Farm Families in Transition

Rush extension service for families and transition record 12:46 I really wouldn't want to go back to. Me if I was going to have that hassle and not make any money in it and simply being involved in the losing stressful situation that's the part of farming that I can really leave behind. I did enjoy the life because I did enjoy the crop production. I we had cattle and sheep and they were an important part of the operation even down to the dog. Why did this part of the was part of the Good Life of it was part of the good life for me. Lonely that was profitable. It would be a fantastic way of life when it got to be a money losing thing and you keep digging the hole deeper than it became to be a way of life that I really didn't appreciate.

I guess I was surprised that most of my dad because he was you know our dads are when you're having a family farm when you want to carry this around and I just we went through a family tree and been seven or eight generations a farmer you know and now here I was not going to do that anymore and dad said you know you've been through some bad times like we never had. To you. He says you got an education take advantage of it. I wouldn't have thought four years ago that I'd ever be happy. Not for me. I always thought that I would have to be farming and to be happy and and I've found that that's not true and I guess I was probably a die hard farmer as you know you could find. So I'd say it's not impossible for people to change right now if the banker came along and said you can have everything back out there you had and you keep your interest up. I would just laugh at him and say I don't need it and I don't want it. So it's amazing how you

can change priorities and and how you can become happy doing something else. I started farming on a farm that I have rented up until now in 1967 and we rented probably two or three hundred acres more along with a pretty large hog operation. And we thought inflation or we thought things were going really good inflation was working it seemed to our benefit and the banker thought it was working to our benefit. So we were eager to keep expanding which we did. Probably around 1980 is when things started to get tight enough and the interest started growing up that we were on a downhill battle from then on and we didn't know it at that time. And by the time we had our crop out in the

fall of 84. Me and my wife could see on paper that we were you know in pretty. We were in bad shape and that we were going to have to do something that we knew we didn't want to borrow any more money and probably couldn't have. We went into the banker and just told him that we were going to have to sell out that we couldn't we couldn't borrow more money for next year and expect to ever be able to come out of it. So we did sell out in January of 85. We had no way to. Repay the debt that were left let alone pay the interest and we decided that if we were going to get on with anything and be able to feed our family we were going to have to go the bankruptcy route which we did reluctantly. It's something that I thought that I would never do. I would say that I wouldn't have done that unless I just had to.

I didn't think things would get this bad. And I thought that I could work myself out of most anything. So I think that in our case or in my case at least I decided that I had done everything in farming that I could possibly do to make it work and that I wasn't going to take it as some kind of a real personal defeat and that I was going to have to look ahead if I was going to be able to do anything from here on out. And I have always done my own well-being and I enjoyed that so I decided that I would try opening up a welding shop on that farm and I started that in February in 85. And ever since I started I have been busy fulltime at that. And my wife looked around for jobs and in August of 85 we moved off of the farm that we had rented since 1967 and moved to the farm that we owned. And I had had a building there that I had put

used for storage and we started to shop in there. This is the end that I want to really keep up right now is the welding business and and get out of farming some more. I enjoy it because I get to talk to a lot of people and I talk to the people that I used to talk to me and I enjoy being able to operate my own business it is probably a lot like for me right now. Our incomes are not real great but we think we have a lot more disposable income in the way we're had when we're on the farm. I guess thinking back on our experience we stayed in farming a year or two too long and we should have known if we could have separated the emotion out of farming with the actual finances of farming. We would have known two or three years earlier probably we were going to be able to pull this off. We used up every available resource that we had to stay in farming.

Well when I first went out to look for a job I didn't have very much confidence and skills that I had had years ago. And once I started looking for a job I got more encouraged I got more confidence and I realized that I didn't have clerical skills that were still there and that I thought that I could compete with most anyone there. When I didn't get my job the University of Iowa I was just really excited. Another thing changed. We went through was moving from a house that we had lived in all our married life. We were fortunate to be able to move to not far away just about a mile away to another farmhouse but

a lot of memories packing things up from the old place and knowing that someone else was going to come in there and play. We had a real hectic summer redoing refinishing a lot of the new home so we didn't have a lot of time to really think about what we were doing. We just always so busy doing it. And I think that that's another change that has just been so much easier than what you'd ever think it could possibly be. My life has changed a lot since I started working away from home. I usually leave home before the kids are even out of bed. That's real different. Kim does a lot more of the homemaking duties. I think the little kids are just as happy. They've been really understanding about what we've gone

through and how we've readjusted. I think they're pretty normal kids with mom going to work. It's changed a lot because I stay home and babysit after school and I babysat all summer long and do a lot of the work around the house so when she comes home you know a lot of the stuff isn't done. I babysit for my little sister and my older brother. Katie's nine laps five. So we still live in a hotel and there's still the same house where there's still outside work. And so it's just like a lot of pressure has been taken off because you don't have to worry about your hogs there like Dad's last car and so he still worries about the weather and stuff like that. But a lot of pressures and taken off with him I say in the House people that too. So both Larry and I value our family time more. Most of the time we can adjust our schedules better now than when

we were farming full time. I think that's a real plus. I think it's partly too has to do though with reordering your priorities and deciding what's really important. I think maybe we think of life as shorter than it used to be. And if you don't do things now to enjoy life that pretty soon our kids are going to be gone or are you going to really miss that chance. On the other side I sometimes get a real yearning to bake cookies and so close. And whenever there's any school function during the day it's surreal because I had to make a decision whether to take time off from work to go to that. Another big change for me is just not being together all day long. One of the things that I miss is

being able to run an errand together or take an afternoon off and expand an errand and two and a half a day fine. But on the other hand we can plan our time a little better. So I think that more than makes up for that. We've been active in the support group. I think it's it's helped us as much as anybody in the group just reach out to wherever you know there's a support network as far as on down the road. I sort of think that maybe unless things get real bad I can pay for my my home or my home farm by running this business and farming a hundred acres and I sort of like to I will be happy to be able to do that and put a little money in the bank as I go. And I guess I'm not looking at the same kind of goals that I used to have when I was finally pretty much looking at trying to get a better living out of what we have now and the kind of

a future life where I don't have any other stresses that I had when I was farming. I started farming after I returned from college in 1940 and I farmed with my dad and brother and we had partnership. Dorothy entered the picture in 1950 five and we. So we farm up until 1983. And at that time our son West took over the operation like lots of other farmers. We did go through a period of expansion and then with the intention of providing the income for two families while this worked relatively well for a while then we got into the 80s and we come to the decision making process that we realized the it the farming operation was not providing the income for two families. And at that time I guess it was a little bit unusual the

decision that that I would have leave the farming operation but it was done on the basis that he was young and he had two years of farming ahead of him and so he took over the farming operation. That's when I started looking for outside work. Two years ago I had made several applications for it for work and I began to realize that I wasn't quite ready for the outside world and that's when I got in contact to dislocated workers and that's how I got in contact with Craig. And that was also one of the very useful things not only for getting involved in something else it was also very useful in overcoming some of the stress and that is really the time in my life when I begin to get out of depression and begin to put my life together. And then I attended Drazen in October and November of

1983. And then I began working with the Hotline the next February and I've been working with them ever since. I'll probably never have a full time job. But Dorothy has a full time job. She has the benefits. So my two part time jobs work working real well with that in many cases it's necessary to get some a little bit of additional help and a little bit of training to get that aid. So you have an edge over the competition because let's face it it's a competitive world out there and it's really difficult to get to you to make an application. But it's it's you got to get your application out of the pile. It can be scary but don't give up. There is there is a time when when I open up for you I'm guessing you feel that it can be hard in the process of the really down period in our life.

Whereas before I was involved in in a job off the farm and this was the time when I experienced depression and at the worst of my depression I was involved in the speed with which I was really immobilized and I really didn't accomplish much. I didn't face up the reality of what was out there as far as the the business was concerned and I spent time on the just sleeping on the davenport sleeping life away. And it was not until that I got involved off the farm that I was really able to overcome overcome these these feelings I still find myself at times being dumped back into that situation and something I probably always have to deal with. He got up in the morning and have breakfast and. Be back on the couch and I feel like saying well are you going to do anything today. But I thought well he just didn't feel up

to it you know. And there was times when I got to work and I wouldn't know where he was and that was about the hardest thing I guess I've gone through and I'm. Going to work not knowing if he was OK. I think one of this the best way that I was able to get out of the depression was at the Drake. That was one of the areas and one of the places where we really dealt with the most life fact and by the time of the time we got through that way my emotional outlet had and attitude has had really changed. And I think that was basically the turning point emotionally for me was the week that I spent with this weekend working with Wes on the farm. I still maintain maintained my interest I still have a few sheep which I'm taken care of and so I still have but I've been able to maintain some

tie which is not which is not always possible for everybody either but it does help make the adjustment a little easier. As I say now with this different job life can also go to church services in the evening and I can attend the children's programs at school. And grandchildren now since other children are all married and gone but it's a whole new life that I enjoy that but there's other things on the farm that you do Miss. Well here I can't see the sunset. I always enjoyed that very much. And then next door neighbors which you do get used to. But on the farm you is still open and free. And I really enjoyed it. As I say it's quite a change but I think we've adjusted well well. I think one of the realities that we face and as foreign people is that it is a time of transition and I think one of the things that we have to remember that while

there are times when we lose hope there is the necessity to continue to have hope and faith in our abilities and be resisted out here and in pursuing new avenues and not to give up. And one of the things one needs to do is you go to other people like the colleges the extension services this program and get all the help that's available and and simply not depend upon our own resources. But I think we need to broaden our base as much as possible and be persistent and faithful and keep at it. And it seems to me that at least in my case you did take time and it's discouraging but there but there are opportunities out there. And so we have to go after them. I feel too there is hope. Don't give up just because you know you're in the situation

because if you do what will happen you just have to continue on. And if you can just look to the future and not look back because it is going to be very depressing and discouraging if you keep looking back. You don't want to do that no more than you know you have to keep looking forward. I always wanted to marry a farmer. I decided I'd rather raise hogs and go to college. So we did. I was happy there but it wasn't there were just like we wanted either we had gotten to the point where we had to farm so many acres and house many hogs that I did. It was a family farm operation. It had always been I and my brother and my dad. We thought we were working hard and we never worked before trying to keep going and at the end of the year things were down and you know what do you got. You know and I just I didn't really think about quitting

but I had a cousin that had been in the business and things like this he had a farm store and he'd quit and went to work for. A chemical company so in chemicals. And we went out with them one night and he said why you know winter's coming up when you're not going to be too busy. He says you could have a little time to go out and look for a job he says why you just go see what you can find. If you don't like it fine. You know you don't have anything hanging over your head saying you got to do this. He was getting sick and tired of hearing and hearing us crying. All he ever did was gripe about farming and our situation. You're not happy with that one. See what else there is absolutely no thinking about it seriously. So the first thing I did is I went over to one side where I went to college and saw my old old Budweiser and I said well I'm thinking about my farming Do you know anybody that's working for you know somebody for a

job. And he said yeah just times that he didn't know. Somebody came approached him and said he was looking for a guy that had some ears on him that was had a long experience and not a young guy right out of college and he would like. And so that's happened that that's who I finally hired with. When Reed talked about quitting farming No we knew we didn't have to quit. We could have gotten financing. Fred you know we don't know how. But we decided if there was something better that we'd go for it. You get to that point in your life I was 35 years old. And I'd had good years when I started out farming and then all of a sudden it seemed like everything was just going to have a good year and you get dry years and you just keep borrowing money and it gets harder and harder

and there's times when you wonder where the next line is coming from and it just build up right up time and I said I'm going to go home for a job and wasn't really serious. I guess it was a surprise but I really did. And of course we start thinking about you know. Well then six short years we're going to have somebody in college. What are we when we talk to the banker about that. And I said when you're farming you can think about things like that you just go from day to day and month to month. We were sick of doing that. We did set some priorities. When we decided to seriously look at other jobs we wanted something where Gary was going to be home at night didn't have to travel far away from home and that maybe we wouldn't have to move right away. We would have time to. Adjust. We were fortunate

too that we lived on Gary's grandparents farm and we had talk to them and they agreed that we should stay there as long as we could and we could pay him rent on the House. So that wasn't a big change for us having to pack all our belongings and move some place right away. We had come over here a couple of times and looked at towns and schools and had real water US around with the kids. We took the kids to school a couple of times and came. And we told them we assured them things were going to be better you know. And so we came and picked the house we wanted to live in and it was fun and we made it fun. I guess all of us did it together. Of course it wasn't. Everybody puts a stiff upper lip and two when they move you know. That was a little hard on the driveway. And we all you know works for our side. Because it's new you've never done it before

but like our oldest son kept asking me when he was in school how was the school day you know how to go find find you know one kid's show and stuff was no big deal. But then after a month or two after that then the real truth starts coming out. You know he couldn't. He hated it the first two weeks but he didn't tell us. And he said I guess I'll go out for track I hate track but you know I'll meet some kids that way. So he did and he did really well he set a school record for seventh grade and you know all the kids accepted him better I guess. So that helped right when we started on the track meets of course and met other parents and was going to be terrible because we had we thought we had everything we wanted there but here we find out there's a lot more better stuff in there like tonight I start quarterback and I'm. Only. A. Freshman and I get to play on offense and then we have freshmen games just for

ourselves and then everybody gets to play. So far. I like it. I can walk to school and just get there when I get there and I can ride my bike around and get places where I live and go see my friends boy. All my bosses a voice said hey your kids are grown up wants to become involved with them. We want you to have a family life and that's something I enjoy that I didn't get to do when I was four or five grand. I did get to learn that I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm a 33 major for sweet repeats and my job is to call on dealers that handle super sweet and help them. So what I do a lot of. On the firm calls you at first I really miss him not being home at 9:30 for coffee at noon for lunch and 3:30 for coffee you know. So it was really a void in my life. So when we moved here it just came natural to have coffee.

So it was easy for me to get acquainted here when we were still living on the farm. I revived an old interest I had and told painting and begins selling wholesale through a sales rep. And I'm real busy doing that I try to paint every day besides babysitting to neighbor girls for a good friend. And I spend a lot of time chasing after my own kids attending sports events and. Musicals and things like that and keeping house. I enjoy working at home. I think one of the real challenges of off the farm is to be able to look back and say you know I made it on the farm at least for a good many years and then to be able to say well I also was able to make it off the farm.

There's a lot of satisfaction that also when a person has to do things I think they find that they have a lot more ability and stamina than they thought they did. And we still hear. People say farmers say oh I can never ever do anything else. I just don't know what I would do if it happened to me. But farmers have a lot of skills and farm lives have a lot of skills. They have the basic good work attitudes and ambition. And I think that when it comes to the point where you just have to people inside and they can