Some Things Aren't For Sale

Hoosier Perspectives

Covering anything that pertains to Indiana agriculture, including issues, crop price trends, crop development, livestock trends and much more. My goal is to relay information I learn through my experiences and travel to spark discussion about new trends around the state.

Some Things Aren't For Sale

Posted on April 19, 2010 at 12:58 AM

A cool community event involving a farm family, three FFA chapters, including one from neighboring Cissna Park, Illinois, the National FFA alumni, the Indiana FFA state officers and Campbell's Soup Company unfolded on Tom and Kerry Dull's farm near Thorntown just days ago. An old wooden beam and peg construction type barn was restored, saved for generations to see and use in the future. It was all part of a 'Growing Your Own Food Promotion' sponsored by Campbell's Soup, in cooperation with National FFA Alumni. Nancy Whitehead with National FFA Alumni was there to spearhead the project. Working closely with her were Western Boone FFA advisor Don Haberlin and Clinton Prairie FFA advisor Patrick Padgett. During the two-day 'barn restoring' last week, some 200 kids and adults turned a relic of long-ago generations into a symbol of the future on this farm. The Dull's were one of 10 families nominated for the barn restoration project. Campbell's and FFA agreed to provide funding for five of the 10 to have their historic barns restored. During voting by the public last fall, the Dull barn finished fourth, making it one that's being restored this spring. The Dull's will use the restored barn as an operations center for their family Christmas tree business. The farm is flooded with customers from Thanksgiving until nearly Christmas as families come out and choose and cut their own tree. Watching a hundred kids and adults, all dressed in bright red, Campbell tomato-soup –colored shirts, go about their business, everyone on a mission, was exciting. But what caught my attention most was what wasn't being restored. Tom Dull sent me pictures earlier of the barn in its original state. You may have seen them in Indiana Prairie Farmer. On one side of the barn, which was actually a lean-to added at some point in the barn's life, was an old antique tractor, which obviously hadn't moved in some time. It was antique only because it was old, not because it was restored, because it wasn't. I assumed that it would disappear before the barn crew went to work. Instead, when I visited the beehive during the height of activity on the restoration project, the lean-to was resided, reinforced, reroofed, and painted bright red. Kids were scurrying to and fro, preparing for windows for the lean-to, and carrying out other jobs. And in the middle of all of it, sat the more-than-slightly-rusted, somewhat dilapidated old tractor. If kids wanted to get past it, they walked around it. It was clear by now to me at least that it might be a semi-permanent fixture at the sight, perhaps a reminder of days gone by. "Somebody tried to buy it from Tom yesterday," one of the adults told me. The tractor is an old Minneapolis Moline from the mid-1900's. "He simply told them it wasn't for sale." The adult told me. "He said it could stay where it was for now." Restoring stuff is one thing, but selling them out is another. I haven't asked Tom yet, perhaps I will after he reads this, or he may tell me, but that tractor probably has a story behind it and special meaning for him. Memories aren't for sale at any price. In this every-changing, technological world, it seems to me that holding on to memories is a good thing!

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About The Writer
Tom Bechman is an important cog in the Farm Progress machinery. In addition to serving as editor of Indiana Prairie Farmer, Tom is nationally known for his coverage of Midwest agronomy, conservation, no-till farming, farm management, farm safety, high-tech farming and personal property tax relief. His byline appears monthly in many of the 18 state and regional farm magazines published by Farm Progress. "I consider it my responsibility and opportunity as a farm magazine editor to supply useful information that will help today's farm families survive and thrive," the veteran editor says. Tom graduated from Whiteland (Ind.) High School, earned his B.S. in animal science and agricultural education from Purdue University in 1975 and an M.S. in dairy nutrition two years later. He first joined the magazine as a field editor in 1981 after four years as a vocational agriculture teacher. Tom enjoys interacting with farm families, university specialists and industry leaders, gathering and sifting through loads of information available in agriculture today. "Whenever I find a new idea or a new thought that could either improve someone's life or their income, I consider it a personal challenge to discover how to present it in the most useful form, " he says.

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