JERRY NELSON
Farm visitors
Judging by the number of visitors it received, my family’s humble 20-cow dairy farm was a pretty important place when I was a kid.
Young farmers visit the big city
I was recently reminded of a gathering my wife and I attended back when we were young dairy farmers.
Lucky August
A summer of muddy cattle yards and swarms of bugs are a fortuitous combination for barn swallows. A vexation for one species can be a lucky break for another.
Dental distress
There I was, eating breakfast and reading the morning news, when an odd “pop” reverberated through my skull.
The old record book
Handwritten thank you notes are making a comeback, so I was rummaging through desk drawers in search of blank thank you cards. Mutters of “I know they’re around here somewhere” filled the house.
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Wisconsin wanderings
My great-grandfather Henry Nelson left his home state of Wisconsin in the 1870s, wended his way to Dakota Territory and homesteaded our ancestral farm.
Adventures in grazing
A vast assortment of slogans can be seen on bumper stickers, but I like one that I saw many moons ago that said,“Cows don’t give milk. It’s taken from them by force!”
The dreaded B word
The aging process sometimes has a way of sneaking up on a guy, jumping out and yelling, “Boo!”
The lawncare season
The first truly warm days of spring have arrived, and the snow has finally melted which means we can now see exactly how much junk has accumulated in our yards.
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Minneota memories
“Farmers in Minnesota laugh at us here in South Dakota,” my grandpa Nelson often proclaimed to me when I was growing up. “They think we’re foolish for buying all that fertilizer.”
Dairy expo adventures
The two dairy cows wandered, unfettered, throughout the convention hall. They attracted scant attention save for the occasional pedestrian who posed with them for a selfie.
The outdoor show
Spring is in the air. This brings about some unusual behavior, including those peculiar phenomena known as the outdoor shows. I say they are peculiar due to the fact that these so-called “outdoor” shows are invariably held indoors.
Radio daze
Radio has always been an integral part of farm life. Long before the advent of the so-called internet and the so-called worldwide spider domicile, our trusty radios kept us abreast of what was happening in the universe.
You’re so vain
It never fails to amaze me what people are willing to endure in the name of vanity.
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