Characteristics of a Good Farm Father

A good farm father has some unique characteristics that most of us could learn from. In honor of all those farm fathers here is my top ten list...

Walking with My Father

My Dad had "Management By Walking Around" all figured out over 40 years ago. When I was little we would often park the pick-up by one of his fields and walk for what seemed like hours to look at the crops. It was often hard to keep up with my shorter legs and I would often have to run a little, but there was nothing more fun than being out "farming" with Dad. I know more than once Dad would feign the need to pull a couple of weeds until I could get caught up and we would launch into the next field.

With my own crops, I can relate to the deep sense of enjoyment this gave him.

The Gobblers Knob Controversey

In our previous post on compost, I was explaining how my father was very innovative in the making and use of compost. He often used compost to rebuild areas with poor soil, Dad called one of these spots that the glaciers messed up "Gobblers Knob", because they would see turkeys in this area of the field. It is a bit of a local land mark with the neighbors and he had a colorful sign commission that he posted out in the field to show how to get there. (No one ever went there except my Dad or his family, this was kind of an inside joke, and he thought that was great.) But I digress...

It was kind of steep on "Gobblers Knob" and so Dad had it growing local prairie species like "Big Blue Stem" and volunteer clovers. It was very pretty in the early summer when everything was blooming but later in the season the organic matter from these native species was massive. So he got the idea that he should compost all this organic matter and return it to the soil. Gobblers Knob was a little thin on top, kinda like my Dad's hair, so Dad thought it could use a little enrichment. No not his hair, "The Knob".