Today marks an important milestone in our family history. We are selling the farm.
I recently watched old 8mm videos mom took starting in 1961 We used to tease her about taking so many pictures and videos, but I now understand why. She wanted to capture our family history so it could be passed on to future generations.
I was reminded of how much fun we had as a family and it brought back memories of life on the farm. Dad started with leasing and then purchasing a rocky and uncultivated field. He spent years investing in the land so it could produce a crop and it paid off. With that success, he started buying more land. It worked well as long as the markets were going up. He would buy low and sell high. Banks were calling and offering deals. He would find a property make improvements then flip into more land. This worked great until it didn’t. President Nixon imposed a grain embargo and the farm economy never recovered. He found himself upside down, owing more than the land was worth. The once-friendly banks turned on him and was circling him to re-possess the land.
Dad had a hard shell of work intensity, but a soft heart of generosity. He was so faithful to the church following in the footsteps of his parents in church attendance. If the church was open; we were there. He taught “adult” Sunday School and was generous in his giving – almost to a fault. He often visited people in the hospital or nursing home and made sure he stayed close to the needs of grandma and grandpa before the passed.
It was the winter of 1984. Dad had experienced the heaviness of his wife (mom) having gone through a battle with breast cancer (late 70’s), the loss of a daughter (Sherry) to leukemia (1982) and now the loss of everything in bankruptcy. He sold what he could and stopped any excessive spending I was a freshman in college. He did not want me to miss out on an education and he set aside the funds needed for me to finish school (it was much less expensive back then, but still a sacrifice for our family).
When he passed, there was just enough life insurance and mom’s determination to keep the farm going. She was featured in the USA Today as one of those rare female farmers who had the tenacity and business savviness to operate at 1000 acre grain farm. With the help of a retired local farmer and family, she brought the farm ought of debt. She made the difficult decision to retire and move off the farm in 1991 but kept three pieces of land for rent. She spent time in 1990 carefully documenting life on the farm with her infamous video camera so her family would not forget.
For the past 30 years, Debbie and I have been blessed by mom and dad with farm income to help build savings and provide for the family. It was not much but enough to help make a difference in saving for college and paying for nice trips just like mom and dad would have wanted.
As we sell the farm today, mom and I are reinvesting so our kids and their families will be able to enjoy for years to come. God has been faithful. He has guided us and orchestrated events to help us make wise decisions. It is a wonderful heritage and we are thankful we are able to pass it on.
Bodacious Brays 