The FARM!

Yep, we really did it, we bought the farm!  Actually, my brother Kurt purchased some acreage down in the area several years before, and he told me about this great little plot that was for sale.  After looking at it and chatting with the owners, we struck a great deal for both sides.

Kurt's farm actually has an old farm house, barns, outbuildings and silos.  Ours is simple land.

Here's a map of the area of LaHarpe, Illinois.

    We decided last year to stop farming the land and put it in the government sponsored Tree Program.
This effectively takes our property off the tillable land list and converts it to non-farm status.  Two positives of this are a steady income and about 10,000 new trees!  The negative: paid by Uncle Sam to not farm...

    Here are some photos of us planting the 10,000+ (YEP, TEN THOUSAND PLUS) trees with 2 tractors equipped with pull behind hydraulic tree planters.  Unfortunately, almost all died because of the drought that year.  The next year, we hired a tree planting company, and they had lots of water last year as well as 2008.  We expect a strong percentage to survive.

   
Mike Frane, Garrold McConnel, my niece Tegan and her fiancé Bill, amongst others helped!

So, where the heck did Al and John disappear to?  Work to be done, and they're M. I. A....

   
Soak and trim the saplings     Sort and separate                 Load in the side bins.
   
Then, follow a 'straight' line and drop the saplings in the furrow.
 
Kurt's Allis Chalmers WD-45 with the loaned planter.