Those old tractor tires are flower planters....its a farm thing.
Here is machinery row - they go down one side of the machinery and sell it, then come up the other side doing the same thing.
The truck in the middle of the people is the 'auction truck' - the auctioneer sits in it and rattles his mantra.....
This is what it sound like to sell a piece of machinery that you have worked for 31 years to buy, then have to sell it 2 years after you buy it. This is a heart breaking sound to a man that has worked all night long at certain times of the year to pay for his machinery. This is the begining of the end of a legacy....
Yet in the midst of this there is still friendship. The funny thing about auctions is that they are also meeting grounds for old friends - friends that have not seen each other in years and pick up right where they leave off, and part with the same smile that they greeted with. This is how old farmers look....
Except for the hot guy, second from the right..... yum...
Then the cattle were sold - causing tears, hurt, anger, resentment and bitterness....
This is what it sounds like to loose what has taken 37 years of breeding to accomplish, this beautiful herd of cattle....There will be more pictures tommorow - I just cant bring myself to relive today right now...
So I will leave you with the shred of hope that we small farmers cling too with all of our hearts..
our future.....
Oh Heidi you make me want to cry for them. I'm easy that way and haven't had much sleep. It's heart breaking and this story is going to become the mantra of our nation if we don't take back our country. Now the government is into "subsidizing" homes and mortgages. Before it'sover unless it is stopped there will be nothing left for anyone.
ReplyDeleteAnd then to focus on little Milk Dud in the Milk Mans arms and rekindle hope. thank God because by the time i finished spiraling down these thoughts I needed that. And looking at that darling baby made me realize it is time for good people every where to start ACTING and not just talking!
Similar auction down the road from here last saturday. It really is a shame :(
ReplyDeletemy heart breaks each time a farmer has to stop doing whats in his blood to do. One day I hope he can farm again
ReplyDeletemy heart breaks each time a farmer has to stop doing whats in his blood to do. One day I hope he can farm again
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for your neighbor and friend...this makes me think of the movie that Sissy Spacek was in where the river kept flooding their farm, and the auction scene that made me cry. I know this isn't a movie though! Dang Government.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad, yet eloquent story. You told it perfectly and the ending was superb.
ReplyDeleteDamn that is sad. Makes me want to cry too. Last of a dying breed. Hope for the future. It's a sad world we're living in.
ReplyDeleteI'm watching my neighbor across the street move out, foreclosed. Hard to watch right out the front door. I know it had to be hard for you to be there.
It's very hard to watch and harder still to experience. I know that everyone there was thinking, "What if this happens to us?"
ReplyDeleteHang in there Heidi..... you and yours are what makes this country great.
- Suzanne
Hang tough Heidi. Thought of you all yesterday, as I spent the day in the truck w/ the Little Mens.... Getting teary eyed while driving = bad thing to do!
ReplyDeleteWill be keeping Neighbor in our prayers here too.
By the way, I had to mention...I took a closer look at the photo of the guys chatting--where you said, "Second from right--yum!" I agree--you have a very handsome guy! What a lucky woman you are! I really love that last photo of the Milk Man with the baby--very touching!
ReplyDeleteWow Heidi, this brought tears to my eyes...
ReplyDeleteOur country is in a sad state, and unfortunately, it's the foundation that our country was built on that is suffering the hardest these days!
Our farmers and ranchers are our only hope, I feel, to having a healthy sustanance to life. They have been wronged...horribly!
I worry, about your last picture...hope...and I'm sorry I have to!
I think I'm going to bed on this sad note in your post. It's becoming a way to familiar sight these days and extremely depressing!
I pray for you and your generation of farmers...
and for your kids generation....