Down on the Farm in Indiana

We spent our fourth of July on the Linnemeier farm. This is the farm/home of our Heidi's sister Inge and her husband Steve. Until the mid 1900s they were doing dairy farming, now they grow soy and wheat and also  truck farming for their produce stand. After having a large meal picnic-style outside we thought it would be fun to tour the farm. I thought it very clever that Steve and his partner Larry are growing the string beans  in what was once a feed trough. No bending needed to pick those beans! There is another crop of beans nearby in a what was once a manger.

To the left of the beans, and in the background is a hot house which they just set up this year. The cucumbers are ready to pick now because of the early start they got in the nursery. Steve said that it has been a very wet spring, most of his crops got a late start. Unfortunately now it is a very dry summer. The farm has a large collection of farm equipment. In the picture below is a machine, pulled by a tractor, which lays out plastic strips and pokes holes into the plastic where seeds may be placed. It is quite an interesting machine.

The wheat will be harvested soon. John and I were told that they could use some more hands to help with that. I think in the picture below Larry is trying to convince John that he needs to get into the fields and help out. John, however, was more interested in culling the nuts and bolts from some door knobs (those knobs are in the bag he is holding). He felt that the one summer he spent harvesting wheat about 35 years ago was all he will ever do again. John's next stop was going to be the tool shed where he hoped to find a vise for the knobs. His only goal while at the farm was to recycle the brass from those knobs!

Ben, our nephew, was with us for the day. He is eight years old and was greatly out-numbered by all the adults at the picnic. Steve made up for that by giving him a ride in the tractor across the fields. That was one happy boy!