[AT] now Selling Seed

charlie hill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Fri Aug 22 16:19:33 PDT 2014


Thanks Herb,  I meant to ask that same question and forgot.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Herb Metz
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 4:29 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] now Selling Seed

Grant,
Your seed company name, address, product line, etc, etc, etc.???
Herb

-----Original Message----- 
From: Grant Brians
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 10:46 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] What you want to do - was RE: McCormick plow

I will repeat something I have said to many people. Try what you want! My
parents and grandparents were not farmers. I just was the one who had to do
it. Essentially I went broke twice doing so, then working other jobs to
recover and make sure all the bills were paid. When I got laid off from my
tech job back in 2003 and could not find another job in that industry, I
finally decided to do what I wanted and farm full time again. I had made
sure to maintain my equipment (and retain it - VERY IMPORTANT) and so I
ended up acquiring a failing business paid for over time and am still going.
I have not broken the poverty line as far as income since, but honestly I am
glad I am doing what I am doing (farming the way I hoped I could back in the
1970s as a teenager in the sense of growing lots of unusual vegetables,
herbs etc.) Also, I am now selling seed to market growers all over the
country with the seed business acquisition in June.
     I talk to these market growers and every one of them has the same
refrain - I may not be making much, but I am glad I am doing it. Most are in
their second careers and many are my age or older (I'm approaching 55 fast).
Also, they nearly all say that their satisfaction is much more than when
they were doing the other jobs they had before.
     Getting going as a bigtime Corn/Soybeans/Wheat farmer is an expensive
and not very satisfying proposition for nearly all of us without big bucks
in the bank. Doing Market gardening or raising pasture-grown livestock or
fruit farming for the local area is much more feasible to startup and
although certainly as we age the manual labor doesn't get any easier there
are lots of little shortcuts as so many on this list have mentioned. I am
also reminded that the average age of a US farmer is now 59 years old - a
scary thought for the future. But at the same time there is a good point to
that fact - a farmer lives longer because he or she is actually working not
sitting in the Lazboy, watching TV and drinking a beer all day! Also, we
learn something every day because the weather is constantly changing, the
markets are constantly changing, Climate change is happening, even the
stupid regulations from insurance companies, government and customers are
not unchanging. We don't get bored!
     So, to close with the same message I started out with, try what you
want and do get out your tractor or shovel or woodworking tools or welding
kit or... and use the creativity you have to figure out how to do the things
you didn't go as far with when you were younger. After all, thanks to
Medicare at a certain point you CAN afford to have your own business. Maybe
you will find there is a young person who wants to ride along with you in
your pursuit and not be just on the video game or text.
           Grant Brians - FARMER of over 150 different crops, seed seller
and grower, has enough things to do to fill 4 lives

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]On Behalf Of Ron Cook
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2014 8:01 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] McCormick plow


Charlie,
     I had to do the chicken chores and milk the three cows.  Did not
like any of that.  It was every day of the year.  My dad and the hired
hands always got time off.  Not me.  I really liked the field work with
the tractors.  Manual labor was not a favorite, like haying, weeding,
cleaning hog houses, etc.
     My dad cut me off or discouraged me from farming every chance he
got.  Mostly to his benefit I later discovered.  Turns out he was one
heck of a selfish control freak type.  He succeeded with me and tried
the same crap with one of my nephews I found out a couple weeks ago.
Fortunately for my nephew, his granddad died a few years ago and gave
the farm to his youngest son, a 1/2 brother of mine. With that change,
my nephew is now able to join in the farming operation and is purchasing
some ground in partnership with a brother.  And they are doing pretty
well, I might add.
The family is actually helping, as it should.
     My 1/2 brother is now very wealthy and has retired at age 60.
Spends time wasting money in casinos almost every weekend.  He has never
had a job.  Just stayed home and did what dad told him.  Paid off big
time.  But, I am ten years older and just might outlive him.  I have
to.  Can't retire.  You just have to play the hand you are dealt to the
best of your ability.  That is what I am trying. Working okay so far.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA
On 8/20/2014 8:19 AM, charlie hill wrote:
> I always went to school, my dad would ride the tractor
> during the day and I'd run it in the afternoons and on
> weekends.  We managed not to have to plow at night.
> I've gone in the field many a Saturday morning at the
> first dawn and come out at night with my way lighted
> by the blue flame coming from the top of the exhaust stack.
>
> I enjoyed it too for the most part.  Sometimes in the mid morning
> it got very monotonous but as the day goes on and you get
> tired you kind of get immersed in the work.  Or at least that's the
> way I remember it half a century later.  My biggest regret is that
> I didn't stick with it after my dad died.  I've tried about every kind
> of work there is except the kind I really always wanted to do.
> No one encouraged me or offered to help so I gave it up.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Cook
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2014 2:14 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] McCormick plow
>
> Charlie,
>       Pretty much the same here.  Just larger tractors and larger farms.
> Same hours.  We had to plow in the fall before freeze up and after corn
> picking.  Around the clock for a couple weeks.  I rather enjoyed sitting
> on a D4 Cat  come sunrise after plowing all night and wave at the school
> bus as it went by the field.  They went to school and I went home to bed
> for awhile.  The Cat belonged to an uncle, but when we were getting late
> into cold weather it came into play on our farm.  I was usually on a
> John Deere A and later a John Deere 70.  But when the ground was
> freezing, the wheel tractors ran out of traction and the D4 could run a
> little longer.
>
> Ron Cook
> Salix, IA
>

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