Article published in Intermountain Farm & Ranch, Sept 16. 2011
One evening I was sitting under the apple tree protecting my chickens from being chased as I let them out of their coop for a few hours in the evening. (Our 7 month old pup thinks the chickens are here for her entertainment.) There wasn’t a breeze but the evening wasn’t quiet – our neighbor was cutting his wheat. That sound is a pleasant one. Got me thinking about the senses used in farming.
We each have five senses: sight; sound; taste; smell; and touch. The sense of smell is one I want to address.
There are some wonderful fragrances that come with the farming business: when the soil is first being worked in the spring; a rain storm; fresh mown hay; wheat when it is ripe and ready to harvest; also wheat as it is being harvested; burning leaves and/or stubble. Because of the Clean Air Act, we don’t have the burning ones very often. The Clean Air Act was necessary, but I always think of fall and burning leaves being synonymous.
The smells of cooking aren’t ones that are limited to the farming community except at noon. On the farm dinner is usually served in the middle of the day. With cooking comes the aroma of fresh baked bread, vegetables, roast or steak, and often cakes or pies.
There are some not-so-pleasant fragrances associated with farming:
Fuel: Diesel and gas both have strong odors and when fueling the equipment if some spills and gets on clothes, the smell remains until the clothes are vigorously washed.
Cow/horse/pig/chicken etc. manure. A wet spring can really increase this odor. Most of the time it isn’t bad until it’s loaded into the manure spreader and moved out to the fields as fertilizer. One time we raised some pigs – not many, just 3 or 4 for butchering. A friend visited and the odor of pigs was a bit strong. She asked “doesn’t that smell bother you?” I sniffed the air, looked her right in the face and replied “that smells like money to me.”
I know our non-farming neighbors often complain about some of the farming scents. But agriculture isn’t the only business with offensive smells. Have you ever walked into a grocery store and the smell of raw fish and meat is so strong it almost takes your breath away? How about some nursing homes, not as much as it used to be – but the smell of urine, sick bodies and disinfectants attacks you upon entering the building. The sewer treatment plant lets off a powerful odor, but you and I contribute to that smell so we shouldn’t complain about it. The smell of the out house wasn’t a pleasant one either, but we learned to live with it.
There is also the smell of wild animals – skunks mainly. That smell is experienced by our urban neighbors also.
Apparently the smells of cooking are not always pleasant at our home. A few years ago when I was a nurse at EIRMC, I was working the 3-11 p.m. shift. One night when I got home, Boyd was asleep. A skunk had sprayed close to our bedroom window. As I was getting ready for bed, the odor of the skunk was really strong. Boyd raised up in bed, looked right at me, sniffed the air and asked “whatcha cooking?” Without waiting for an answer he lay back down and closed his eyes. (He claimed later that he never woke up as he couldn’t remember doing this.)
Our son Jon came home from a scout camp telling me that the meals reminded him of home – all smelled burned. I guess this tells you what kind of a cook I am.
Scents do affect our lives. We all love the fragrance of flowers, of good home cooked meals, but we need to be tolerant and understanding of other scents connected to living with and around animals and people.
