By Courtney Dentch
If 17-year-old Briarwood resident Jonathan Kamler could trade places with anyone for a day, he would be a farmer.
That’s what he wrote in the Pasta Tales national essay contest sponsored by Olive Garden restaurants. His short essay beat out 13,000 entries to earn Kamler a $250 Savings Bond and dinner for him and his family at an Olive Garden restaurant.
Kamler, who is half French and has spent time in Europe with relatives who are farmers, has developed a respect for their way of life and the service they provide, he said.
“I feel that the farmers aren’t appreciated enough,” he said. “People don’t see the hard work they put in.”
In his essay, Kamler, a student at Townsend Harris High School in Flushing, described the importance of a farmer’s work and contribution.
“They are forced to live simply and frugally, concentrating all their efforts into raising livestock and producing crops,” he wrote.
A farmer “lives with nature and is dependent on it. His work is determined by the rainfall, temperature, sunlight, and winds, factors over which he has no control but which determine his future.”
