An Interview with a Shepherd (Actually, he's a Dairy Farmer)

In the next few days, as we slide into Christmas, I am going to reprint four interviews I wrote for the Racine Journal Times, years ago.  

From December 3, 2005

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Perhaps you've heard the story that goes with this season.  It includes in its cast of characters; some shepherds, an innkeeper, travelers from afar, and a young mother. These persons are acclaimed for their endurance, compassion, and wisdom. I'm going to talk with some local persons who are the above - shepherd, innkeeper, traveler, and mother - to see what these characters might say to us today.

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If you want to locate a person in Wisconsin who spends a lot of time outdoors taking care of animals, forget shepherds. Look for a dairy farmer.         

 Jim (he doesn't want me to tell you his last name) is an easygoing older guy with skin that has sort of weathered to oak veneer, and white hair that swirls around his head in the shape of a seed cap. He's the kind of man who, if you asked him for the shirt off his back, would give it to you while joking that it's dirty. 

"I was born the oldest son and grandson into a farming family. Our family goes back to German immigrants who started farming right here in 1848. When I was a boy my grandfather lived next door so I learned farming from him as well as my own dad. 

 "I never liked school as much as I like farming so in 8th grade, when my dad needed more help, I quit school.  By the time I was 21, I was married to my first wife. Together we farmed and raised 8 kids till she died of cancer when she was 49.  That was a hard time. 

"A few years later I re-met a woman I'd liked back when I was a teenager. Her husband had died also. We married each other a year later and have been together since.

"I remember my mother telling me these two things about married life. One was that I should never compare my wife's cooking to Ma's. The other was that the kitchen would belong to my wife and I should not say anything about how it gets run."

I laugh.  There's enough general relationship wisdom in those words that I could just shut up shop and go home now.

I ask what it's like to work outside for most of one's life.

"I never minded weather much.  You get used to it. When it's 90 degrees, you just put on your straw hat and get a bottle of water and go. Sometimes in cold weather I'd get off the tractor to walk alongside it with my hand on the wheel, just to keep my feet from freezing. 

"In nature everything has its realm and you learn to respect that.  I never tried to cut corners because it seemed to me that if you did things right, it would come out better in the end.

"For instance, some farmers, in bad weather, wouldn't go to all the work of taking their cows outside every day just to turn them around an hour later and bring them back in. But I figured I need to stretch my legs every day, a cow must feel about the same.         

"I remember when hybrid corn came in the 1950's. You could plant those seeds and every plant would be exactly the same. Yields shot straight up. Even so, I'd rotate my crops every single year to keep from needing much fertilizer or insecticides.  It takes several years of working a piece of ground before you know it, so you've got to be patient while you learn what you need to know.  Once you know it, it will stay with you, and you'll do alright.

"My father-in-law told me that if everyone else is having a good year, then you ought to have a good one, too.  But if everyone's having a hard time, it's okay to have a poor year."

I've been pondering that all week; that standards for success don't have to be status symbols or material stuff, but simply making sure we work hard enough to keep up with the general welfare of folks around us. 

 Jim goes on. "If you get to harvest and you can't seem to get everything done, then you got one of two problems. Either you planted too much or your equipment isn't big enough."

 Boy, that addresses the hectic quality of many of our lives. Have we taken on too much to do or do we need to enlist more help?

"I worked with workers from other, poorer countries over the years and learned this. I could see with my own eyes how fast and hard they worked and how they took such good care of their families. I saw that I didn't ever want to see myself as better than any man who works hard. 

"We used to volunteer a bit at a soup kitchen where we were supposed to close the doors after a certain amount of people had come in to eat.  I learned that I wouldn't do that.  I won't shut a door in front of anyone. 

"Life is always changing.  You've got to expect that and not get upset at it all the time."       

Jim, who is in his middle 70's, still works 30 to 60 hours a week.  I ask him why. 

There's a twinkle in his eye. "I'm saving for my retirement."

He stops a moment. "I never minded working.  If a person gets to work hard at something that satisfies them, what else do they need?"