The old coyote, aka Grandpa David, doing what he does best, feeding the cows, farming grass.

The tough get going. That’s how the saying goes and that is what has to be done when you’re farming. The cows don’t stop eating, the grass doesn’t stop growing, the barn doesn’t stop needing to be cleaned, no matter what is going on in the lives of the humans running the show. So the family comes together and does what needs to be done, with the equipment needed to do it, in the way that we can when the leader is missing. I know, I know, lots of generalizations but in this very personal family that is how we roll.

When you get our family together, the ones that still live around here anyway, it’s always somewhat awkward. We all have this deep connection but it goes unspoken largely, and it’s often times difficult to find things to discuss. I’m not sure if all families are this way or if we are just weird, but anyway, if there is one thing that brings us all together it is the farm, White’s farm on the hill. Grandpa David has always been quite the quintessential farmer, gruff, tough, hard working, leaves a lot left unsaid, and never asks for help. I know this is out of the goodness of his heart because he never wants to make anyone feel like they have to do the work that is “his”, but we all want to do it anyway. So in recent times boy has there been a chance to.

Justin and Jonathan making their first hay.

Jake, Grandpa’s son, and his two sons, Justin and Jonathan, have come to help finish up the hay season with my mom, Kara and my Dad too, actually. It was fun to watch the boys intuitively pickup the controls of Grandpa’s tractor from their experience using other equipment for logging and excavating. There were a few late nights, and surely a lot of lessons learned, and I can’t wait to see what can be done next year when Grandpa is back in his tractor, or back in the hayfield anyway. It will be so neat to see him have the chance to pass on his decades of knowledge on how to make good hay. It is a science, and it is an art, and it takes years to procure the methodology that leads to a nice mold free crop that the animals will enjoy. Since being back on the farm it has been so interesting to see just how little to do with the animals there is to do, and how much to do there is with everything else! Fences to mend, maintenance to do on barns and equipment, butcher appointments and arrangements to make, the customer facing side of things, making sure there is enough food for winter for the animals, making sure everyone has water, the list goes on.

God does always have a plan, and although it is so hard to be patient enough to watch it play out and find your role in the waiting, His plan is always supreme to our own. Thankfully my mom, Kara, Grandpa David’s daughter, has been Grandpa’s shadow for the past two years as they have worked closely to sell beef, pork, and hay together. My mom has been able to dedicate the majority of her days taking care of the cows, keeping them fed, and trying to plan the events to come to make the wheels keep rolling on this small family operation. This time without Grandpa here, has provided a looking glass of sorts into the future as well, thankfully short term, because it has revealed that Grandpa is very much needed as a leader. In fact he needs to step into his role as a leader even more, by being the teacher I have talked about in past posts, to enable the success of future generations of farmers in our family, to continue his legacy.

Garden times, 2022 she has upgraded to the big John Deere tractors now for the work that needs to be done, but she still hasn’t upgraded her shoes….. hehe

It has been a beautiful thing to witness three generations of farmers come together to tie up loose ends and get the farm fields ready for winter, mowing and baling the last of the fall hay. There is much to come though, moving cows off of their summer pasture, getting elastics on the bull calves, putting up hay equipment for safe keeping, mending fences, dealing with bulls, weaning calves. It is all a labor of love, and it is all a labor of passion, and all farmers might be just a little crazy for loving such a thing, but thank God for all of them. After all, the food doesn’t grow on the shelves of grocery stores.