June 20, 2016

Toys: Where Are They Now?

June 20, 2016/ Brent Frankenhoff

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Boys and their toys. Is there anyone who grew up on a farm who didn’t have at least a few farm-related toys? Whether they were genuine replicas of real equipment, plastic knock-offs, or even homemade facsimiles, they sparked hours of imaginative play for the child who played with them. Unfortunately, those hours of play—often spent outdoors and in the sandbox or dirt—took their toll, rendering highly collectible the few toys that survived in good condition.

May 16, 2016

Lessons from Dad

May 16, 2016/ Brent Frankenhoff

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - With Father’s Day just around the corner, I have been reflecting on lessons from my dad. Most boys look up to their fathers, and I am no exception. I worked side-by-side with my dad, Bill Frankenhoff, for almost a quarter-century, until I moved away to start my writing and editing career. As I looked through family photos earlier this year, I found a few that really showed how our father-son relationship formed and grew.

April 25, 2016

Conventional Equipment, Unconventional Use

April 25, 2016/ Brent Frankenhoff

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Farmers can find unconventional uses for conventional equipment when a job has to get done.They say that a truck is often a man’s office. The same could be said for a tractor. While my family’s tractors and other farm equipment did serve their intended purposes, we also used them in ways that were, to say the least, unconventional.

April 11, 2016

Trading Equipment

April 11, 2016/ Brent Frankenhoff

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Trading equipment can have a positive outcome, but it could also result in a stressful experience. Equipment wears out. Yes, no matter how many years of faithful service it has provided, that implement is going to need to be replaced sooner or later. The experienced farmer has, before that time comes, probably been checking out newer models and keeping an eye on what specials his local dealers have been offering—both in price and financing.

February 19, 2016

Charitable Acts

February 19, 2016/ Brent Frankenhoff

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Farm communities are full of charitable acts. They say a farmer will give you the shirt off his back, and, in my experience, that’s always been true. The neighbors around our farm helped each other, kept an eye on each other’s fences and property, lent equipment when needed, and borrowed equipment, if it was needed.

December 14, 2015

Other Jobs

December 14, 2015/ Brent Frankenhoff

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - While most of my early work was performed on our family farm, I did take on occasional other jobs for other employers in the years before I moved away to begin my full-time job as an editor in Iola, Wisconsin.

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