While I did not grow up on a farm
in Iowa, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents in their small farming town
in Northern Iowa. Some of my favorite childhood memories occurred there. One
thing that I really loved doing was riding on my grandfather’s lap in the
tractor. When I was talking to my dad about my farming roots and my grandfather,
he said:
The first memory that I have of my
dad when I was a young boy is sitting on his lap on an Oliver 1650 tractor with
no cab and a heat houser to keep us warm…pushing snow in the front of our house
after a big Latimer blizzard. He let me run the hydraulic levers to raise and
lower the bucket to dump the snow. I thought I was so cool. After that, I was
hooked on my dad, as well as hooked on driving tractors (Muhlenbruck).
My grandpa loved tractors so much. It makes sense because
according to the Ag Classroom timeline, tractors started replacing horses on
farms around 1945 (Ag Classroom, “Historical Timeline – 1940’s). This was
around the time my grandfather was a young boy watching his father work on the
farm.
My grandfather spent his whole life
doing agricultural work. He was so hardworking, kind, and honest. I truly
looked up to my grandfather and loved him dearly. He worked at Farmer’s Cooperative Co., in
Latimer, Iowa, for 50 years. According to the timeline, there were over 10,000
cooperatives in the United States with over 7 million members in the 1950’s (Ag
Classroom, “Historical Timeline – 1950’s). This was around the time my
grandfather joined his cooperative. He was extremely passionate about his job
and loved to tell us stories about working at the grain elevator.
My grandpa was
usually in charge of transporting the feed and the grain to and from the
elevator. He drove a large elevator pickup, which he would load up with corn,
grain, and feed and take these products to the various farms throughout his
community. The 1950’s were also the time when trucks started to compete with
railroads for transportation of agricultural products (Ag Classroom, “Historical
Timeline – 1950’s). My grandfather really taught me how important working hard
was. I know that whenever I drive past a cornfield or down a gravel road and
see the big blue sky, I will think of my grandpa and my farming roots.
Works Cited
“Historical Timeline – 1940’s.” Ag Classroom. 2014.
http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1940.htm
“Historical Timeline – 1950’s.” Ag Classroom. 2014.
http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1950.htm
Muhlenbruck, Thomas. Personal interview. 22 Jan. 2017.
