This evening I was looking through some books in my library and the inspiration for my post simply fell into my hand.

My find was a newspaper clipping from when my father was awarded an “Iowa Farmer” degree back in 1961. The clipping was mounted on thick paper. I really have no idea what book it came out of, it was just all of a sudden in my hand.

I was not able to find my father in the group of boys in this picture. It was too late to call and find out if he knew where he was in the picture. My grandmother had given me this picture on one of my trips to see her.

The “Iowa Farmer” degree was awarded by the FFA (Future Farmers of America). My father was one of 195 boys in Iowa who received the degree that year and it is mentioned that only 2 percent of FFA boys are granted this degree.

I was able to find a list of the boys who had received “Iowa Farmer” degrees and found that my father was the first one from Hamburg, Iowa to have this honor.  Through the years there were only four “Iowa Farmers” from Hamburg. In 1967-68 Marlin and Marvin Gubser were named and in 1970-71 Barny Smith.

My father grew up on a farm near Coin, Iowa. I have this great picture of him riding a cow when he was young.Here is the barn on the farm where my father grew up. There is an interesting story about this barn that I may share someday.

I thought I had a picture of my father working with the pigs from his FFA project, but couldn’t find it. Perhaps some day I will add it to this post if I find it.

Lots of memories tonight about some of my experiences with agriculture. I worked on a ranch just after graduating from High School and worked in the packaging industry for a short time many years ago.

We did not have FFA where I grew up, but I was a member of 4-H.

Did you participate in the FFA or 4-H?

Steven