Dirt on my Boots by Marley

Dirt on my Boots by Marley - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

Over the past summer I spent a month working on my family’s ranch in Fresno, California. With college approaching, I needed to finalize my decision of majoring in agribusiness. Having grown up in Salinas, California, the “salad bowl” of the world, I’ve always been surrounded by agriculture but had never actually experienced it enough to determine if it was something I was truly interested in. Therefore, working on my family’s ranch was the perfect opportunity to gain hands on experience and obtain a better understanding of the different aspects of agriculture.
For about the first week of being on the job, I received much assistance from my uncle, my cousin, and fellow employees. They told me what to do, how to do it, and why we do it for each of the little tasks that I was assigned. Eventually, I started doing the jobs on my own and only asked for help when needed. For the most part my days consisted of the same routine. I would wake up and get down to the shop at five in the morning. After everyone was assigned their specific jobs for the day, I would ride one of the quads through the orchards to check the irrigation lines. While going up and down the rows, I would look for flooded areas, leaks, or dry spots. When I found issues, I would stop and fix the problems by removing the broken piece and replacing it with new pieces.
By the end of my first day on the job I was covered from head to boot in mud, my hair was soaking wet, I had gotten the quad stuck in the mud and had to push it out, I had to get help to fix one of the problems, and it took me twice as long as it should have. I may have created more problems than there were to begin with, but at the end of the day I was proud of myself. All of the workers thought that I was insane for wanting to come work hard, long hours that started at five in the morning, on a ranch in 106 degree weather and even crazier for loving every second of it.
Towards the end of my stay on the ranch, I had figured out how to handle and fix the problems that I came across. With each day I became faster, more efficient, and overall better at the job. Since I was getting the job done faster, I was able to experience more failures at other tasks such as plowing fields, driving tractors, hauling trailers, and fixing machinery.
No matter how many times I failed on that first day, I still felt accomplished. Everyday I tackled new challenges and often failed, but in the end I learned and experienced many aspects of farming. My failures did not stop me, they pushed me to work harder and get the job done right. The failures made it interesting, taught me how to improvise, made the job a challenge, and made me realize that I do truly love agriculture! If I were to have quit, then I must not have loved it. However, I did not quit. I persevered through the struggles of having no experience and discovered that agriculture was meant for me.