Farming in the Blood

Brian was raised in Benton County, Indiana, a farm community. They call the dirt there "black gold" because it's so rich and fertile. Brian's maternal grandparents, Fred and Kathryn Wolverton, farmed all their lives. While they passed on years ago, their farming legacy still lives on through their son Dick and Brian's baby brother, Jason. Jason lives with his family in their farmhouse and we had a great time showing the kids around the farm a couple of weekends ago.

When Brian speaks of his "Kitty Grandma" (because she had so many cats), it's always with respect and affection. He says he can remember spending Saturdays there in front of her TV watching football while she brought him plate after plate of home made french fries. To this day, no ones fries compare.

This tractor was bought by Grandpa in the early 1950s and they still use it to turn the auger on the corn silo during harvest. Everyone got a ride. (Even me, but there's no photo.)  Uncle Jason took the kiddos first.

I don't have a great picture of it, but what you see in the back ground here is the original corn crib.  It was replaced by three silver silos where everything was mechanized later, from the shucking to the (whatever the technical term is for taking the kernals off the cob).  
Brian would've made a great farmer!  He looks like a natural on here, doesn't he? The kids got to climb on other equipment...some sort of combine thing and other tractors.  They were huge!  Brian remembers riding along during planting and harvest.  His mom says Uncle Dick fixed a foam pallet in the cab so that he could "rest" if he got tired.
There were corn fields on one side and soy bean fields on the other.  I wondered how many beans it took to make the soy milk we drink.  We learned the difference between field corn and sweet corn.  Jason and Cindy had planted a small (well, it looked pretty big to me) patch of sweet corn for eating and Jason taught the kids how to pick it and how to see if it's ripe.  They listened and followed instructions so well.
I think Sammie would've picked the whole patch!
And, no farm is complete without a tire swing!  Ava really was having a good time, I promise!
The dog you see in this picture and the first one is named Roxy.  When we first got there, she disappeared into the corn field.  The kids, of course, wanted to go after her, but I was afraid they'd get lost in the corn.  They kept calling and calling.  Finally, she came out with a fully shucked ear of corn!  I didn't hardly believe it until I saw her shuck another ear later.  She knows what's good, I guess!
Daddy took the kids for a ride on the go cart and Ava remained fascinated with the buckle.  I'll save the four wheeler pictures for when I know the grandparents won't have a heart attack.
We all had so much fun and you could tell by the layers of dirt we had to wash off.

We're hoping to go back in a few weeks during harvest, so they can ride the combines!  Stay tuned....