What do I have to show for a lifetime of hard physical work?

Your body learned this work better than anyone's, and now it carries the wear of every season you gave it. To wonder what you have to show for it is fair, especially when the world rarely thanks the people who feed it. But do not measure a life only by what is saved in an account. You kept people fed. That is not small, even when it goes unseen. The ache in your body is proof of something real, not a verdict that it was wasted. Skill like yours, the knowledge of soil, weather, and crop that no book holds, is worth passing on. The younger hands coming up need what only your years can teach. That is a way for the work to outlast the body that did it. Look honestly at what your body can still do and for how long, and start planning the next stretch now rather than waiting for it to be forced on you. Whatever rest, lighter work, or teaching role you can move toward, begin steering there. A lifetime of feeding others has earned you the right to be fed too.