Why working farms rarely have Christmas lights.
January 11, 2008
Agrian Amazement: Somehow the work ethic of farms and Rural America never ceases to amaze me.
Confined Animal Feeding Operations: Looking at the pros and cons of mega-farming.
Contempt of Farms: Farmers are backwords maybe, but essential definately.
Day My Dad Shot the Dog: A story about life and death on the farm and my old dog.
Farm Metrics: One way of trying to tell the difference between corporate, family, and play farms.
Flatlander Farmers: Thoughts on the flatter parts of our state.
Geographical Differences in Farms: Why geography and experience define so much of the farm scene.
If You Move Next to A Pig Farm: It's going to smell like pig manure sometimes, so don't complain.
Interest Groups of the Farmer: The conflicts and issues that define the contemporary farm.
Old Farmers: With so many farmers getting old, what is the future of our rural landscape.
Raw Milk: Raw milk is dangerous but shows a demand for more milk diversity.
Smells of the Farm: The smells of farm life while obnoxious can still be quite pleasing.
What About 3% Milk?: A review of the different blends of milk, and why there is nothing between 2% and whole milk.
Very rarely do you see working farms that are decorated up for the holidays with Christmas lights or other decorations. I immediately started to think about this and wonder why. I doubt most farmers are Jewish or anti-Christian. Most farms are decorated inside and have Christmas trees inside, but almost nothing outside.
Farmers may be too busy to spend the time to put up Christmas lights and get decorated for the holidays. The day to day routine of the farm probably takes up too much time to worry about getting decorated for the holidays. Modern farms rarely afford get a day off, even when the snow flies nowadays.
Farmers may also be more aware then the general public about the cost of energy. It’s certainly not free to light up the tree over the Christmas season. A sense of conservatism might tell farmers that it’s wrong to waste energy. Many may live in relative poverty, and the cost of buying extra Christmas lights along with energy costs and the time lost installing them might make them impractical.
Many farms are in rural areas and on side streets that get little traffic. Why should a farmer pay to light up a tree that relatively few people will pass by in cars and get to enjoy? In contrast, a tree or house lit with lights in an urban area might get hundreds or thousands of views each night. Farmers might feel that the effort of lighting up a tree or decorating is largely a wasted effort.
Maybe on many farms the children are grown up and have moved away. Or that those who are still left working on the farm are too old to enjoy or understand the simple pleasures of a having a tree nearby your house covered with lights for this rather special time of the year. Christmas lights after all are primary for the enjoyment of the children who are inspired by their colors.
I suspect all of these answers are probably correct in one form or another. All of these elements probably play into what one might call the psychology of farming and the relatively frugal and conservative life of those who choose to practice agricultural professionally.
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