh hey, that's east of here), ya find out right away not to call a rancher a farmer. Yea, it's almost an insult. But then, he'll tell you, I gotta go do some farmin, when he has to go move irrigation pipes for the alfalfa.

There is a strong sense of conservatism with ranchin and farmin. They'll stick with an old way until they have to sell the ranch because of it. Crop the Alfalfa twice and no more, even if there is some new fangled way to crop the alfalfa 4 times.

Amazingly, southwest Montana suffered no cattlemen/sheepmen wars a hundred years ago. Yea. When they had a big meeting at the Scottish Rite Mason's hall called by my Grandfather Moses Smyth, it was discovered that almost all the sheepmen were the cattlemen's wives or daughters. Yep. Sheepmen were growing food gardens, cattlemen were growing alfalfa. So besides the riparian guidelines and ways of moving the animals, timings, no major enforcements were needed, unlike in Wyoming. In Wyoming there were actually brush wars, murders, shootouts, all kinds of nasty things between farming and ranching.

Ask most Montanans what state has the most cattle and they'll say Montana of course. Actually, it's California, where they do much more farming.

In order to have a lot of cattle, I did say a lot not a few, you have to grow food for the cattle. Oh they can take ranging only, but only relatively few per acre. Having a lot of cattle concentrated does take growing them food, mostly alfalfa, but mixed hay is good too.

Look at the food problems of NORTH KOREA. The attempt there has always been mostly direct food. Vegetables and grains to table. Because ranching is INDIRECT food, grow food for animals to eat, then eat the animals, the food per acre including acres needed to grow the animals the food, is much reduced.

Farmin. Verb.

Where's my coffee?