Kids Corner: The Heinen Family

Joseph Heinen

10 years old

Fifth grade

When do you do chores? Every other night, I help milk.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? I like mowing the lawn. Weeding the garden and bean picking are my least favorite.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? Helping Dad in the shop.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Riding in the tractors is fun.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? I like Frances, a milk cow. She is calm and nice looking.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I’m not sure, but maybe a farmer.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. It would have milk cows, chickens and a well-trained dog. My farm would have a couple of tractors, a skid loader and a four-wheeler.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Baseball.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Maybe pizza or hot dogs.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? I like going to the beach.

What do you like to do during your free time? Read books.

James Heinen

8 years old

Fourth grade

When do you do chores? I help do milking chores every other night.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? My favorite chore is scooping grain for the cows. My least favorite is picking green beans.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? I like unloading small square bales onto a bale elevator.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Taking Triangle, a calf I bottle fed, to the fair was really fun.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? Rose is my favorite. I took care of her when she was a calf, and I like to feed her apples. She is an apple pig.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I might want to work at a construction site.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. My farm would probably have 30 milk cows, 10 chickens and crops, mostly hay and corn.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Baseball.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Hamburgers.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Go to the beach on a hot day.

What do you like to do during your free time? Build stuff with wood.

Micah Heinen

5 years old

Kindergarten

When do you do chores? When the skid loader comes, I ride with Daddy sometimes.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? I like to watch the gate and do chicken chores. I like to do dishes, but I hate to clean up toys.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? I like to watch Dad cut hay and bale.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Catching roosters and chickens is fun.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? Bunnies, kitty cats and Blackie, the hen who lays blue eggs.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to help my dad.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. I don’t know.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? Playing monkeys in the trees with my friend, Ben.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Pizza and spaghetti.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Go to the beach and visit Grandma and Grandpa.

What do you like to do during your free time? I like to ride bikes and play.

Magdalyn Heinen

3 years old

Preschool

When do you do chores? I get eggs in the morning and later again.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore? I like to pick radishes. I don’t like to put books on the shelves.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? I like to pick apples and eat them.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. I love to ride in the tractor with Daddy.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? Tell us about it. Goldie, the hen, is my favorite. I like holding chickens and kitties.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a mom.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. My farm would have bunnies and chickens and a skid loader I can drive.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? I like to throw frisbees.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? Cheese pizza and homemade ice cream.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? Go to the beach.

What do you like to do during your free time? Have Mom read me books.

Maria Heinen

1 year old

When do you do chores? I like to carry eggs and put them in the carton.

What is your favorite and least favorite chore?  I like to help do everything, especially pull plants up out of the garden. So far, I don’t have a least favorite chore — they all seem fun.

What project do you enjoy helping your parents with on the farm? I like to ride on the four-wheeler with Mom or Dad.

Tell us a fun memory you have of living on the farm. Feeding the cows through the fence and throwing them dandelions is very entertaining.

What is your favorite animal on your farm? I like all the animals, and I like to feed them.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Hmm, maybe a strawberry taste-tester at strawberry farms.

If you had a farm, describe what it would look like. It would have cows, and my daddy out driving machinery, and my mommy in the garden and cooking me tasty steak and corn on the cob.

What is your favorite game to play on the farm? I like to sit in the wagon and have Micah push me around really fast.

What is your favorite meal that your mom or dad makes? I like steak the best, but really, I eat almost anything.

What is your favorite thing to do off the farm with your family? I like the beach, too, and digging in sand, but not eating it. I found out last time — sand doesn’t taste so great.

What do you like to do during your free time? I like to follow my brothers and sister around and help them, and maybe sometimes be a nuisance to them as well.