![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/shelbyville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/09\/1-4-1024x683.png\")
\u201cMy favorite thing to tell people is my daddy made me go to college \u2014 he said that was my backup plan,\u201d said Sanders. \u201cI got a degree in agribusiness. You had to take a milk science class to get that degree, and you had to come milk cows. I told the professor, \u2018I’m not coming up here to milk cows; I do that at home.\u2019 And my professor said that\u2019s a true reaction of somebody that has milk cows, so I’m going to let you skip that part.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family ceased their milk cow operations during her sophomore year of college and later added hair sheep. Add annual hay crops to the mixture, and you have a picture of Sanders\u2019 life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s a good life; I love it. My daddy died in January 2020, and there’s been a lot of adjustments since then, but I still love it as much as I used to. And I’m glad I get to do it. I hope my kids want to do it one day,\u201d said Sanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She hopes but doesn\u2019t pressure her twins in the direction of a life of farming. Like her daddy, she shares all of life on the farm with them and will let them decide when the time comes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGrowing up, when you farm, you don’t get to go on vacations, and you don’t get to do a lot of things, but my parents always wanted me to have the best of both worlds,\u201d said Sanders. \u201cSo, there were times that Mama would take me, my aunt, and my cousin, and we would go on trips and vacations together. My daddy never got to go. As I got older and my responsibilities increased, I could understand that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision to follow in her parents’ farming footsteps was not forced upon her. Her mother had been adamant about her not pursuing farming due to the demanding nature of the profession. But, her appreciation for the role of farmers in sustaining life and a desire to honor her family’s legacy was as natural as breathing. She cares deeply and personally for their livestock and acknowledges that farmers are often misunderstood and underappreciated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the common theory is that farmers don’t care about their animals. I really wish people understood that we do,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe put our entire life into these animals, and just because they’re a food product doesn’t mean they’re mistreated. There are a lot of struggles in farming, and I wish people understood that. Farmers are dehumanized sometimes. We’re all trying to hang on as long as we can, and I think that gets lost in translation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s not lost in translation is her commitment to and heart for agriculture instilled by her father’s love and example and her mother’s support. Her passion for farming and family runs deep, yielding a harvest of life-sustaining food for others and a model and legacy for her children and future generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the circle of life. GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GROWTH IS stunted in the shadows. A healthy balance of sun and shade, light and dark, warmth and cool all produce the best in life. While Brooke Smith Sanders is her father\u2019s daughter, walking side by side with him and not in his shadow was fertile ground for producing a farmer.\u00a0 Farmers in our rural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/shelbyville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/09\/3-3-1024x683.png\")