Do you have stories about what you consider to be the good ole days. Last fall marked 40 years of my farming career. I look back on some of those early days with fondness. Our little community of Churchs Ferry was still healthy and bustling. My uncle and I were busy taking care of feeder cattle and a cow/calf operation along with raising a couple thousand acres of grain crops. These were some hard working git-r-done days.
There are many aspects of farming back in those days that I would not want to return. The old canvas tarps that we used on single axle grain trucks used to fly up in the breeze and smack you in the mouth. The grain storage was predominately steel but we still had a few old wooden granaries that were used. These were miserable to fill and to unload. Our method of unloading all the granaries was a scoop shovel and an old 6″ mayrath grain auger. Most all of the work in those days involved physical labor. I’m confident my uncle had the opinion that if a job was easy you were doing it wrong.
But there are also many great memories of farm life during these days. We had great neighbors back then and if you had a problem they were more than happy to come lend a hand. I have memories of working in a field and my neighbor was working close and we would stop our tractors by the fenceline and enjoy a cup of coffee together. We would spend 15 minutes hashing out the worlds problems and discussing current events then bid each other good day and return to our fieldwork. These were days before environmentalists became so influential and as a farmer you took it upon yourself to be stewards of the land and animals. So often work was stopped in the field in order to go move a duck nest so that it wouldn’t be destroyed. Grain was sometimes put out to help the deer make it through a tough winter cold spell. Later wetland advocacy groups would lobby policies that were harmful to the farmer/landowner. (They always knew more than the guy in the field) Wetlands grew significantly during the 90’s and migratory waterfowl actually became a huge nuisance destroying thousands of acres of grain crops each year.
Coffee time was a regular thing on the farm those days. 10 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon everything stopped while we opened the thermos and grabbed a cookie. Yep, the work was harder and more physical, but we also slowed down at times and just took a few moments to reflect. Seldom did we skip out on Sunday church service, maybe during harvest when rain was forecast, but worship was a priority.
This year, my 40th year, marked the last of my full time farming career. My son Steve has been in the process of taking over operations the past few years and now will have 100%. I can’t say retiring will come easy. After you devote this much of your life into being a steward of the land it is hard to walk away. I will still return to help, but those days spent agonizing over weather, machinery, weeds, crop development, enough labor, markets, and government restrictions are over for good.
The following video was made for me by my son (Steve) in honor of my retirement year.
Connie and I purchased our property on Teakettle mountain back in 2012 and began carving out Apgar View Ranch. We now occupy our time with building and maintaining fence, clearing timber, and working with our horses. AVR is a secluded beautiful place where you have the ability to let the turmoil of so much of the world exit your mind. You get to focus on a simple life of mountains, nature and wildlife. Often our children visit and comment that they are able to just relax and recharge.
