Farming for Father

"How do we do this?"


Gary tilling with the John Deere.

Tilling the soil further where the beds are going to be made.

Gary working on starting the 1946 model tractor used to make the beds.

If you knew anything about my father, you would know he loves to garden (vegetable not flowers) and he is very, very good at it. His father was a truck farmer and my Dad grew up farming. So after 20 years of being in the US Air Force and living in base housing, Dad went "nuts" the year he retired and we moved to Bismarck. It seemed like we plowed up every square inch of the 7 acres that came with the house he bought for us. What land was not used for gardening was used for a chicken pen and fruit trees. Needless to say, those first few years me and my brothers were busy helping Dad convert that place into a small farm.

Well, as many of you know Dad has cancer and this looked to be the first year he was not going to be able to make a garden. I couldn't bear the thought of Dad not having a garden and neither could my brother, Gary. With our sister, Annette taking on the nearly daily chore of taking Dad to the doctor, pharmacy, store, etc., Gary and I thought we could at least make a garden so Dad could watch it grow and hopefully, get something to eat out of it. So began the odyssey. Tractors had to be worked on and the old garden tilled before we could make beds and plant anything. Dad did not feel like leaving his chair/bed, so we were back and forth asking questions as we encountered one problem after another. But Gary got the tractors going and I got the walk-behind tiller running. So we were ready for battle.