Looking for a Past I Never Had

My Dad rarely revealed very much about his inmost thoughts. When I stopped by to see him back in 1988, he summarized his last 42 years. "If I had it to do all over again, I would have gone into farming with Otto." Had is dream worked out, I would have grown up on a family farm.

Sadly, that was not to be. Otto died the same year Dad's wife, my mother died. He left the farming communities of Southwestern Minnesota for Washington State, work in the shipyards and four decades of business partnership.

The family farm was also not to be.

Dad's folks were farmers. So were his uncles. Mother's family were mostly farmers, too. We we were little, we loved to visit Uncle Herb's farm. He had a large family which was a miniature corporation. Everybody was busy and very body appeared happy.

I'm just starting on Ronald Jager's book, "The Fate Of Farming." He's going to tell us why those charming farms did not survive. I'll keep you posted...