SEGMENT: WEATHER, FARM BUSINESS, & HIRED HELP
John Thurman>LPL Interviews N-Z>LPL Interviews K-Z, Segment 12
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- WEATHER
- The winters in Kankakee county are very cold. When there was ice on the roads down south, people would stay home. In Illinois, the roads are cleaned well and people are used to the cold so it doesn't keep them in their homes.
- FAMILY BACKGROUND
- Being known as his father's son made it a little bit easier to work.
- FARM BUSINESS
- When you retire from the city, you can come to the country and use your savings to live where ever you want. Sometimes they have to get loans if the yield was low. At first, he had a bread route to earn some extra income. This is how he met people who would give them loans. When John's father returned from the war he worked some land owned by a woman, and later bought the land through work. There was a lot of family working on the farm. He was known as the Bread Man, the Sweet Man, and the Meat Man when he started processing meat. In 1998 they started research on their farm. They are project partners with Heifer International and members of Pembroke Farm and Family. They have worked with the USDA, who taught them to erect high tensile fences. He is also thankful for 4-H and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Some of the things they were taught they already knew, they just learned new phrases for them.
- HIRED HELP
- They host four young people over the summer who work on the farm. They have torn down an old fence and built a new electric fence. Most are from the Hopkins Park, River Terrace, and Momence areas.
