Observing Community: The Men of Farmhouse
As I know you are all well aware, this is an agricultural blog. And what better organization to follow on a land grant university's campus than the Farmhouse fraternity? Farmhouse is an "agricultural" fraternity spread out across North America. Farmhouse was formed around a set of ideas that bring together men with a common interest and love of the earth. The men of Farmhouse come from all walks of life. More specifically, in my pledge class, we have a brother from Flaa Norway.
The general assumptions that I'm sure most people would have of a "farm frat" are that we're a bunch of rednecks and backwoods guys that care more about drinking beer, than hitting our books. But this is all so far from the truth that is hysterically funny.
Yes, we do have farmers. We do have some good ol' boys. We do have guy that are first generation college students. But all of the guys in MSU's chapter of Farmhouse are good men. We've got mechanical engineers. We've got high ranking members in FFA, We've got guys that go home to the farm every weekend to work their jobs. I can't imagine there being many other fraternities or sororities that can claim all these same things.
Farmhouse is very much a democracy. Every Monday, we have a house meeting with a print out itinerary and our president who keeps order. All events, dates and money allocations get voted upon by the members. It feels like a courthouse when you're in a meeting. Members can't talk out of line and committees are established to overview things like philanthropy and event planning. And if a final decision can't be made in one meeting, it gets tabled for the following Monday.
To people outside of the agricultural world, farmers look like a goofy crop of people. But they are the salt of the earth. Without them, we don't have society as we know it. So don't make assumptions about what Farmhouse is like because the truth is, it's probably much different that what you'd expect.
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