Hey guys, hope you all had a great weekend....mine was decent...except for losses by my beloved black and gold and da Bears.
Anyway, this is a nice story......let me tell you....people think this happens everywhere...not really.
Of course it happens here and there, but as a rule, not. But it sure seems like I read about this happening every year in Iowa.
Not only are they farmers.....but they are.....
IOWANS!!!
KUDOS TO ALL WHO HELPED.
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With the loss of his father on Aug. 28, Joe Fuhrmeister said he's been concerned about how everything would get done on his father's land this harvest season.
Bob Fuhrmeister, 63, was the leader. And even though the boys have been out there every year since they were old enough to drive the farm equipment, they were just the help.
Those things didn't matter Friday.
Forty friends and neighbors turned out to harvest about 200 acres of soybeans Friday. With 13 combines, they did in about three hours what could have taken a week of 10-hour days for the sons, they said.
In two weeks, another crew will come out to help the Fuhrmeisters harvest the corn.
"By the time it's done, it'll probably be a hundred different people," said John Hester of Nichols Ag and a family friend of the Fuhrmeisters. "They just know an awful lot of people, and an awful lot of people want to help."
Hester was one of three people to help organize all the volunteers so Jan Fuhrmeister and her sons barely had to lift a finger, even after offering to drive a tractor or combine.
"It's very touching," Jan Fuhrmeister said. "I'm grateful for all the help and everyone that's shown up. They're all glad to do it because they know Bob would do the same for them.
"I think that's just part of being a farmer. You're always helping someone else," she said.
Bob Fuhrmeister first was diagnosed with cancer in March 2005. Doctors removed the kidney with the tumor on it, and he went back every two months for tests, but at the beginning of this year, the cancer was back.
"That type of cancer is really aggressive," son Brian Fuhrmeister said.
Denny Abbott of Conesville said he farmed next to Bob Fuhrmeister for 25 years.
"Bob was a great guy," Abbott said. "Even if you were too busy to talk, he'd want to stop and talk."
Coming out to help the family "is just the thing that you do," he said. "It's just what farmers do."
And even though the farmers have crops of their own to deal with, "you don't worry about what you have to do in a situation like this," Abbott said. "You just go, and do what you can do."
"It just makes you feel good knowing you have close neighbors like this," Abbott said.
The family moved down to the farm east of Lone Tree in 1973 after farming in the West Branch area. They have 600 acres of crops, both corn and soybeans, plus timber, hay and a 71-head cow/calf operation.
The soybeans went from the field to semis to get them to Nichols. Jan Fuhrmeister said this was much different from past years, when she and her husband would drive the tractor and wagon to deliver the beans.
Joe Fuhrmeister said his father "always had a lot of pride getting his crops in and out." He remembered his father saying he hoped he would be there for one final harvest.
Joe Fuhrmeister said that because he and his two brothers each have steady jobs, it's unlikely they will plant or harvest all of this land again.
"We might try some of it, but we're probably going to rent most of it out," he said. "If I can get these guys to show up every year, sure I'd do it," he said with a smile.
Out in the fields Friday watching the volunteers, Joe Fuhrmeister said he was amazed at the response for the family.
"I've never seen anything like this. This is just impressive," he said.
Joe Fuhrmeister said his dad would probably have felt the same way, too.
"He'd be real impressed with this. I'm sure he's looking down on us right now going, 'Wow'," Joe Fuhrmeister said.
"Actually, he was such a modest man, he probably would have been: 'We don't need this much help. We can handle it,'" he said. "But I'm glad everyone's here."
Bob Fuhrmeister, 63, was the leader. And even though the boys have been out there every year since they were old enough to drive the farm equipment, they were just the help.
Those things didn't matter Friday.
Forty friends and neighbors turned out to harvest about 200 acres of soybeans Friday. With 13 combines, they did in about three hours what could have taken a week of 10-hour days for the sons, they said.
In two weeks, another crew will come out to help the Fuhrmeisters harvest the corn.
"By the time it's done, it'll probably be a hundred different people," said John Hester of Nichols Ag and a family friend of the Fuhrmeisters. "They just know an awful lot of people, and an awful lot of people want to help."
Hester was one of three people to help organize all the volunteers so Jan Fuhrmeister and her sons barely had to lift a finger, even after offering to drive a tractor or combine.
"It's very touching," Jan Fuhrmeister said. "I'm grateful for all the help and everyone that's shown up. They're all glad to do it because they know Bob would do the same for them.
"I think that's just part of being a farmer. You're always helping someone else," she said.
Bob Fuhrmeister first was diagnosed with cancer in March 2005. Doctors removed the kidney with the tumor on it, and he went back every two months for tests, but at the beginning of this year, the cancer was back.
"That type of cancer is really aggressive," son Brian Fuhrmeister said.
Denny Abbott of Conesville said he farmed next to Bob Fuhrmeister for 25 years.
"Bob was a great guy," Abbott said. "Even if you were too busy to talk, he'd want to stop and talk."
Coming out to help the family "is just the thing that you do," he said. "It's just what farmers do."
And even though the farmers have crops of their own to deal with, "you don't worry about what you have to do in a situation like this," Abbott said. "You just go, and do what you can do."
"It just makes you feel good knowing you have close neighbors like this," Abbott said.
The family moved down to the farm east of Lone Tree in 1973 after farming in the West Branch area. They have 600 acres of crops, both corn and soybeans, plus timber, hay and a 71-head cow/calf operation.
The soybeans went from the field to semis to get them to Nichols. Jan Fuhrmeister said this was much different from past years, when she and her husband would drive the tractor and wagon to deliver the beans.
Joe Fuhrmeister said his father "always had a lot of pride getting his crops in and out." He remembered his father saying he hoped he would be there for one final harvest.
Joe Fuhrmeister said that because he and his two brothers each have steady jobs, it's unlikely they will plant or harvest all of this land again.
"We might try some of it, but we're probably going to rent most of it out," he said. "If I can get these guys to show up every year, sure I'd do it," he said with a smile.
Out in the fields Friday watching the volunteers, Joe Fuhrmeister said he was amazed at the response for the family.
"I've never seen anything like this. This is just impressive," he said.
Joe Fuhrmeister said his dad would probably have felt the same way, too.
"He'd be real impressed with this. I'm sure he's looking down on us right now going, 'Wow'," Joe Fuhrmeister said.
"Actually, he was such a modest man, he probably would have been: 'We don't need this much help. We can handle it,'" he said. "But I'm glad everyone's here."
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D C
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