[TStro]

I live in a farming community and eat breakfast with a group of local farmers nearly every morning
Salt of the earth

[Ciaphas Cain]

You sound much like my father. After getting laid off from the company he had been at for many years he returned to farming part-time (when he wasn't pouring his passion into knifemaking, his true calling). Every morning at 5 he would go to a nearby cafe and have breakfast with his fellow farmers.

Some years ago one of the bigger news outlets hired a photographer to spend the day with one of Dad's friends. It was for a story about tobacco farming. The photographer told me later that meeting those people was one of the most satisfying assignments he had ever worked.