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A slight departure from the usual this week, the first article below is not original material. Normally, all the text in this space originates at the MMOGTA Publishing Complex here in Fergus, it’s just simpler to assign the blame when there is only one source. (Note all-purpose disclaimer above) That said, I thought the first piece below fit our format well enough to be here, and it prompted me to add the rest:

“ Advice from an Old Farmer

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.
* Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
* Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.
* Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
* It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
* You cannot unsay a cruel word.
* Every path has a few puddles.
* When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
* The best sermons are lived, not preached.
* Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen, anyway.
* Don't judge folks by their relatives.
* Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
* Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
* Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
* If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
* Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
* The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'."
* Always drink upstream from the herd.
* Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
* Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
*If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
* Live simply.”

Section II

The old man’s favorite farmer joke:

A wealthy philanthropist wished to give away a million dollars to a worthy recipient, and had narrowed the candidates to 3, a doctor, a lawyer, and a farmer. To make the final selection he asked each how they would use the money. The doctor said he thought he’d build a clinic to help the ill. The lawyer said he’d take a year-long trip around the world. The farmer thought a moment and said, “Oh, I guess I’ll just keep farmin’ till it’s gone.”

Section III

The “Old Man” referred to above spent the first 72 of his 91 years with the scene below visible out his back door. The barn was built in 1914 and he clearly remembered walking the top of the stone wall as the construction was under way. When the farm was finally sold in 1972, he speculated that they would probably be moving for the next 5 years, and that he would be the last thing they moved.

IN MEMORY OF JEROME YOUNG
1900-1991
____________________________
He was born at the turn
of century twenty,
when life was more simple
but labor was plenty

It seemed he was meant
to toil by the hour,
not with machines
but horses for power

From here looking back
it sounds like slave labor,
but when his work was done
he'd go help the neighbor

How could he do it
day after day,
for so many years
with so little pay

He looked at his life
by this simple measure,
a moment of fun
made the day's work a treasure

He took his life's calling
as a gift from above,
for farming to him
was a labor of love

He knew of the secret
that outweighed the strife,
he learned how to savor
the small joys of life

A nap in the grass
after lunch, in the sun,
a fondness it turns out
passed on to his son

A nap in the grass
the dog at his side,
enjoying the peace
simple things can provide

At the end of the day
when light would subside,
" Get the cows", he’d growl,
the dog always complied

On eighty clay acres
that his father owned too
it was easy to think
that was all that he knew

It was easy to think
at least until we grew older,
That all that he had
was the brawn of his shoulders

But he gazed past the fencerows
hilltops and borders,
as the old team of horses
carried out his orders

He could see distant places
where strange flags are unfurled,
with his feet in a furrow
my Dad saw the world.

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