Dell Family

There’s something magical about farm life that draws in outsiders and fuels the 16 hour sowing, harvesting and threshing days for the insiders.  I guess it’s not surprising, we hold most precious that which we pour the most of ourselves into.  That thing that exhausts us and then refuels us all at the same time.  This is what keeps the proud and the strong holding tightly to their farming way of life as farms continue to disappear across America.  This is what keeps Dell Brothers Farm going strong. 

This sweet little collection of the Dell family epitomizes just a few of the reasons why farm life represents what we love most about our American way of life.  Here you see a glimpse of what inspired great American talents like Andrew Wyeth.  You see the stories the farm wants to tell you if you will quiet yourself and listen.  Mom watched her presentation with tears in her eyes as she explained the significance and the story that their farm told through these portraits.  She’s told me a number of times how she just wants to do cart wheels she’s so thrilled with what we’ve created…then even texted me a live video of her doing a cartwheel!

Lindsay and Doug have seen the cycle of life play out at their farm over their shared years together.  They’ve told side splitting stories over bonfires and cold ones, they’ve sweated over getting the hay cut before storms roll in, they’ve mourned the loss of Doug’s brother Tommy in a farming accident, they’ve celebrated the births of their four children, they’ve furrowed their brows over the market price of corn, the lack of rain, the abundance of stink bugs….the list goes on and on. 

In the midst of all that, there is one constant.  The seasons continue to unfurl their beauty each spring.  The land comes back to life with the tender care it’s received from God and man.   The farmer’s vigilant watch and care is not always rewarded with abundant crops, but when it is, he is refueled.  His love of the land that provides for him remains a constant in his life.  And for that we say “thank you” to all our farmers! 

And how timely that as I prepare this blog, the only blog that I follow, by the prolific write Ann Voskamp, streamed into my inbox.  She’s a farmer’s wife and today she waxed poetically about a truth that every farmer knows:  “A field has to be broken open before it can grow anything up.”  This metaphor for life is played out beautifully in her blog!