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Middle aged at best, but usually in his sixties, bearded, wearing old – not only in style but also in age – clothes, not that conversable, maybe even a bit grumpy… this is the image that comes to mind when you think of the typical farmer. Yes, yes, don`t deny it, it`s highly likely yourself is not that different from the majority in that case :)

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Up until recently it was no wonder, though. Working the land, growing your own food and taking care of animals is tough work. And dirty. And, quite often, not that rewarding. Not to speak of lucrative. So almost no young, perspective individual considered farming as a possible career.

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But what happened in the past decade, very roughly put, was a general turnover in values. What before seemed as a literally dirty job, nowadays more and more looks like a blessing. Opposed to sucking up to the urban career oriented routine, more and more young people decide to look for happiness where it naturally belongs. Why spend a lifetime surrounded by concrete when you can feel the earth beneath your bear feet; breath air-conditioned air instead of waking up to crispy clear atmosphere; walk on streets covered by garbage when you can be looking at grass and flowers for miles and miles ahead; eat often poisonous in the long run food, when you can be self-sustained and grow your own; work longer and longer hours to become on top of a fake hierarchy  and, finally, finally, finally after all those hard years of putting up with so much shit and compromising with things you never thought yourself possible to compromise with, finally be in charge, finally be able to sense freedom. Why, when it is that easy to be your only master and feel free from dusk till dawn, every day, not just Saturday and Sunday.  

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In two words, more and more people are now sane enough to recognize living connected to nature and taking care of land and animals a viable option. Not to mention the pure happiness of watching your kids grow up surrounded by the beauty of nature and learning the really real things in life, not how to defend themselves against hypocrisy in the first place.

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Even though this all might sound a bit pathetic, think about it. And no, no one is saying farm life is easy, no. Quite the opposite. But most definitely we believe it is much more satisfactory. Important to note, all of the above goes for environment friendly practices, please. We are in no way suggesting one can just go ahead and start farming without first carefully considering how to become a natural part of the eco-system, without causing any harm.

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If one day you find yourself interested in such a general change in life, maybe you will be surprised to find out how many organizations dedicated to guiding young people in agricultural and farming challenges there are. One of the very best programs is led by the Soil Association. Future Growers “brings together highly skilled organic growers with the new generation, eager to learn”. By offering six-month traineeship, as well as a two-year apprenticeship, the program not only show young people, how each and every one of them can become a farmer, but also teaches them to respect  nature in every aspect. Detailed info about the initiative can be found here: www.soilassociation.org/futuregrowers. There are many, many more programs and new ones keep turning up.

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So, once you make the decision, the rest is absolutely doable.