Life and Death on the Farm on My Summer Vacation
A visit with my mom to my aunt's egg farm was supposed to get me out of the city for a few weeks, and I never knew what awaited me wasn't always fun.
Two weeks with my mother in the country at my aunt's egg farm seemed like a dream vacation. I never suspected it would bring me face-to-face with the realities of farming, animals, and life lessons.
The bus ride was new for me, and at ten years old, I was thrilled to be looking out the window as meadowlands passed by us, and we slipped down the highway at speeds I had never experienced. An egg farm was also out of my experience, and during the two weeks we would be there, I would quickly learn what egg farmers do. More lessons were awaiting me, but I didn't know it then.
That year, the drought had taken its toll, and my uncle took me along in his old, flatbed truck to visit a neighboring farm. I envisioned fields of ripe tomatoes, tasseled corn, and lush plants full of raspberries; instead, we met a farmer on the verge of tears.
Behind him lay the cracked earth, its crazy quilt of grooves, in the parched gray ground. A single, bent raspberry bush clung to life. He leaned over and picked a few berries for me. The rest of the field was lost to the lack of water. That was lesson number one in my first week; the environment was harsh for…
