If there is one thing I have learned from living on a farm and being surrounded by farmers for seventeen years is that farmers love to talk. They love to talk to each other about everything from the weather to detailed stories about their many farming experiences. From years of just sitting and watching these conversations develop and grow I have noticed that farmers love to talk with their hands. Both hands. No matter what type of conversation it is their hands are always moving. Their hands are the illustration to the great story that they are telling. Some stories even become a complete aerobic workout!
If they are giving you directions their hands are most definitely moving while they are talking, pointing, and describing each and every turn. They are pointing out the turns you will take while the other hand will represent a house or a shed that you will turn by. Before you know it a map was just made in the sky by the motions of their hands.
It’s crazy because even while the farmer is on the phone they still talk with their hands. I don’t think they quite understand that the person on the other end of the phone can not see their silly hand motions. Where things get really interesting is when the farmer is talking on the phone while driving. Somehow they still manage to talk with their hands even if it is just small hand gestures while still holding onto the wheel, and I just hope they are not driving a stickshift! They might need another hand to accomplish all of that.
The next time you witness farmers talking, step back and take a minute to enjoy the entire story. The hand gestures, the detailed directions, the weather forecast predictions, the specifically explained description of the broken part they need right away and of course their opinion on the markets! You can learn a lot by just sitting back and listening to their conversations. I often wonder if they could even talk without their hands? Of course they could, it may just not be as entertaining!
~ Kesley Holdgrafer
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