The Event ~ The Farm Sale

In the mid 1980’s farming went south. That “phrase” was mentioned to a city gal recently, and she asked what it meant – “did we pick up and move the farm south?”

No we didn’t move south. But we did move. “Farming went south” refers to farming accumulating more expense and debt than income over a number of years. The depressed ag economy of the 80’s hit and took its toll on many valley farmers. It was a farm crisis in many agriculture states.  It became obvious to us that to continue in farming was not a smart choice, but the decision was still ours to make. Unlike other farmers who were told by the bank they had to sell out and walk away with nothing left, we still had the option to keep going. However, we could read the writing on the wall.

Our hearts told us to stay, but our heads told us to get out while we could without losing everything. It was a very difficult decision. For Tim, it was hard to walk away from the only way of life he ever knew. His grandfather farmed. His father farmed. He farmed with them. It was the only life he knew. But we knew it was the smart choice, the right decision. It was a head decision ~ not a heart decision!

We lined up our equipment. We had a farm sale. It was March 1986. We sold most everything, including my milk cow!

We kept an old “C” tractor which Tim was really partial to and which we still have today, and a few other pieces of equipment.   We knew we were making the right decision when we felt inner peace and comfort about it.  Alot of prayer went into the decision, and  God was with us through it all.  We felt His presence.   One knows when a right decision is being made when His presence, His peace, His comfort, His direction can be felt.

By October 1986 we were living in Scottsbluff.  We  both got city jobs ~ me at the Chamber of Commerce and Tim as Transportation Supervisor at the Scottsbluff Public Schools. We both stayed at those jobs for 13 years. I loved mine. Tim hated his!

We were both very fortunate.  I remember when the Job Service sent me to the Chamber of Commerce to apply for an opening.  I thought "how boring", but I went anyway.  That's where I met Joyce Hillman.  She also had been a stay at home farm wife for 16 years before she went to work at a city job years earlier, so she knew just where I was coming from.  After visiting briefly about my qualifications - or lack of them - she said, "You are just the type of person I'm looking for - someone who can manage and run several things at one time.  Anyone who worked as hard as you did on the farm can certainly manage an office."  She hired me on the spot, even though I hadn't held an office job for 16 years, since leaving my job in Denver (see August 16 entry).  She became a friend and mentor.  She left the Chamber to become State Senator.   She is the one who also put in a good word for Tim to her very good friend ~ the school administrator who hired Tim.

We all know the saying “You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.”  Our goal was to find an acreage in the country. It took us three years to find the place we currently own ~ a 40-acre corner on the outskirts of town. We moved there Christmas 1989. We turned it into a haying operation a few years later and have been haying ever since. (see July 12 “Home Sweet Home” entry”).  It was a sweet day in December 2007 when we made our final mortgage payment on our current home and acreage. 

Following our exit from farming, many other friends followed suit. Several of our friend's marriages didn't survive their transition.   If they weren't forced out, they were forced to get bigger. Bigger means more land, more debt, bigger machinery, bigger debt, bigger headaches, more government, and in a good year ~ more income. But the good years are far and few between as this valley sits in a summer hail zone!

Farming is no longer a way of life like many farmers knew it prior to the 1980’s. It is now treated as a business swallowed up by government rules and regulations, technology, automation, and computerized equipment.

For Tim and I, our little acreage started out as more of a hobby, but it too has been consumed by current trends. Tim has been in high demand for custom work which keeps him busy, but it’s a business he loves.

Back in 1986 when we made the transition, Tim wasn’t the only one to line up his machinery. Cash lined his up as well ~ and packed it away! After moving to town, he never once played with his farm toys again. At age six, he said he was not a farmer anymore! He too, walked away from something he dearly loved. I think that was harder on me than the real farm departure.  Today his farm equipment remains neatly parked on shelves in a basement armoire, waiting to be handed down to his son someday.

A farm sale is a solemn event.  It's also a social event that farmers enjoy going to to catch up with their neighbors.  It's always helpful when God walks with you through life's trials and tribulations.  We have been blessed beyond any expectation we may have ever had.  "All things work together for good to them that love God."    Life is good!  Life itself is an eventful friend.