5 minute read
Cutest Kid
A Father’s Farm
Farm life is the way of the world for some families; it is how they learn, grow, teach lessons, understand traditions and see loyalty.
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This Father’s Day, we celebrate our fathers and our farms and what the two mean together.
Pastor Jerry Yarnall, owner and operator of Brown’s Farms in Cassville,
was raised on a farm, then he raised his children on a farm, and his one lasting message to his children — “We were here together.”
“The farm I was raised on is nothing like the farm we have today,” Jerry said. “My dad had a 40-acre farm with a couple of chicken houses, with about 6,000 chickens per house. We fed them all by hand.”
Jerry’s youngest daughter Julie now lives on the farm he was raised on, and Jerry and his wife live on her family’s farm.
“When I was a child, I lived not more than two and a half miles from either of my grandparents, and my uncle lived close by too,” he said. “It was nice to be raised up with my family all around me.” Today, Jerry can remember the way the family farms surrounding him looked when he was a child. “My dad’s farm stayed in the family, but the rest of them were sold,” he said. “It is painful to see them now. No one takes care of it the way a family does.”
Driving down the roads near his family’s farm, Jerry is filled with memories of his childhood and life on a farm in the ’50s and ‘60s.
“My father’s farm has been taken care of and that does feel nice to see,” he said. “I was helping Julie load some wood awhile back, and I realized we were in the woods that I played in as a child. I told her there is a grave marker for my pony out there.”
Jerry can re-live those moments and memories on his father’s farm, and at home, his father-in-law’s farm has family ties too.
“Our farm operates under Brown’s Farms because it was established in 1970 by Debbie’s dad,” Jerry said. “He ran the farm until 1987 when he moved out of the area. That is when Debbie and I took over that Brown’s Farms name.
“When we started, I told Debbie, ‘Regardless of how long your father is alive, we will always operate under Brown’s Farms, because he built it.’”
Jerry and Debbie were married in November 1977, they moved to Brown’s Farms immediately after that.
Traditions, lessons, childhood on the family farm
“Chad came along in 1981,” Jerry said. “Being a father and a farmer meant we were always busy. When he was little he would stay with his mom, but then we would put him in the truck cab, then the tractor, and by 9 or 10 years old, he could drive the tractors.”
It was busy and hard and it was dirty, but it was farm life.
“One lesson I taught my children through life on a farm was, ‘Work doesn’t end at 5 o’clock,’” Jerry said. “In high school, Chad said he would never plant alfalfa. He spent a lot of summers out there hauling alfalfa.”
Jerry remembers telling his children, holidays don’t matter on the farm.
“We saw a lot of fireworks on the Fourth of July over the field,” he said. “Memorial Day, Fourth of July, we were always bailing alfalfa.
“My kids saw me and their mother work a lot. Sometimes two days straight. We all tend to be workaholics; we all see a lot of late nights where we get stuff done.”
Jerry said his father-in-law told him once, ‘If you want to get somewhere, you can’t work 8 to 5.’
“Jill was born in 1983, then we had Julie in 1987,” Jerry said. “I always wanted to be a father. Debbie and I talked about having kids from day one. She was so good at it we had Julie at home. That was an experience farm life helped us deal with.”
Jerry said he learned to be a father on the farm.
“I taught them so much on the farm,” he said. “It gave them an amazing work ethic. All of my kids are unique and have their own skills.”
Chad was heavily involved in FFA in school.
still count on him all the time at auctions.”
Jill went into the car business.
“She knows what she knows,” he said. “She has amazing skill in decision making. If there is ever a question about a car, Jill really knows her stuff.”
Julie has management skills.
“She watches her p’s and q’s,” Jerry said. “She knows how to manage money and get a bargain. She also understands people. She is a great communicator.”
Jerry said he hopes that when he is gone, his children continue to work together to keep the Brown’s Farms together.
“I want them to step up and maintain the farms,” he said. “Debbie’s dad passed away in 2007, I still have and use a tractor he bought brand new in 1973.”
Chad and his family recently purchased a farm near his father.
“I can see his house from mine,” Jerry said. “It brings back the memories of growing up surrounded by family. He has little girls, I always tell Debbie I wonder how long it will take those girls to figure out they can jump on a four-wheeler and come right over to our house.”
At this time, Jerry said Chad has no intentions of planting alfalfa on his farm.
“Father’s Day is about the fathers who are there,” Jerry said. “A father needs to be the head of the family— step up and take charge. He needs to be there for his children.
“Anybody can have children, it takes somebody being present to be a father.”
Jerry said when he was raising his family, there wasn’t a lot of money or time for big extravagant vacations or trips.
“We stayed home and we worked,” he said. “But, we were here together.
“My message to my kids is, ‘Don’t forget about the right now, and remember we were here together.’”
Jerry said as a father, raising children is about being an example.
“They need to know there are ups and downs maybe even financially,” he said. “But, they never need to worry about mom and dad splitting up.” n
