My father homesteaded in western South Dakota and IMO only

[heidler1]

the poorer immigrants from foreign countries were educated in how to survive this kind of hardship. Today most kids leave the farms and move to the cities because that life is still too demanding and you can't learn it in school, because the teachers haven't got a clue as to how to make it work. Before I was born Dad sold his homestead and bought a building in a nearby town to go into business.

My dad was 50 when I was born, he was a harness maker and sold saddles, harness, boots and shoes in his store plus did repair on the same stuff. During the big depression the store would not feed the family so we had a milk cow, chickens, hogs which he butchered and smoked himself. Without his knowledge of how to do damn near everything his business and life style would have failed and he would of had to move on as many others were forced to do. Yeah he was happy working nearly every minute, but to him it was normal.

After being in WW2 I'd saw the big cities and how that life went with the 40 hour week and all, so I left home. I worked in a power plant, met my Wife and we moved to California. No regrets, but I always tried to use the ways of my Father when ever possible.

[kestrel91316]

1. Things have really changed. Most Americans wouldn't know

how to grow their own vegetables or fruits or what to do with chickens or a milk cow to save their lives these days..............

[heidler1]

2. The reason I wrote the story was how difficult it will be to deal with Global Warming.

Then forgot to mention it. A senior moment.

[Virginia Dare]

4. Yes, I inferred that....

in fact I have read some sociological theories that we will indeed go back to an agrarian small community type lifestyle within the next couple of hundred years. The environment will not be able to sustain the traditional suburban lifestyle into the future. How will future generations prepare for that? :shrug:

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. Nothing "traditional" about the suburban lifestyle; it's an aberration.

[Virginia Dare]

3. That was before corporate consumerism took over...

through the use of mass media. Reading your post made me wistful for that kind of life. Hard work, but plenty of simple rewards. Perhaps we'll have to go back to it again in the future when all of this comes crashing down around us.

[hippiechick]

6. ... and don't forget the onset of corporate farms ...

... the independent family farm has almost no chance these days. :(

[SharonAnn]

5. My great-grandfather homesteaded in Eastern South Dakota in the 1800's.

Better farming in eastern South Dakota.

My grandparents farmed there also, but 6 of their 7 children became nurses, med techs, engineers, dentists, anything that would get them a better life. Growing up through the Depression and then WWII, the knew that working hard was part of life.

[Fridays Child]

7. Sounds to me like...

...you have some wonderful stories about your dad. You should write them down, if you haven't already.

After much badgering, many years ago, I got my father to write down what he remembered about his father, a man who had some amazing and uniquely American adventures in his lifetime. What I got from my father was a 22-page single-spaced document that is, now, a real treasure to me.

[heidler1]

11. My Father went to the third or fourth grade in Germany, He could

read and write both German and English plus speak enough Indian to deal with them. His store was in between two Indian Reservations. Back then his store had what Indian men were interested in. The only writing he did was about his business needs.

I did write an autobiography and called it the "THE LUCKY SON" as a compliment to to my Parents. The whole book is on the Internet at http://users.adelphia.net/~hheidler/THE%20LUCKY%20SON.htm However I was living in CO when I put it on the Internet and the E-mail Address is wrong and I can't change it because Adelphia is no longer my ISP and hasn't been for 3 years. These ISPs never get around to deleting old web pages unless you request it and there's no point in doing that.

[Fridays Child]

13. Oh, my. You were a BIG baby.

Bless your mother's heart! I love these personal histories.

I'll keep reading. Thanks for the link.

[133724]

19. Send a copy to Project Gutenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

[heidler1]

27. Thank you. I went there, but their rules for uploads didn't look very promising.

[tularetom]

8. Before WWII my father was a cowboy

He ran away from an orphanage in Oklahoma, got a ride to CA and worked on several large ranches. My older sister and I were both born at home before Pearl Harbor. After the war my dad went to college on the GI bill but I often think of how things have changed in just a few generations. My grandkids are scared of horses and the two granddaughters don't even know how to clean a fish.

[politicat]

9. Actually....

I'm from a farm community. It's not that we can't learn how to manage a farm in school - we can. The problem is that for the past fifty or sixty years, the educational system has discouraged very bright kids from staying with the farm. Bright kids are not encouraged to study agronomics, animal husbandry, or any of the other ag related paths. If we're determined to make a go of farming, we're told to go get Veterinary medicine degrees or to study some sort of Business Management with an emphasis in commodities trading and have a hobby farm. We're told not to "waste our minds".

Which is really, really, really dangerously stupid. Being a farmer takes brains and lots of them. Farming requires a very flexible intellect and a prodigious memory for detail and quite a bit of intuition. So when, in a community with 800 high school students, the top 20% are routinely skimmed off and sent off to some urban idealized future. The only kids who are encouraged to stick with the ag path are the kids who, in the eyes of their teachers, couldn't hack it elsewhere. And these are the kids that grow up to be adults who get sucker-punched by big agribusiness, who are so locked into heavily mechanized, subsidized, Round-up Ready dual crop rotation that they can't get out and end up further in debt every year, even though we don't need about half of the #2 field corn and soybeans that we subsidize every year (ADM wants it, but they're not us.). They're the kids who don't have the insight and intuition and biological sciences background to realize that you can't mess with the nitrogen cycle, and that having animals on the land may be more work, but it guarantees a healthier piece of land and a better bank balance in the long run.

My great-grandfather had a Bachelor's in agronomics. My great uncle had a bach in animal husbandry. I'm working on my doctorate in Agricultural Economics (and to get to a place where I could pursue what I really wanted to do with my life, I had to get "real" degrees that didn't "waste my mind"). My family farm has been consistently profitable and consistently non-chemical for 140 years. But we are the exception in our region. Most of the other farmers in the area around my family farm don't have any college. A lot don't have high school diplomas. But you'd be surprised how many of us (and by us I mean 20 and 30 something college educated post-farm kids) can survive without Fedex and just-in-time logistics. But don't take our internet away... that's how we track commodity prices to maximize profits. :P

[heidler1]

12. I didn't say it, but I meant the old way with horses or a small scale independant type farm.

[politicat]

16. Again, it's possible to learn....

But it takes brains, and the kids who are encouraged (or kept) in the ag programs aren't willing or able to do that work.

We are technically "independent", though I don't know if you'd call us small scale, and we're definitely not horse driven (though some of our Amish neighbors are). We could be fuel independent if we would switch a couple of fields from organic feed stock (corn, hay, soybeans, sorghum) to some sort of oil plant (probably sunflowers, flax or peanuts) and reduce the number of pigs we keep. (This is all under consideration, but we have to consider the price we pay for local biodiesel versus the price we get for organic pork....) I can guarantee we will not be going back to horse plows any time in the near future. Even if the zombies* come, we'll still use tractors and just cold press oil and reagent it to biodiesel. The fact is, even if the zombies come, our 1000 acres under cultivation can keep about 6000 people fed, warm, protected and with some level of refrigeration and sanitation... as long as we can still use tractors. If we have to abandon the tractors, we'd also have to abandon 2/3rds of the people we can provide for. (Told you, Ag Econ. Sustainability is what I'm working on.)



*Zombies: A generalization for any civilization-reducing disaster that forces humanity to literally fight for its survival. Based on The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z by Max Brooks (which are both very much worth reading.)

[truedelphi]

17. We just moved out to the sticks and I am amazed at how bright

Everyone is.

Not that I ever bought into the "country farm people" equals "stupid" mentality (BUt several TV commercials out there promote that idea.")

In the city, everyone seemed so intent on showing how impressive they were - it was all about the top achievers showing how perfect they are.

Here people are more intent on enjoying their lives and being friendly.

They fix things on their own, help each other fix things. If one of my neighbors can't offer advice on how to get something to work again - I feel like I'm probably out of luck.

What with the fact that this area is being developped, it's not hard to imagine that many of our new community members have money or will be coming into real money very soon.

And I don't doubt for a minute that they will be adept at making sensible investments.

Plus I love the smell of the meadows, pastures and forests every day of my new life!

[politicat]

23. Yes, but...

The educational system still gears bright kids away from rural occupations. It takes a lot of determination and self-awareness for a smart teen to stand up to the adult pressure to go away and "make something of yourself." And it takes a lot of determination for a more average kid to not give into the pressure to just take over the farm.

[truedelphi]

24. Everyone here complains about the schools

For me - it's been good - as I tutor math part time.

But I can understand that between the peer pressure of wanting to be
in the "more exciting scene" (i.e. the city) and the local teachers gearing things to getting ahead
in a "professional" job, the stage is set for the kids to NOT think about managing the farm.

And <sigh> eating a local breakffast spots, you hear parents bragging about their child being inducted into the military, and how the son or daughter will get training there.

[heidler1]

25. After growing up there and bing indifferent about school I went to

the big city and found it easy competing with people that grew up in the city.

It was almost fun to go to bed with a difficult problem to work out finally coming up with a solution. This was true during the 17 years I worked as a large computer software problem solver for IBM Corp. It worked after I quit IBM and became a CA licensed Real Estate Broker and a Licensed CA General Contractor. I designed and built 7 custom homes and made more money than with IBM. I did it all by reading books.

[knitter4democracy]

10. My stepbrother wanted to run the family farm.

Too bad his uncle embezzled money from the farm, enough to have to declare bankruptcy and sell it all off. His dad now works for him as a ditchdigger (good job in farm country if you're good at it, which they are) after years of planning to run the farm and working his butt off to do so.

True, most of the cousins weren't interested, but a few were and would've been a part of the next generation running the farm. My class valedictorian in high school (graduated in 1992) was the VP of the state FFA chapter and president of our school's FFA chapter. He went to Michigan State to major in ag engineering, but he was told to switch to education so he could work the farm and then teach as his second job, which he did.

There are a lot of kids who want to keep farming. Damn economy is making that harder and harder to do.

[Mojorabbit]

14. I am learning some of these old skills on my own

It would be so much easier if I had learned them from my parents. My dad taught me to garden. I have just about mastered cleaning a pig and making sausage, rendering lard etc. I want to be as self sufficient as possible. I like knowing where my food comes from.

[kineneb]

18. I learned lots from my grandparents

They raised me after my parents divorced. Both had been raised on farms, and after WWI, my grandfather went into mining/smelting, and later, auto-body repair. They taught me how to repair things, and recycle used things into other things. My grandfather turned most of our property (3/4 of an acre) into garden; my grandmother and I canned most of the extra.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

20. I enjoyed your autobiography, Mr. Heidler.

Without these personal accounts, an agrarian way of life that existed for centuries, cannot be understood at all.

When I was ten, eleven, and twelve--1969-71, I accomanied my father on sales trips in the summer. A particular drive, down lonely hiway 34 east of Rapid City towards Pierre, is forever etched upon my psyche. Small towns with names like White Owl. Hardly a soul left, even then. But the air was absolutely charged that day, for some reason. Dad and I could both feel it. A bustling society of very tough people had existed here only a couple of decades before. A storm chasing us, through the sea of grasses . . . the air electric with SOMETHING. I have never fogotten South Dakota.

[truedelphi]

21. Your response is poetry n/t

[CrazyOrangeCat]

22. Thank you, Truedelphi.

This can be a very inspiring place . . .

[heidler1]

26. Thank you. If you ever happen to go to Philip, SD and visit the county

Court House they have a library and I donated a couple of my books to them. Philip is having a Centennial Celebration June 15th-17th I plan on going. My Dads store is about 3 blocks East next to Hank's Hardware. Now it's being used as a insurance office.

I met my wife of 56 years in Woonsocket, SD. We now live in Mesa, AZ.