Life through the lens of Mackenzie Free
Farmers, I’ve determined, are a different breed.
They are thick-skinned and tenderhearted. They are hardworking and resourceful. They are disciplined and devoted. Their legacy is a long and important one.
It is a bit of a love story actually … the relationship between a farmer and his farm. There’s a deep and spiritual connection between farmer and field. The very nature of farming is built on faith.
They must have faith in the changing of the seasons, the weather and the very cycle of life itself. So much is out of their hands. Their lives become a continuous prayer.
Just as the farmer must cultivate, prepare and protect his fields … the field also cultivates and prepares the farmer. It is a job like no other, after all.
It has no beginning or end … the work is never done.
They are the original founders & curators of civilization. The stewards of both land & livestock. They bear the burdens and responsibilities of the landscape and living things appointed to them. They are bound to it by blood, sweat and birth.
It is a calling after all … A noble one. A divine partnership of the highest order …
The farmer and his farm.
[*St. Clair County currently has roughly 500 working farms comprising nearly 60,000 acres]
[**Featured photo of Legacy Farms of Steele]
– Mackenzie Free –
Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama
