Guest Blogger - The Reding Family of Kentucky

Welcome to the first America’s Heartland blog about my farm and family! As with most farmers, “farm” and “family” go hand-in-hand. Our farm would not be here without the support of our family, and our family would not be the same without our farm.

My name is Ashley Reding and I live in Howardstown, Kentucky, which is about an hour south of Louisville. My husband, Aaron, and I, along with members of his family, own and operate Homestead Family Farms. This week I would like to tell you a bit about our farm and family. I will then follow up with updates on our progress throughout the growing season and harvest. Aaron will occasionally contribute with some information about technology that we use on the farm as well.

Aaron and I are the perfect example of opposites attracting. Other than being hard-headed, we differ in about every way. I am an only child from the city, while he is the oldest of nine (living) children from the country. Our religious upbringings were also different, as well as about everything else! I was raised in a family business, majored in business, and hate getting dirty (notice that is present tense!). As my childhood babysitter pointed out, I used to cry when I got my hands dirty. So marrying a farmer was not something I ever imagined. I am sure he might say the same about me!

We met at the University of Kentucky through mutual friends and our fate was sealed! We were married in 1998 and have three children. Kathryn will be 10 this summer and is a farm/city mix if there ever was one. She loves girly-stuff, shopping, fine dining, musicals and visiting her grandparents in Paducah, where I am from. She also loves helping her dad on the farm. Andrew is four and plows hundreds of acres a week on his knees with his toy tractors – complete with sound effects. He loves riding with Aaron on anything from the semi to the sprayer to the tractor, combine, backhoe – you name it. Adam will be two in September and does not fear dirt! After “mama” and “daddy,” his first discernible word was “tractor.” He joins Andrew in playing with – and fighting over - their farm toys.

Aaron’s parents, Mark and Barb Reding -- with the help oftheir children -- ran a farrow-to-finish hog operation and grew enough crops to support their livestock. When Aaron graduated and returned home from college, he wanted to focus on the row crops – corn and soybeans at that time. We have since added wheat to the crop rotation. The hogs were eventually phased out and we now have only the row crops.

We are your traditional farm family. Many members of our family contribute to the success of our farm -- Aaron’s parents, sisters Anna and Sarah, brothers John (19) and James (14), cousin Josh, and even me, the city girl (but I prefer the non-dirty work!). But we may not be considered traditional because we are a large farming operation. We farm in five counties and run our farm as a business – in addition to as a lifestyle. A friend in college once told me, “Farming may not be a great way to make a living, but it’s a great way to live.” We believe it is both.

As with all farms, we rely heavily on Mother Nature, and this has been a strange year. I learned early on as a farm wife to ignore the phrase “but next year…” I’ve also learned that farmers have a lot of things in common. Determination and independence are two traits I’ve observed. The belief that somehow the weather will be kinder or the markets will be better next year is another. It used to frustrate me, now it makes me smile because I know that no matter how good this year is, we can always hope that next year is even better.

This year was warm weeks earlier than normal and planting was in full force on April 6. The first weekend in May we got 10 inches of rain and had historic flooding. This washed out many of the bottom-land fields that we had planted. While it is hard to see the money wash down the river, it is even harder for me to see all of the hard work and many hours of missed sleep wash away. But, that’s a part of farming and the show must go on!

I look forward to sharing more about our farming life with you. I hope you can learn from my “city girl” perspective and enjoy reading about our farm and family.