American Teenager First Time Farming In Wales

[Mr Jones]

Well folks , that was an interesting exercise...

We took a slothful 15yr old completely out of his comfort zone (and bed) and i do believe he actually enjoyed some of it.. he has now probably done and seen half a lifetime more things than his US buddies (sadly). and yes he did get to drink a cheeky pint!!!! (in london)

However, I asked him, if he had enjoyed himself on the farm and i got a very clear and alarmingly quick...NO....it was apparently the work required, not the sights, smells and system that put him off..I couldn't get to the bottom of quite what he meant but essentially the concept and execution of physical work seems to put him right off.! I think there is an issue with self esteem as when engaged in a task he was really rather good considering he had never done anything remotely like it before.. so deep down I rather think he is quite pleased with himself but is happier to put a front of gloomy distress.

As an education for me.. well it was priceless. I enjoyed the time spent with him and really enjoyed his blog it has helped me reset my expectations of the next generation and has reminded me that some of the most mundane things we all do on the farm can be utterly alien and completely baffling to those not involved in agriculture.. lets stop taking so much for granted when we are trying to address the concerns of those that consume our produce and enjoy "our"patch of the countryside.


Anywhoo enough of the pontificating. Thankyou @SwissJellybean for making the effort and the kind words see you next year and thankyou all for humoring me and allowing this blog to become a reality. I have a couple more pics to post of tyre flinging and the all important cheeky pint momment so i will be back soon..assuming my 'puter succesfully upgrades to windows 10....

At least the young gent learnt something on here, paragraphs


fixed quote

 

[Allison Bray]

@SwissJellybean I missed a few of your posts and haven't been able to catch up as I've been sick, but it has been an absolute treat to read all of this. Partly because I'm jealous because you had the benefit of visiting a real working farm over there and many many people (like myself) are only able to see the petting zoo side of things when the animals visit a fair. It's harder than you'd think to get access to tour and try your hand at these things in an encouraging space without having to arrange a lot.

Compliments to your writing skills, too, as we've seen them sharpen. You've managed to work both a lot of detail and a lot of wonder into your writing of the day-to-day labor, and I think everyone has found something to enjoy.

And @Foregoneconclusion some of that discontent about "did you enjoy farming" may just be an American teenager, thing. Lord knows I hated an early morning and hard work then, too.

 

[Janovich]

Hi SJB... I've been away from the technology for a few days and had to just catch up on your blog. I see you've now gone back to the homeland of Texas and hope you had a good journey back across the water .

It's been lovely to read your posts over the past weeks and even more lovely to see you grow and develop some real farming skills with FGC too (and the rest of the family too!).

I would have given my back teeth when I was your age to have been able to do what you've just done and spend time on a working farm....but I guess you are the lucky one .

I wish you well in the future SJB and sincerely hope that you make the trip over the water again next year to continue this blog ...that would be 'awesome' as you guys would say!.

Take care of you and keep in touch..

Jx

 

[buffalo_soldier]

It's harder than you'd think to get access to tour

Ahh, So the reason for joining the forum emerges.

 

[Allison Bray]

Ahh, So the reason for joining the forum emerges.

C'mon @buffalo_soldier When have I not come across as a desperate farming groupie

 

[RushesToo]

Well folks , that was an interesting exercise...

We took a slothful 15yr old completely out of his comfort zone (and bed) and i do believe he actually enjoyed some of it.. he has now probably done and seen half a lifetime more things than his US buddies (sadly). and yes he did get to drink a cheeky pint!!!! (in london)

However, I asked him, if he had enjoyed himself on the farm and i got a very clear and alarmingly quick...NO....it was apparently the work required, not the sights, smells and system that put him off..I couldn't get to the bottom of quite what he meant but essentially the concept and execution of physical work seems to put him right off.! I think there is an issue with self esteem as when engaged in a task he was really rather good considering he had never done anything remotely like it before.. so deep down I rather think he is quite pleased with himself but is happier to put a front of gloomy distress.

As an education for me.. well it was priceless. I enjoyed the time spent with him and really enjoyed his blog it has helped me reset my expectations of the next generation and has reminded me that some of the most mundane things we all do on the farm can be utterly alien and completely baffling to those not involved in agriculture.. lets stop taking so much for granted when we are trying to address the concerns of those that consume our produce and enjoy "our"patch of the countryside.

Anywhoo enough of the pontificating. Thankyou @SwissJellybean for making the effort and the kind words see you next year and thankyou all for humoring me and allowing this blog to become a reality. I have a couple more pics to post of tyre flinging and the all important cheeky pint momment so i will be back soon..assuming my 'puter succesfully upgrades to windows 10....

@Foregoneconclusion Have we a follow up to the story?

 

[Foregoneconclusion]

Hi RushesToo..thanks for checking in! I wish there was... rather sadly, despite my best efforts to get Swiss Jellybean to re-engage when he returned to the US he flatly refused to come back onto this forum.... saying that he had lost his password.. and other feeble excuses... (I don't want to because it's boring...) My first born went to the US with him and according to reports from my wife and remaining heifers became a female version of my nephew too! (slothful, uncommunicative and disinterested..) In other words, my fears of what an american teen is were well founded. It seems that while he had strong encouragement , a timetable, a degree of fear/ respect (for his uncle), no choice.. and probably a degree of curiosity he was able to do some good work and learn new skills. The momment the pressure was off he returned to something akin to a half-set jelly.
We (he and I ) saw flashes of real determination and interest, and it came through in his blog didn't it. I was really pleased with his progress but that progress was quite likely an illusion.. The real kicker came yesterday when i pointed out to my wife that you had sent me a message on this forum.. she then told me that SwissJellybean said he would like to come back to Wales so long as he didn't have to do anything on the farm..... Not sure whether to be sad or angry to be honest...

I know farming is an acquired taste, so maybe I should just put this down to experience and forget about it.. but because of those moments when i saw SwissJelly really engaging I can't help but wonder...

PS I also asked SwissJelly to write a thankyou letter (old fashioned) to my wife.. not a squeak... (grrrrrrrr) youth of today?

 

[llamedos]

I cant even begin to imagine how I would feel being dropped into a life as an all American teenager.....

 

[jade35]

Hi RushesToo..thanks for checking in! I wish there was... rather sadly, despite my best efforts to get Swiss Jellybean to re-engage when he returned to the US he flatly refused to come back onto this forum.... saying that he had lost his password.. and other feeble excuses... (I don't want to because it's boring...) My first born went to the US with him and according to reports from my wife and remaining heifers became a female version of my nephew too! (slothful, uncommunicative and disinterested..) In other words, my fears of what an american teen is were well founded. It seems that while he had strong encouragement , a timetable, a degree of fear/ respect (for his uncle), no choice.. and probably a degree of curiosity he was able to do some good work and learn new skills. The momment the pressure was off he returned to something akin to a half-set jelly.
We (he and I ) saw flashes of real determination and interest, and it came through in his blog didn't it. I was really pleased with his progress but that progress was quite likely an illusion.. The real kicker came yesterday when i pointed out to my wife that you had sent me a message on this forum.. she then told me that SwissJellybean said he would like to come back to Wales so long as he didn't have to do anything on the farm..... Not sure whether to be sad or angry to be honest...

I know farming is an acquired taste, so maybe I should just put this down to experience and forget about it.. but because of those moments when i saw SwissJelly really engaging I can't help but wonder...

PS I also asked SwissJelly to write a thankyou letter (old fashioned) to my wife.. not a squeak... (grrrrrrrr) youth of today?

@Foregoneconclusion I think he will probably be in his mid twenties (minimum) before he begins to really appreciate his time with you, your family and the farm.


But, whether he likes it or not, you will have given him a different view on life and his part in it Well done to both of you for an interesting look at the clash of cultures and age

 

[Chae1]

I cant even begin to imagine how I would feel being dropped into a life as an all American teenager.....

I quite fancy giving it a go.

 

[RushesToo]

Hi RushesToo..thanks for checking in! I wish there was... rather sadly, despite my best efforts to get Swiss Jellybean to re-engage when he returned to the US he flatly refused to come back onto this forum.... saying that he had lost his password.. and other feeble excuses... (I don't want to because it's boring...) My first born went to the US with him and according to reports from my wife and remaining heifers became a female version of my nephew too! (slothful, uncommunicative and disinterested..) In other words, my fears of what an american teen is were well founded. It seems that while he had strong encouragement , a timetable, a degree of fear/ respect (for his uncle), no choice.. and probably a degree of curiosity he was able to do some good work and learn new skills. The momment the pressure was off he returned to something akin to a half-set jelly.
We (he and I ) saw flashes of real determination and interest, and it came through in his blog didn't it. I was really pleased with his progress but that progress was quite likely an illusion.. The real kicker came yesterday when i pointed out to my wife that you had sent me a message on this forum.. she then told me that SwissJellybean said he would like to come back to Wales so long as he didn't have to do anything on the farm..... Not sure whether to be sad or angry to be honest...

I know farming is an acquired taste, so maybe I should just put this down to experience and forget about it.. but because of those moments when i saw SwissJelly really engaging I can't help but wonder...

PS I also asked SwissJelly to write a thank you letter (old fashioned) to my wife.. not a squeak... (grrrrrrrr) youth of today?

Sorry that you are so upset by the lack of letter, but I am not surprised, texts and facebook seem to be the modern equivalent - not doing even that is just plain rude, but that's teenagers for you. Don't let your offspring get infected, it sounds like a serious disease.

Despite all your disappointment I suspect he will remember this well in the future.

 

[Foregoneconclusion]

Sorry that you are so upset by the lack of letter, but I am not surprised, texts and facebook seem to be the modern equivalent - not doing even that is just plain rude, but that's teenagers for you. Don't let your offspring get infected, it sounds like a serious disease.

Despite all your disappointment I suspect he will remember this well in the future.

I guess you are right thst he will come to appreciate it at some point in the future. . So I will forever live in hope! my offspring are approaching teenager dom so we shall see if they can avoid the rudeness!
The lack of a proper thank you is annoying. .especially as my wife and other heifers went over to his place for a week. So all he had to do was front up over there.

Since his return, his mother has expressed a strong interest in coming over to work with us next summer.. so someone's been inspired!

Thank you for the interest and support. very good of you all.