Charlie

“I grew up on this wheat farm. After high school, I joined the Marine Corp. After 4 years I decided to get out and go to school. I did my pre-recs for the civil engineering program in Wisconsin. After a couple of years, Wisconsin didn’t work out real well so I came on home, which I said I would never do. I worked in construction for a while. Then the hired man my Dad had at that time wasn’t working out so he asked if I could help out on the farm. I was never going to work on the farm but I found that this is what I like to do. It was good for me to go away from the farm and see a little bit of the world. If I hadn’t I don’t think I would know the value of what I was coming back to.

We have 2,750 acres of wheat this year. Total including all of the scablands and pasture we have 7,500 acres. Our rotations are around 2,700 per year. We have some in CRP and all of that will be out in 2020. We are fairly small as far as wheat farms around here. We are always looking for more ground.

I am raising my family out here in our tiny little house. Our plan is to build a new house next year. I really like it out here in the middle of nowhere. I grew up out here as a kid and now my kids get to grow up here too. The kids can run from sunrise to sunset if they want. Whether it’s birds or bugs or a bull snake we turn it into nature study for the kids. It’s cool too that they can come and ride with me in the combine. Looking back, it all worked out how it was supposed to, as a teenage boy I wanted away from the farm and now I wouldn’t trade this life for anything.”