Barn Talk - Uncle Trent Returns To The Farm..

Episode Date: July 9, 2021

Welcome To Barn Talk! In today’s episode, we have our first guest with the man, the myth, the legend Uncle Trent! We discuss life growing up on the farm, the importance legacy has on family, finding yourself as a young person, & much, much more.. SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR SUBSCRIBE TO THIS’LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c ADD US ON: INSTAGRAM ➱ https://bit.ly/3gaobdN TIKTOK ➱ https://bit.ly/3eJfftr ------------------------------- ***PLEASE NOTE*** Barn Talk is a significant break from the typical content viewers have come to expect from This’ll Do Farm. Please be advised that we will be exploring a wide variety of topics (some adult-themed) and our younger viewers (and their parents) should be advised that some topics will be for mature audiences only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Need a vehicle that isn't afraid to make a splash? That's the Volkswagen Taos. Capable and confident, the Volkswagen Taos is fit for everyday life. Nimble in traffic, agile and tight spots, and still spacious enough for weekend getaways. While available 4-motion all-wheel drive gives confidence in rain and snow. The capable Taos, you deserve more confidence. Visit vw.ca to learn more. Suvv.

German engineered for all. and much of the clothing we wear comes from plants and animals that are raised on farms. Farms are different in type, in size, and even in name. Welcome to Barn Talk. What happens at the barn stays at the barn. Until now, we're going to let it all out for you guys. Today is a special podcast. Very, very special. I'm here with my partner in crime, Tork, as always. Tork, we'll throw it over to you. What do you got to say? Well, there's a lot, this is a special episode because not only is this our first three-person podcast, but it's also a family reunion. So sitting on the other side of the table at a safe distance is my brother Trenti. Welcome to Barn Talk. It's about to get real. and if if anybody if anybody hasn't already figured out this would be my middle brother middle middle

brother we've talked about you before they are the most special ones they truly are so trent what brings you to southeast Iowa well you know this has become truly one of my most looked forward to throughout the year adventures it's an adventure it is a venture. But I love it. Every year I come back home. Cue music of country roads. There we go. That's truly my theme song. Country roads. We love having you here. It's always a good time. Every time you come here. This'll do farm is always more enjoyable and especially more. The more whistlers around here, the better. Yep, there you go. But, you know, I don't know when we want to break into this. And I think you have to give your market talk first, right? Yeah, we got to do the

I'll get off on my own. Because let me just tell you what, as much as my little brother here, our little brother, if we were including my older brother, Todd, again, I'm the middle.

So it takes one older, one younger, I'm in the middle. I've learned to embrace the middle. It's good that you, it's good that you've grasped simple math. You've got that much down at least. So we're good on that.

And if the teachers were still alive, they would be like, uh, yeah. Well, we have that in common. Anyway, But yeah, it's just so, this is like one of my favorite parts of summer.

I've come back for the last couple of years, and it's always been a special time in my life. I think we're forgetting a really important detail. It's the week of the 4th of July. That's right. Yeah. We got the red, white, and blue. We got red and blue behind Trent here. You continue to talk, and I'll be the music in the background.

So, yeah. Trent got here on, what, Thursday before? Thursday night. And so we've had a few days. We all portook of the pork ribeye. We got that out of the way. And Tuscan Moon. Chudos to Tuscan Moon.

We could even do a whole podcast just covering Tuscan Moon. It was an exciting evening, for sure. Lord have mercy. Trent can sing. You already know that you can. do that with a few minutes we've been on the air. I'm retired now. Selene Dion, you don't need to call me to sing along with you. Okay, well, before we get too far down the road in tradition, it will be a rabbit hole. It probably will be a rabbit hole. In Barn Talk tradition, we're going to give an update

to the markets because there's a lot that's happened. And when it's all said and done, not much has changed for all that has happened, but I'll give you the rundown. So corn locally is about $7. I think about 706 maybe, which that's a pretty good number. And there's a couple of hog feeders that apparently have decided that they think that by fall corn is going to get high. So they're bidding up because the price of the river, I think, is about maybe like $690 something. but there's some local feeders that are bidding up,

so you can get over $7 for corn. And beans, I don't know, 1465 maybe, something like that at the river. But, you know, we had a crop report that came out, or the USDA report came out, and the ending stocks are down. The acres, I think, are up a little bit, but the yield, if I'm, you know, USDA,

they don't know anything anyway. I don't have much faith in what they think the numbers are. But the traders do, and the average yield is down for both corn and beans. So that put a big shot in the arm last week, but then we've had rain across most of the state of Iowa, and our corn looks phenomenal. It's honestly, we were worried that it was going to get too dry. We were praying for rain for a little bit.

Yeah, we were praying hard, and apparently we prayed enough because it got the job done. Thank you, Lord Jesus. You heard the prayer. He did because it rained and then it got sunshine and it rained and it'd get sunshine. Yes. I think we had about what probably a five to seven day period where it rained somewhat, it rained every day. Yeah, it rained and then it'd come out with the sun and then, I mean, that's.

Thank you, Noah. If you know corn, you're a farmer, you know, that's what you want. The upside is the corn. Corn looks phenomenal. The downside is that I had my yard just about dead. It was getting nice and burnt. Mowing had almost come to a screeching halt, and now then it's like spring all over again.

So I went out last week and walked through and took tissue samples. This is the first year that I have tissue sampled corn. You go through and you take the top. With Kleenex? No, no, Trent. Now pay attention. I'm going to explain this for you. This will be your agronomy.

This will be your agronomy 101 today. So you take the top fully developed leaf. So as the leaves come out on a corn plant, they come out at the top. And you take the highest, fullest, or the highest fully developed leaf. And you want to get, I think they want 20 or 25 samples to, you put them in a back. and then they take that and they smash it down and grind it up. And then they come back and tell you if those corn plants are deficient in anything. Okay.

And so then if they are, you can make the decision whether you want to spend more good money after bad. And when you're flying on your fungicide, you can add a micropack. And usually if you're short, you're going to be short like boron and zinc. And those are micro nutrients. And what is fungicide? Fungicide is just exactly that. It keeps fungus from growing on your corn plants. So like gray leaf spot, I don't know, some of the other ones,

but we fly that on once the corn is in tassel, and it helps the corn stay greener longer, which will help ear fill. So your kernels on your ears will fill completely, and hopefully you'll get more yield. So that's the plan. And anyway, I think we talked about this. I know we've talked about it on the YouTube channel,

but this year when we side-dress corn, we added boron, zinc, and we've always used sulfur, but we basically did like a micropack. With the nitrogen. And if you looked at the corn right now, you'd pat yourself on the back and say, boy, that was a good decision. But when it was burning up,

and you thought it was within days of turning brown, round you're like yeah boy that was smart throwing more money on it but now yeah now it now it really looks good so anyway um that's kind of the i guess i turned we said this last year though too what did we say this year before when we planned and we said we needed we need some rain in july yep so this month if we get some rain i'm gonna be happy with it because it won't turn out yeah this is exactly how it was a year or two years ago it was great great great great and then it burnt up. Well, last year would have been the best crop that we'd ever raised. Because for the yield, it was, even when we didn't have rain for like July and August into September. But this year,

I think the one thing that we got was we had all that dry weather. And so this corn is rooted down really, really good because those roots went down searching for water. And then we got a lot of water. And I don't know, the forecast isn't too bad. I think we've got some chances. of rain coming up. You know, we've been dry for, I don't know, a week, seven days. But when I walked through and took those tissue samples, you know, we had plenty of moisture at that point. So, I don't know, we'll see.

But right now, the potential is excellent here in southeast Iowa. I would like to speak to all of the bigwigs at the factory called Kleenex and just say, you know, these tissue samples, this could be a new campaign for you. because I'm going to look into this camera right here and speak to my fellow Americans. And there are people like me who were born here, although sometimes I feel like, was I born here? Is that where I came from? Because they speak if there are people that will,

and there will be people after this podcast. Yes, there will. That subscribe, knowing that it's more than just barn talk. But there are people that when they hear the word tissue, it's like that game show, or game show, that you, I'm going to say a word and you say what comes into your mind. Tissue, Kleenex. No, it's not.

Corn. Yield. Yellow sign, square. You know what I'm saying? That is what people think. Like you're talking and I'm like picturing, I have symbols popping out into orbit here of like tissue boxes and yellow yield signs and. Well, that's a good point because one of the things.

things that we want to do is and this is that's a small part of it is but we've talked many times about how everybody is i don't know what the statistic is but how many generations everybody is removed from the farm now you're only one generation because you grew up here but there's a lot of stuff that has changed telling me that i did and i do believe it yes you did no you were here we've got pictures we've got proof yeah we've got pictures we're going to get into those stories say too. But before we get into the nitty gritty, we're still going. I think we're just all excited. We're all jacked up. We're all ready to just talk and interview Trent here and let you guys get to know him. But how about Bitcoin? How about Tesla? Yeah. Given the rest of the market up there.

Hey, I'll give you one. I'll give you one more. Cattle and hogs are still high and I won't, you know, they're, I think they've come off a little bit of where they were. But the last time we talked, we were talking about wiener pigs and I didn't have a price. But, uh, I heard the other day that weiner pigs are going for $45, $45, which I think this time a year ago, which was a pretty piss poor time in the hog business, I think they were going for about $10. So that tells you that the demand and the outlook for the price of pigs is pretty high, because weiner pigs are $45 a piece for, you know, a 10, 15-pound pig. That's kind of crazy.

So anyway, I think your food prices, I don't think there's going to be, I don't think there's going to be let up in the price of meat in the meat case because demand is there and there's not, the supply is not. So that's going to play out here over the next few months. Bitcoin, I think Bitcoin today is about $34,000. It spiked early. It spiked early, got up to $35. but it's kind of been in a holding pattern.

I mean, it was down. It got down, I think, 28 maybe. Yeah. So there's a lot going on in that world. You know, a lot of the miners are moving because China has been cracking down on the miners, which I think's great. They should all leave China and get the hell out of there.

A lot of them are coming to the United States going to Texas. El Salvador is switching over to the Bitcoin standard and that happens September 1st so there's a company i think they're trying to install like it could be 1500 but i want to say it's 15 000 bitcoin atms in the nation of in south salmador it's something else here now something new from exclusively on paramount plus it's the series stephen king calls scary as hell everything here is impossible but it's also real sci-fi vision calls it the best show streaming right now we're running out of time and we still don't know the rules

don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch saving those children is how we all go home from binge all episodes exclusively on paramount plus I thought that was kind of public knowledge I thought a lot of people knew that that was happening but I mean I talked to my friends and he said you know El Salvador's going their currency is going to be Bitcoin

by September 1st and people my friends are like what Yeah. No one really knows that. But yeah. Just to clarify, El Salvador's fully going Bitcoin by September 1st, which is crazy. Yeah. Every citizen's going to get $30 in Bitcoin to start with to help them switch over.

And then when they get their paychecks and they deposit them in the bank. So they're running on the dollar right now. And the reason they're doing, the reason they're switching, and I honestly think you're going to see other nations do this. because if you're a smaller, I'll just say poor nation, you're running on dollars, you're running on the U.S. dollar. That's what you trade in because that's what you have to trade in when you're trying to sell goods and buy goods. And the United States, along with a lot of countries over the world,

they're printing money like it's going out of style. And so the U.S. is printing all these dollars. so the dollars that you have in your little country. El Salvador can't do nothing about it. Yeah, they're not worth as much. So you have inflation, but unlike the United States, you can't just print more dollars

because it's not your sovereign currency. And so they're tired of this because they're at the mercy, and they're tired of being in it. They're getting tired of whipped up, getting whipped up on. So they're going to go on the Bitcoin standard and thumb their nose,

at the dollar and they're the first but they're not going to be the last i think the next thing you're going to see is you're going to see a country in africa i don't know if it'll be tanzania i don't know if it'll be um i don't know if it'll be Ethiopia i don't know where it'll be but it'll be somewhere there and you watch over the next year i think it's going to be super interesting the adoption rate of bitcoin anyway that's that Tesla Tesla ended the quarter and they delivered over 200,000 cars which is funny because the estimates that were first thrown out was about 185, 190,000 and then it kind of as it got closer to the day that they announced

everybody realized that they're probably going to they're probably going to deliver more than that so they started playing it down and when they actually announced deliveries I think CNBC ran with a story that they were disappointed or that they were disappointing which it yeah it's trash the financial media is trash anyway so they had a great quarter it could have been better they they fought a lot of stuff um still covid problems they got chip problems not nearly as bad as the rest of the automakers but um they they had good deliveries and going forward i think it's only going to get better because berlin's about done and the austin plant's about done and i can't wait to get my cyber truck. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how people are going to feel about that when you, if you do get that.

Dad wants to wrap it in like, I don't know what color. I think I'm going to wrap it in the American flag. Oh, Lord. That would be beautiful. God bless America. Trenna be fine with it. Yeah, okay. So that is the market update. Yeah. That's the rambling market update for today. Hey, sponsored by the mercantile. We're going to sponsor this one by the mercantile. So shout out to this will do farmhouse. So my wife and Trent, really it's Trish's sister, actually, because I feel like that Trish is the sister. He almost said Trent's sister. It should have been.

It really should have been. I mean, Janelle, we love you, honey. They're besties. But we're besties. So she is starting a new endeavor. So we purchased a building in the great town of Washington and the 8th, July 8th. Or I'm sorry, July 9th is the official opening.

And it is her, she's been pouring her blood, sweat, and tears in that. And if you see any of her stuff or any pictures of our home or either one of our homes, you'll realize that it doesn't use. Yeah, it doesn't look like a place that I should live. Or me. But she's there to make the world look better. She likes to come down to my house and give. Cat and I some pointers. I mean, our house would look like crap if my mom wasn't there to show us what.

You are so sweet to say that because I'm glad you said it and I didn't have to plug for you. No, yeah. That his house looks like crap. No, that without his mom's input. Right. Because, you know, there is that old saying behind every great man is a great woman. That's right. And for my little brother, I mean, it's true.

with the home that you completely redone, you could have redone it, but it would have been, it would have been a lot of milk. White walls and picnic tables. I like, I like, I like, I'm not attention to details. I don't, I don't think that and I have attention to details

when it comes to decorating. I like, like, 55-gallon drums and you throw a sheet over it and voila, you have an end table. Yeah, I don't know. She always would come down. down and or when I lived there in high school or growing up in the house, she'd ask me, you know, how's this look? What do you think about this? Yeah. And looks great. Looks great.

So really, we can't say enough. For those of you in southeast Iowa and wanting to come on the Barn Talk bus tour that I will be leading in the future and you're going to just, it's going to be so fun. We're going to pass out popcorn peanut M&Ms and depending upon the hour of the day, we'll have some special cocktails. But anyway, the people will come here, but we're also going to go to the mercantile in Washington. And there's other great stores. I mean, I know them because I've shopped at them. Let's talk about that for a minute. So you live, tell everybody where you live today. Okay. Well, you know what really, though, I got to say, before we start in on that, can I just say, I got to give, and we just need to pause here for a minute, because I

literally have to give credit out to you guys. Oh my gosh. I have my sunglasses. Well, everybody probably thought that your face reveal, nice reveal. He's not baked. I know. Many of you probably thought that he was baked. This Iowa son will give you the greatest tan. Let me just tell you what. You get the best of both worlds.

Forget Florida. Y'all need to come to Washington, Iowa and get your tan. Sorry if I, yeah. But anyway, I better take my glasses off because people will be out there going, why does he have his sunglasses on? I know how these podcasts. We would have just told them. because you have a glass eye and they don't match.

He's so hungover, he just needs to cover up his eyes. No, I'm not. We drink a lot of iced tea in this family. You drink a lot of ice tea. Not me. I'm about to try water, beer, milk. That's about it. Water, beer, and milk.

Not a big pop guy either. Not all in the same glass. That used to be such a thing. Remember, like, I can think, like, ten years ago, everyone drank pop. Well, I grew up on pop. It was just like the thing. Everyone just drank pop. But if I could transport these words that you all,

are saying right now, if you said the word pop, where I'm from in Pennsylvania, people would be like, wow. What's that? What's pop? Like other parts of the country, it's called soda. Is it soda there? Is it soda or is it? Or is it? It's got to be soda. Well, there's some places, I think if you go to Texas, it's Coke. It's Coke. No matter what you want, you ask. What kind of Coke you want, Sprite? What kind of Coke you got? And then in some places of the country, it's called soda pop. And then here those people just got too much I mean, I'm telling you, because I forget, like, from time to time in my life, I'm around people, and I'm like, oh, do you drink Pop? And they're like, where are you from? Like, I don't know.

Yeah, they think it's something wild and crazy. And I'm like, yeah, Pepsi. Don't do? Oh. You're one of those people. I thought it was something cool. And I'm like, well, it is cool. But our generation, we were before the energy drinks because, so we grew up on pop.

Pop. Mountain Dew. Yep. Pepsi and Mountain Dew. And Lawrence and Shirley Whistler that you've talked about before, you know, so much of our dad. I mean, we had a refrigerator in the basement, a refrigerator and freezer in the garage. Maybe there were two freezers in the garage because we were well equipped. One to the Schwann. Ah, yes, the Schwann Man. Swann Man. Do you all have the Schwann Man here?

There was no Amazon back in those days. Oh, before Amazon. Swans. That's a podcast. mom loved the swan man hell yeah oh and swan man and avon they got rich on shirley whistler thank you mom but you know milk came on the shwan truck remember that big no i don't remember that okay so here's the thing you opened up your refrigerator those of you that now you're dating yourself well i don't care because i am i'm i'm an antique but you open up the refrigerator

and there was this big long tube almost. It had a handle on the top, but it was like, I don't know if it was two or three gallons, but you'd slide that into the side of your refrigerator, and then it had a red spout that you'd take the plastic off of and pop it out, and that's how you got your milk. Really? Oh, yeah.

I don't know if Schwanns. They must have gotten rid of that later. But it was perfect because you could still put all of the orange juice, juice and cranberry juice and all that beside it. But boy, the milk, that's how milk was. It was delivered through the Schwann Man. And then, of course, there was the, and then the tins that came out at the holidays, the beautiful peppermint candy tins and like Shirley Whistler.

I think Trent, I think Trent really enjoyed the food, the food of childhood. I did like the ice cream bars, the pop-up. It was all good. It was all good. Yeah, I had that. I had that. Yeah, you got me going there. I'm like, oh, yeah.

Throwing back. Throwing it back. When you give me memories. But I want to start with the memory of where you all are coming from, okay? That was my first thing, and I need to bring it back to Barn Talk. So if I could just take a minute here. Because everybody that watches this podcast, is that what it's called, it's podcast. Yeah.

Podcast, yep. Some listen. Some only listen. Some listen. You need to watch. You have to paint work. words with your, you have to paint pictures with your words. Well, let me just say, I am very tan.

I have on a white baseball cap, and you need to tune in tonight with looking at it. On the YouTube. Being Brad Pitt look a lot of like, maybe not so much. Maybe Santa, I get Santa vibes. Well, I've been told, you know, that people are going to say it, but don't spoil it for the children. I was kind of thinking Uncle Jesse from the Dukes of Hazard. Oh, there you go. How old was he?

About your age. Okay, let's don't go too old. Anyway, but, you know, I walked in here today and, you know, I am, of course, from here. I climbed in. But I first walked in from the barn. So I've listened to, you know, the first podcast. And then, you know, last night here we were listening to the one of, you know, our dad and his time in the war and the stories, which my gosh, my brother is a walking, freaking encyclopedia. that's just because I had to listen to those stories because you and Todd weren't around.

No, I think Alexa is on her way out in America's homes and it's going to be Torque Talk. Torque. I think in my house I'd like to say, Torque, tell me the weather. Hello. The weather today is, you know, I think I just don't know. I don't know whoever made Alexa, but that sounds like a licensing opportunity for me. There you go. That'd be a great product. I'm going to put that pillar. That's going to be a pillar. Screw the eddies. We need to get the torque talk technology. And for those of you that really want to call him his special name, it's Torkey. He has not been torque to me for I don't know how long. It's Torkey. I don't know, hopefully.

Well, that's better than Hey, Stupid because for some people, it's Hey, Stupid. Oh. Oh, we got a spill. We got a scare. I knocked over my party foul. Party foul. Maybe this is the time we go to a commercial. If you'd like to order. order one of our this-l-do farm uh yeties these are available for 6995 or if you'd like to sponsor one of our podcasts we'll send you a lid for free and if you'd like to sponsor two we'll send you the bottom to accomplish it there you go i think trent might be our new customer service we need to put you on all the ads oh yeah the gift of gab did not fall far from the tree it made me many of you You know, as I was watching the one last night, I'm like, man, Torque and soy, they just, they speak so beautifully.

You both do. But anyway, oh, yeah. Bring in brother Trenti and, oh, yeah. So what were you talking about? Yeah, what? Okay, so I was talking for, I got a little bit of, you told me to keep my hands down. Squirrel.

They, they, so in coming into this barn today, I wanted to acknowledge first before we get going. This is a two-hour podcast. I have not been in this barn since high school. I don't even know if my senior year I was in this barn. And it's amazing to watch these two boys walking into this barn. They just do it as though, I mean, it's just, this is what it is.

Well, it's the office. The office, the barn talk. I wish there could have been a camera on me for coming into it. because it's, I mean, it's beautiful, but it is like, wow, to be a brother and to walk back to your place that you were, you know, born and lived, because I, as much as what sometimes I feel like, did I really live here, because my little brother Torquey knows more of the stories and probably taught our older brother does. I don't know. I, I did have it still trying to be diagnosed. You know, I just, a little attention deficit disorder.

So God bless all of you out there that just have a little trouble grasping it all. I think we all do. You're in my heart. But, you know, coming up here, I looked over even at the hay. I said to you, how long has that been in here? Did you bring this hay happening? No, it's been here since the 50s. And I'm like, Torquey, seriously, how long?

And he goes, since the 50s. I mean, are you really serious? Yeah, because it's why. So it's wire tied. So dad and Ray, my uncle Ray, they, they bought a wire tie John Deere Baylor. And so through the 50s, so they bailed a lot of straw because he had sows and pigs in this barn and he used the straw for bedding. But they got rid of that bailer somewhere, you know, somewhere in the late 50s or maybe the early, and we went to twine. And so anything that was here that was tied with wire has to be at least, at least 1960, but it's probably in the 50s.

And so, and it was at the bottom. And, you know, if you're a good, if you're a good farmer, you don't run out. So, you know, you bail and you get to spring. And if you're not all the way out of, of, of, of, uh, bales, you just put more on top. And that's what they did. Because when we went to clean this out, we were down to like the bottom two layers. And I mean, this. It wasn't like clear full.

It was just literally probably to where my head's at. Two or three layers. Yeah. So, yeah. No, this is original. That's like the oldest hay that was in this barn. I mean. Yeah.

And that's why. But to many people, honestly, as you guys grow, you know, your viewers and people that perhaps don't, like as I said, when you all were talking about those words, that, you know, you were saying, like yield and whatever. I mean, you got to understand. I mean, there's people that hear that, like, some of what you were even talking about. Again, I go back to. And there's going to be people that, you know, and it's okay.

But I'm like, people would look at this. And honestly, in our podcast today, it would be like a stage. I think it was stage studio. Like that's plastic. And they just prop it up there on. wood and and there it's not hay but it but this ladies and gentlemen i mean i walked into this barn and i'm i'm climbing up here and soy and torquy walk up here and to them they're going to get set up for an hour before we're even sitting here i mean it's mind boggling what the two of you go

through and i'm sitting over in the cocktail lounge that you don't even see that i'm like well they're seeing it today yeah oh my god It's in the shots. We bought some leather chairs. I am more of a noticeer of all the things and whatever, but you all just dive in to putting together the podcast and setting up the cameras. And I literally was taking it moment by moment by moment that I have. I mean, I am familiar back in my day.

If we rewind the tape and though I am the most beautiful brother and, you know, Right, right, no doubt about that. Trans vanity knows no limits. All the things. Well, but I come, sorry, I mean, I just look at the barn and I'm like, I remember when this was clear full of hay. And I looked up to the very top and I said to Torquey, I'm like, oh my gosh, are those the hay like hay like steaks forks that dad used to use? And he said, yeah, yeah, those are the original. And for many of you, I mean, like you shared with that beautiful podcast that you and

Soi did of, you know, talking, you know, a lot about Dad. I mean, we all share that. We all have our memories, though they may be different. And I really have to just say that you and Soi give it, give Dad and the legacy. I think it's cool for people, however long this goes. and for all the people that come to it, it's important. As you said, soy, you know,

you have an obligation to just appreciate it and continue to take it to the next level. I mean, obviously, we all have our gift. And for me, that it was farming and all of it, it wasn't my gifting. I mean, I appreciate it now. I mean, we are sharers as brothers, you and Todd and I that thank God we're brothers that we've continued to hang in there with each other.

Yeah. Because we could share the stories of the difficult times too. I mean, nobody out there needs to look at it and just think, oh, isn't that wonderful? It's like an Iowa Disney World. Well, no, it's not really. Family. It has been some rough roads, you know, and I'm all about acknowledging that.

That's with every family. Family is messy. Family gets messy. We've hung in there though, and you are here, we're all here, and it is now, for me, you know, as much as people would probably vomit in the bucket hearing me say it. But it just is. Some people will look at it and go, oh, gosh, do you pay him to say that? Yes, we do.

Which is it? Like the iced tea, vodka, water, or cranberry juice. You'll never know. You'll never know what's in that cup. Because I'm this way at six in the morning. and I'm magnified at 11 o'clock at night. But, I mean, it's just beautiful. It's an honor to come back.

And now I see it through, you know, grown-up eyes that I'm like, it's different. My appreciation is different. And I got to say, my first thing coming up this morning to the barn, the only job that I did well was I was on the little Ford tractor. In Ford. When we were bailing this hay that has been here from the 1950s now, I came along in 1965, so I started bailing hay in 1969.

Dad didn't know. I'm kidding. I don't know what was. You were an early bloomer. But dad was like, yeah, well, I've got these boys. They need to get out there. And, you know, one of these things is not like the other. I was a child from day one.

But a couple things I did well on the farm, outside of washing hogpins. Trent loved the power wash fairowing crates. I just was a good power washer. What was the phrase, and I know what the phrase is, but what was the phrase that dad told you. Most iconic phrase. When you came to power wash and he checked you all out and you were ready to go and he said to you, now one more thing.

Yeah, you always get it better than I do. But it's something about. Talking about your quality of work. Yeah, there's no, well, that's what he said. he'd come in and he'd be like, well, Trent, those hog pens over there, that was good. I didn't get it. The best. The best, but then I was going to say it, the best job that you'll do is never good enough.

No. What was it? The best job that you can possibly do is not too good for me. It's not too good for me. But yeah, see, he remit, you, as I said to Torquey the other day, you were like a walking encyclopedia. And I don't know if you were like me, but didn't you, you always tried to hurry because you had something else you want to do, because let's face it, it wasn't that much fun. And our dividers, so our farrowing crates, this was before the days of solid PVC dividers. So they were panels. They were like little mini gates. And so you had to flip them over. So you washed them one way. Then you washed them the other way. And then you had to flip them over because they were round bar and you wouldn't get the bottom side. But. But the easiest way to speed through that job, if you had something to do was you didn't flip them.

And then dad always had to come inspect your work. And then he would come and, you know, he'd like, yep, yep, looks good. And then he'd grab one of those panels. And he'd flip it over and he'd just look at you and shake his head and go, call me when you're done. But the most funny thing about it all is it truly was one of the jobs that for me, I felt most like when you talk about building confidence in children or whatever, I truly felt most confident in doing that mowing the yard, pulling the Ford tractor back, lifting up the

hay into this hay mow, doing it slowly. I could sit on that Ford with the big wheel and dad taught me how to do that. Throttle it all the way down. Mowing the yard, throttling down the Ford tractor and washing hog pins. Yeah, you probably, your attention, because you, you're probably, you're probably, you probably did flip them. I probably did. Yeah, you probably did a good job. Your attention to details probably better than dad's. Yeah, because you, at your point, you probably actually cared what dad thought. I was more like, I had the idea that, uh, no, that's a lie. The best job I can possibly do will never be

as good as what you think it'll be. So I'm really not even going to try. Let's just argue about it for 10 minutes when we're done. Yeah. And the other thing, if I can just say real quick on that is I, honestly remember that while I was on the Ford tractor and it was always hot. Very hot. When you were out there and you're just sweating and how many more loads do we have to undo? But looking at this today, I mean, of course, it's, it's emotional for me because I'm like, oh my gosh, our dad touched those very things. And, you know, if you're a son or daughter or some family member associated with that. I told Torquie, I said, so hey, Torquie, you guys

need to put lights around those. And he's like, well, at some point, I think we will make it into a chandelier or something. Well, he didn't say, I said chandelier because I'm busy like that. But I would say to Dad, when I was on the Ford tractor, I was always like, hey,

dad, if we're done early enough tonight, do you think we could go into Bob and Corny Days and go swimming? Like, that was always my thing in the summer. I just wanted to go to Bob and Corny Days. And our dad showing, you know, again, it has to do with, though we were so different and the stories are endless

with how our perception of all of it is, you know, as a little kid. But for me, you know, when dad would acknowledge that and say, well, I'll have surely call him, because of course we'd always go over to the house and say, mom call Bob Day you know you didn't get out your cell phone and just you know kids today it's like yeah just a minute and you take a break and you call them or you text them right you don't even call you just text right but of course dad would tell shirley Shirley would call corny corny scur husband it's like the phone company for some reason our mom uh gets referred to as shirley a lot

because uh my dad and mine too i don't know why. Yeah, our dad, our dad, but for some reason, he would always refer to her as Shirley. Now, he might have said to her, hon, honey, sweetheart. You say, you say mom's name too, though. Yeah, I do. And mom says your name too. I feel like that. But the thing, I think the thing that cemented that was. So for years, if dad needed, we had a phone in the garage. Remember the phone that was in the garage? The black phone on the wall. In the garage, that was the phone book. Because every number for people that he usually called was written down on the wall so that when you went there, you could find it. But for whatever reason, sometimes there was not the number that he needed. And as a little

kid and you too all of us we can remember i know what you're going to say before can i just do it yeah y'all don't think this is so do so do surely no dad dad comes over oh and he needs something and he goes to the phone and he's looking and one his eyesight he needed glasses to read so yeah he had a pair of glasses laying on the ledge inside the door right and sometimes if he thought he had the number he would put those glasses on and he would look on the wall and then he couldn't find it so then he'd be pissed and he'd open the door and call for Shirley. And it didn't matter where my mom was in the house. You could hear the footsteps.

And you, yep. You guys, for those of you that remember, I mean, God bless, some of the people watch and they must just be like, I didn't know where this is going. They're talking about this is on Barn Talk. But for those of you that remember way back in the day, it really was like Archie Bunker and Edith, which was a show, the Archie show or something. Archie Bunker. But he would yell for mom, Shirley.

And she... Give me Moes Levy's number. Yeah. And here in Washington, Iowa, back in the day, before all this, you didn't have to give the whole number. You'd be like, 5751. Because everything was 6.5.3. You already knew it was 6.5.3.

And you just punch into the phone, wouldn't you? Yeah, you didn't have to dial 319. And you didn't even have to dial 6.5.3 when we were kids. You just dialed 3. and then the four-digit number. I have to. You better not give out numbers because y'all will be calling them

and people hate you. But I was, speaking of that, I was devastated when I came home. I found out that Torquie and Trici and Trici had gotten rid of mom and dad's land. Yeah, you know, that's a regret. When, you know, when it got to where they didn't, well, they didn't, they couldn't use a phone anyway.

and so we had one cell phone. My dad had a cell phone, and we didn't need to have that landline. But in hindsight, that was so dumb. I should have kept 5155. That was the... Don't give it out. Why, they can call somebody else.

There's somebody that's going to get the call and be like, I'm not... Don't call that number. Yeah, don't call that number. But, oh my gosh, but mom all the time. Like, again, we refer to her as Shirley, and so, again, there's outside of soy, there's Cliffy, Clay.

And I got to acknowledge my other nephew because my older brother or my older son. My oldest brother. And if you're wondering who soy is, that's my nickname that Trent calls us. Does nobody call you soy on the show? No one knows that's my nickname. Oh, you're Sawyer on the show. We might need to put parentheses underneath your name now.

Well, thanks, Trent. We tried, he wanted to switch. I wanted to keep my name. We've been introducing him as cleetus. What did you really? No, it's fine. Okay. People don't.

Yeah, he's never been soy. He calls me, he calls me soy milk, soy, soy, soy sauce. Soy sauce. You know, these guys, it's, I'm a nickname person. You are, you're totally nickname person. But anyway, you know, Cliffie, Clay. We just call you shithead. Trent is like a lab.

He'll just answer to anything. Hey, Jack Wagon. But Cliffy would, I remember a story when I would, when we were home. And when I heard my sweet nephew, young, five-year-old Cliffy saying, Shirley! Shirley, get in here! And I am sitting in my parents' living room, and I'm looking at this small child,

and I am going, and I looked at him, and I said, what are you saying? And we were home visiting, you know, Tessie and I or whatever. He just looked at me. I said, you do not call your grandma, Shirley. She is grandma. And he looked at me. And pointed at you.

That little shit said. One day, you're negotiating with suppliers. The next, you're installing a shelf in the back room. Running a business means moving in many directions all the time. TD's new small business banking accounts are built for how your business moves. It's how we're making banking more human. You are not the boss of me. And I was like, I'm going to have trouble with these two children.

And now, of course, I just... At that point... There's no uncle that adores the ground. that his nephews walk on more than I do. But at that point, Trish or Trent kind of question Tork's parental ability. I did. Like, what kind of a monster are you raising? You guys, we need to sit you down and give you some parental parenting.

It's not like we never called her grandma. Oh, my gosh. We just heard you guys say it. Look at how quickly we get off on that tangent. So our mom is sure, but she's mom. We love her. Loving the stories. Let's come back.

You need to introduce yourself where you live now. I will. Where you live. How old you are? Okay. A little bit of back story of what you're doing now. All right. What year you left the farm.

What year you left the farm. All right. So we'll all get back to it. And I do just want to end to say that, you know, this barn is amazing and that you all set this up. Thank you. Just like people don't even know. I'm like, wow, you put a lot into this. So I'll just say that first.

Just wait. Just stop. Okay. Because I wanted to say this. so thank you i appreciate that because and and this is this is on soyer because soyer had this vision i did not share the vision because to me as you this is just the old barn this is forever the hay barn and i didn't see i didn't see the i didn't see this i didn't see the potential but soyer and you could you can speak to this but you know you know

know, you, you're the one that really pushed the idea in everything that we do to be, to be genuine in it. In other words, you wanted this to be here and to look the way it does because you didn't want it to be plastic. You didn't want it to be. You wanted it to be the real deal and have the connection to the farm. And so, yeah, of course. I mean, we weren't really using this barn for anything. We don't have horses. We don't have sheep anymore. We don't. We don't. used to have sheep and they were dumber than a post. But anyway, yeah, this barn wasn't really getting used much and I'd come up here. I used to have air soft wars with my friends up here with the hay bales and stuff when all the hay was in here and that was super fun. But I haven't been up. I wasn't really

up here much after that. And so I just thought, you know, there's not very many barns built like this out there. I mean, if there are, I don't think they're at this good of condition. So I felt like it was just a space on our farm that wasn't getting used. And there's not very many farm podcasts, you'd say, I guess. And I've always thought about starting a podcast. I've seen it's a good, it's a good form of media. People like podcasts. And I thought we could add it to the brand we were building. But yeah, I definitely wanted to keep it as real as possible. And I wanted it to be including that legacy, you know, including that family farm aspect, because that's, that's our whole motto. I feel like everything we do, whether you watch our farm YouTube channel, whether you watch the show on the

podcast show, Barn Talk, we're just real with you. We're not going to front, we're going to show you what a family farm is. And yeah, like Trent said, this is right. And what family looks like. Yeah, and family. I mean, that's, that's, yeah. We might want to rethink some of that. With the next guess. But yeah, it's real hay. It's the real floor, not fake floor. I mean, everything here is real. And I, and the forks. I mean, I think that's super cool. And we want to keep it as real as we possibly can for you guys. So, yeah, it's came a long way, but we got a long way to go.

And I'm just glad that it's taken off and people seem to really love it. Shout out to you guys. And also, I'd like to say, if you get value from the show, you thought it was entertaining, share it out to people because that's how we're going to grow this thing. We want to grow as organically as we possibly can. We want you to love it. If you love it, all we ask for you to share. That's the ticket.

for admission to watch a show. We just ask that you share it. And send some AC. Because the AC is not very good. Yeah, if you see any of us sweating, which we all are right now. I think we're glistening. We're glistening. We're glowing.

We're glowing. That's what's happening. And if you'd like to order one of these beautiful Vistoldoo Farm Yetis, we can send this to you again if you'd like to sponsor one. If you sponsor one show, we'll send you the lid. If you sponsor two, we'll give you the base. Thank you so much. And that is 69.

Thank you. Thanks, Trent. Thanks. Okay, so Trent Wessler is. Yes, I am the middle brother, and this is just fun to come back every summer. Of course, I do this whether Barn Talk was here or not. I've been coming home for years. And again, when I joke about who's the guy that sang Country Roads?

John Denver. John. I just, yeah, I did used to love that song. But I honestly feel like that's kind of one of. my songs because when it talks about country roads when you're getting on the plane are you just bumping john denver no i don't i'm not really on my phone or anything i'm just like will the plane take off my i'm not worried about that i'm more worried about will it will hit land yeah my flights are always the ones that are like will i make it or will they be canceled but um yeah you know i've been

coming home for a long time i obviously um as the middle child i graduated high school in 1983 Should we just pause on that? Yeah, let's do. That should echo, Torquee, when you're editing. 1983. And, you know, at that season of life and time in my life, as I said, I come back and, you know, with the years of coming home as an adult, there were also those years that I was like, I am not coming home. I am out of here.

I am doing my own thing. I'm going to blaze my trail. And that really was me. I mean, you know, it wasn't, it was a different journey for all three of us, boys, growing up. And what once was, you know, that that was a negative. Today, that's a positive because I appreciate so much, you know, the perspective of our older brother Todd. And then, of course, Torque and Sawyer and the family and all of this. And, but yeah, so I graduated in 1983.

I mean, I left and I now currently, fast, forward the whole ball game. Believe me. That's a, that's no longer a podcast. That's called a lifetime movie. That's a book. Lifetime television with Trinney. But now currently, I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. My wife, Tessie, I have two daughters, and I have three grandchildren. And they're all boys. Awesome. They took the three boys. of us and they magnified it times 10 because now as a umpah they call me instead of grandpa I'm umpah because I didn't ever associated really with being a grandpa I mean look at me soie and I could be twins right he's 21 comment comment leave your five leave your comment on that

so you know I have a little struggle on that that's why you wear the baseball cap it pulls everything up and back. But, you know, I'm kind of like our dad, I think, in that way. He was not really tuned into aging. Let's face it. He was. He was not. And I do think, though, dad and I are not alike. A lot of areas. You are alike. That is an area where we're alike that I'm like, yeah, well, I'm not getting older. You know, other people get older. I'm just getting better. But yeah, having three grandsons now, after having two daughters, it's very different. So we all live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And our girls used to come back here, as so he knows,

when they were growing up and through their junior high and high school years. I mean, it was, you know, Torquey said something on one of the podcasts. I don't know what version. What was that one we watched last night? Episode. That was Lawrence. That was Dad's Long Journey Home. Yeah, the Long Journey Home.

But if any of you picked up on that, you know, and probably a lot of people didn't. But there was a portion in there where, you know, Torque had said that, you know, their dad, our dad, and his brother, Ray, their relationship sort of went, you know, south. And so there was a split of the farm, and everyone went their separate ways. Interestingly enough, for me, as the sensitive child in our family, I was more of the feelings type person, which I can look back now and see that for our dad, I think that was a good thing, because he didn't know that chapter in life. As you clearly got out of the war, I didn't know the chapter in life of being, just get over it and let it go. But I was raised with that, and I fought it all the time because I always felt things, you know. And I still feel things today, and it's made my brother a better person.

but I'm not dead inside. No, it's not. But anyway, all that being said, um, at a young age of hearing the stories, I knew that for me,

I did not want, I, I had this childlike fear of not wanting that to happen to our family, you know, like our brothers and, and have it be like, like, you know,

you don't understand it when you're a kid. You just grow up with it. it that well we don't really see our uncle and his wife and the cousins and we just don't all get together and it was a little bit like that on our mom's side that we didn't really know them and for whatever reason perhaps it will be one of the gifts that you know god sent me to created me and sent me to this family and i was a part of to be but i just never wanted that to be something that infiltrated into this family and not to say that we haven't had, you know, some tough times. But I'm just proud that we've worked through

them and, you know, not all family does because I'm a hairdresser in Lancaster family, Lancaster family, Lancaster County, you know, some of you are wondering, what does he do? What job does this guy have? Well, there I am. I have a little studio in small town, little Lancaster County. Well, small town compared to small town washing. It's not so tiny. But we used to have, my wife and I, Tessa, used to have a salon here in Washington, Iowa, and we lived here for a few years, and it was just truly, I think, the purpose of us coming back here and the purpose of us living here, so many reasons. It was those last few years with our dad, you guys, you and Cliffey's grandpa. I'm thankful for those years, though there were some rocky times and with mom.

that was a part of it. It was a part of it to develop a small town business and see in myself that I could do it because we did it. And the people that came to us here in Washington, Iowa were absolutely amazing. We met some beautiful people, and I still have those beautiful relationships. These are memories that I took away from my 1983 high school graduation years that weren't so great, you know, growing up in that time. But I'm thankful for all those memories. And it made my business, I think, today what it is, because I'm like, if I can do it there, I can do it again.

And I've done it. And I'm just grateful and thankful. And that's... When you were a kid, so did you ever have the desire to farm, to be on the farm? Like, did you ever, when you were... Like when you're a little kid, you probably did because, you know. I don't think I did because those skills that I had weren't.

They weren't very good. So it never crossed your mind. It never really crossed your mind. I was the one doing, because Todd got to do the riding John Deere lawnmower. Oh, and you got to push. Your riding, writing. Shout out to the seven. degree the 780 john deer you know whatever we got a new mower this year um we got a 780 john

deer and it is a monster it's got a 72 inch deck on it and it it is cooks oh it just it thing is so god drove the little yellow cedar 214 and we would mow Saturday morning mowing it was an all-day event yep you check in to the ticket counter at 7 a.m and start mowing and start mowing and start mowing and and maybe you're done at 5 p.m. I think the beautiful thing about that was that you guys, there was a gap there. So when you guys were mowing, I was watching,

I was watching super friends. Drinking your soda. I would get a big bowl of honeycombs, go to the honeycomb hideout. And Pop was in the basement. I don't think mom probably approved, but I would get a bowl of cereal and then a glass bottle of Pepsi out of the,

fridge and watch uh thundar the barbarian i love thunderer the barbarian i never could figure out what ukula mok was saying though i don't know i couldn't get it i don't know because you were out mowing you were moan it stopped with bugs bunny with me it was kind of it but yeah i so i got the short end of the stick as i always did well i pushed yeah and when we upgraded to the self-propelled pushmower that you pulled up on the bar i thought wow dad bought her Mercedes without knowing that that was the best for you. But I didn't mind the push mowing because there again, very simply and as a little child, I associated very much with Jim Rogers and Mr. Rogers neighborhood.

That was probably the show that I associated with the most because it was the neighborhood of make believe. And I from a young age, for some reason, created a. neighborhood of make-believe. And in my mind, it was a beautiful neighborhood. But I would be mowing the yard. And we never went to the Iowa State Fair. Nope. And we lived in Washington, Iowa, and it was in Des Moines, right? But we never went there. I remember taking a trip to Pocahontas, Iowa. And I thought, in my childlike mind, I was going to Disney World. We were going on a family. You're going to see your aunt. We were going to see dad's sister, Aunt Frances, that you've talked about.

But I swear, I thought it was, we're going on a trip. I heard through the family, you know, we're going on a trip. And I thought I was going somewhere amazing. But as I would mow the yard, you asked me the question, did you ever want to farm? I don't think I, I, I mean, being it real, I don't think I ever did because of so many things. You know, I just didn't have it. I mean, that didn't, it wasn't in my DNA. I didn't know the words like DNA.

This is not my vibe. I mean, this is where I lived. We had to mow the yard. We had to bail hay, had to wash hog pants, had to walk. Beans. The bean fields. Oh, gosh. Have you all walked bean fields?

You know, I'd block that out of my memories. We've never really talked about that until you dredged it up. And then you have a grandpa who you would go up. I was the chosen push mower. There's a reason that I was chosen for push mowing because my grandpa. rewarded that skill. It's like Dad flying, you shared the story. He flew those other planes,

and then it was preparing him for war because he had already been trained. Well, guess what? In small town, Middle America, I was trained on a pushmower only so I could go to my grandpa's house and learn how to use the pushmower on the side of the bank. And I, out of all three of us,

I was the best one to use the pushmower in the banks of his farm and then I would go through with a five gallon, ten gallon, I don't know what bucket, and pick up all the rocks and the sticks. This is what I did for fun. You must have done a really good job. I did. I never got any.

I think they would give me five or ten dollars and I felt like, oh my gosh, I'm rich. But you know what? It's what I did and I liked going to my grandma's house. What are the lessons you learned from living on a farm? So you didn't want a farm and that's not your DNA. That's a good question. Thank you. There's a lot of family farms out there with kids that don't want to farm and there's people that do and then there's people that don't at all.

So it's all part of being in a farm family. You just warn about it and that's fine. So for you kids that it's not your thing, there is hope for tomorrow. Yeah, because it can, I bet it can seem like, oh man, I don't want to do, I don't want to carry on. I don't want to do the farm in. So you kind of might feel a little bit like uncharted territory. For me, in all honesty, it didn't feel like a where I had failed until, unfortunately, years later in my life, if I want to be real. I mean, you know, when I came back as an adult and I saw my brother, this is where the stories, you know, people think, oh, they're just, they get all get along so well.

It's just like candy cane. Candy land. Candy land. Whatever. And, you know, it's not. I mean, you know, Todd goes off to be this big business. as tycoon in, you know, Dallas, Texas. Trini here stumbles along the journey of, you know, I went to, I remember going to

travel agency school and mom and dad, of course, helping me through travel agency school. And the reason I went to travel agency school. Let's just pause and say that, uh, how many, how many different vocational schools have you been to? Oh, I knew he was going to I can go there. No, I just, what's the list? You've heard of throw him under the bus. On the farm,

we throw him under the tractor. Okay, we'll just say you've been to a few then. I went to a few things. Yeah. So you were just trying to find your way. It's really, here's the thing, here's the thing,

it's not a bad thing to figure your shit out. I need chom-stink. We talk about this, takes time to figure your stuff out. Some people figure it out faster than others, but. Well, and you figured it out.

Some people lie to themselves. Some people like the pressure of having it figured out is so strong that they put on the facade that, oh, I got to figure it out. I'm going to college. I'm going to major in this. I'm going to farm because I want to impress my dad or whatever. And you just, you know what I mean? You went your own way.

And you're committed to that. All of my friends that I had. You know, they get so much about what I did. It's like every high school kid that when they get to, you know, they get to their senior year. And what do they do? They stand you up. They stand you up in front and everybody goes along and they say, they say, oh, I'm Torque Whistler. And this fall, I'm going to be attending the University of Iowa and I'm going to major in this.

And in their mind, they're like, I'm Torquistler and I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. I'm hoping to drink a lot of beer. Parents don't get all. Yep. Oh. I'm scared. Oh, that kids is going to go nowhere. I'm scared to tell my parents that I don't have any idea and I'm just hoping to have a good time and maybe meet somebody that's like me.

Yeah. That is so powerful. I mean, it's so true. Let's not do that anymore. Yeah, so at least you, at least you were smart enough. I remember when I did that. I ran track and played football, and I remember senior night. That's what they do.

They line up all the seniors with your parents and they get on the microphone. And I said undecided because I didn't know if I wanted to farm for I wanted to go to college. Hey. And I remember just, I felt so crappy about that. And I felt like everybody was looking at me going, oh, this kid doesn't have a chance. Did one of your friends, oh yeah, one of my friends, shout out to Kael, he helps us with the pig sometimes. Our senior night, our senior night for football, our senior year, we're all lined up in front of the parents and, you know, everybody's got their parents next to him. If you're a senior playing football and then the crowd's right there.

And the announcer goes down one by one, you know, telling you who this person is, what their future plans are, whatever. It comes to my buddy Kale. and he goes, Kale, or I don't know how the hell you say it, but pretty much he told, he told the announcer, he wrote down on a piece of paper that he was going to go play Alabama. Play football for Alabama. Play football at Alabama full right. And Kale was a great football player, but he was not Alabama five star. You know, he was just doing that to mess around, and that was the biggest belly laugh.

Yeah, it was awesome. I wish I would have done something like that. Me too. Because it is kind of a joke. He totally was like, screw this. I'm going to just write down something funny, and I wish I would have done that. Yeah, because I feel. bad for kids that feel that pressure. Now granted, if you are that age, if you know yourself

well enough and you have a passion at that age that you could honestly say, you know what, I'm going to this school and I'm going to major in this because this is what I'm passionate about. Hey, props to you. Props to you because, but most people, most people don't. Heck, I don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Exactly. Yeah, I was totally there. I did. I just. I think I did. Along with a lot of people. I'm sure I lied. I'm going to Kirkwood Community College majoring in communications.

And one day I'll pretend that I'm Miss America in comedy and say that I'm majoring in communications, and I have. There you go. Watch for it on my local channel, which I don't know what that is. Well, you know, it's good. There you go. Another party foul.

Did you mix? Oh, but that's a commercial break. I just knocked over my beautiful yet. Anyway. Did you put? any, did you put any bloody merry mix in that or did you just put ice and vodka? Or ice and tea or ice and water or cranberry juice? We don't really know.

You never had that great of fine motor skills anyway. Thank you. What I was going to say was, you know, in hindsight, it was probably good that you didn't have that desire to farm. So I could. No, that's not what I was going to say. Because you graduated. Yeah, because your ass wouldn't have been here.

I would have had, well. You'd have been mopping my burn floor. It would have just been, it would have just been that much harder for me to push you out. You know, so that's good. No, what I was going to say was, there's 1983, would have been,

it would not have been a good time in agriculture. So, you know, the 80s. And, you know, dad never, dad never made it, like he never offered that, to any of us. Because I've asked Todd this question. And I'm sorry, who's Todd?

Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm sorry. Yeah, the older brother. Just kidding. He's not, Todd's not here to defend himself. So, um, but, you know, dad never said to any of us as far as I know or asked us if we had any desire to farm. Right.

Because when I came home, well, when I, when I came back from Kirkwood, when they probably said, hey, you don't really need to come back here. You don't come to class anyway. So, you know, we kind of feel guilty about taking your parents' money. But anyway, when I came back and I told Dad that all I really wanted to do was farm. Back in the day that colleges did that. Right. Right now they'll take you. Today, you can take walking classes. I know, where was? And they will be like, oh, he's doing so well in walking. We really need to keep him. Well, and... His ass is great. And wine and spirit. one of Sawyer's friends has got his senior year he's got you know one of my buddies is he's taking a class he's no he's

he's taking a beer class yeah you just sit there and talk about beers and drink them i'm like where was that when i was at kirkwick i could have got i could have pulled a i could have pulled a pretty decent grade point average which i guess it's good that i didn't have that all they're all those kids are doing is just trying to rack up the credit so they can graduate and that's why they take walking that's why they take wine and spirits that's why they take these beer drinking classes And what are they paying? And what are they paying for that? They're just racking up the debt for that.

Anyway. So, yeah. So anyway, when you graduated in 83, the farm economy was not very good anyway. And so, but that, like, you never, did you feel like that was even an option? It wasn't even in your mind. No. Yeah. My sights, in all honesty, by then, were set on, I just had to move away.

I got to get out of here. I have to go somewhere. I wanted to go to L.A. this wasn't my place. And I am a believer. With all of the humor, the joking, the whatever beside, by the time my senior year, I did have, you know, a faith in my life. And I truly did believe. And this is for me.

For me, I believe that, you know what, this isn't my calling. This is not what God has created me to do. And I am a person that I do. I believe that, you know, God does. does have something for each life to do and purpose and all of that. And though I was young and twisted and crazy and, you know, I'm frustrated and angry and bitter probably in a way and all the stuff that goes on, I think, in a lot of young people's lives of trying to figure it out as I look back. I just, I was secure enough to step up to the plate and say, I've got to go somewhere.

Right. And so, you know, there was a singing tour at that stage of my senior year, and there was a wonderful youth pastor, Jeffries. Pat Jeffries. Thank you. Pat Jeffries, that was our youth pastor at our church at the Presbyterian Church in Washington. And God bless him. He helped navigate me.

I was singing throughout high school. It's the one thing that, along with washing hog pens and you were good at, using the pushmower and using the tractor to back up the hay clusters into the haymow, I could also sing. And though I look at one of my daughters today, McKenna who does sing, and I'm like, she sings so differently than her dad. And I'm like, yeah, I was not very good.

Because I look at her and I'm like, yeah, you're really good. And I'm not so good. But I did sing. And, you know, the world, the church, my family, my parents, they encouraged me to sing, you know, and dad and mom, you know, I think as every young child, dad always validated that and made me feel like that's something that I did that was halfway decent. So, you know, yeah, I had auditioned for the singing tour and it really was the first, like that was the first time on a big bus carrying a suitcase, going somewhere.

And like a week before, I was like, no, I'm not going to go. And he was like, well, by God, you're going. You are going and this is what you need to do. And that was a life-changing moment. It really was. Our dad helped me because mom, I probably could have convinced not to go. Mom was the easy self. Well, Lawrence, maybe he doesn't need to go.

That's just let him stay home. That was our mom. She was very loving. We make fun of her, but she was. But I went. And from then, I mean, it was good because I did experience, you know, traveling to all these cities and all over the world. Yeah, I did. I mean, I went to Europe and I, you know, and then.

Dianne and I did our first single. Oh, sorry, I'm living in Candyland. And she cut you out. The neighborhood of make-belief. Back to Mr. Rogers. Country roads. Take me home. But yeah, I just, it was good. And I'm so thankful that our dad had a part of saying, I don't know how to get your butt out of here, but you're going. And I did. And certainly then, I went on to another tour after the summer tour, because it was a three-month tour after my first one. and I didn't know what I wanted to do still. Just do it again. And then there was a nine-month tour

that the director had asked me to be a part of as his tenor. And that's the one that Tessie was on, my wife today. And so mom and dad said, well, you should just do the nine-month tour. So they, I think, were equating that to, well, that's his associate of arts degree as if he would go two years.

Yeah. And it was in meeting Tessie that, you know, she had graduated from cosmetology school And finally with her, I felt like kind of a safety net that I could say, you know what, out of everything I thought about doing outside of music was kind of like hair. And that was not a really popular, cool thing to do in the farming. You're ahead of the curve. So anyway, yeah, I just, I did that.

And I met Tessie. And when tour was over, I came home. And I said to mom and dad, I need to move to Portland, Oregon. and I, you know, got on a plane and my, you know, our folks helped me. I mean, that is where another thing that you shared about our dad and then, I don't know, should we talk about farming and all those things that people are going to be like, what the hell is this podcast about? It's taking a turn.

But, you know, I really rewind the tape because something else that you had said, you know, of course, our dad was 40 years old when he got married. Yep. A lot of dads who have little ones are in their 20s, and they still have this relateability to them. Right. And I think, you know, for, as you've said it beautifully, Torquey, with all of the stories that you so eloquently do that I know people appreciate. And it's amazing how well you articulate them. And I am thankful for that because I did not, you know, you were the one to be able to spend time, you know, with our dad to really get those.

stories and I didn't appreciate them to the way that probably Todd did or you did. Somehow I was that child that got up and I was like, oh, for the love of Jesus, we're talking about the war again. Right. And I didn't, there was no interest. Right. And I'm, you know, I get it though today. Just took me a little bit longer.

That's okay. But yeah, you know, looking back and rewinding the tape, I'm so thankful that I really did have, as much as what how he did not know how our dad did not know how to relate to that child who was both academically delinquent and farming delinquent i was the middle child thank you thank you for that uh academic uh delinquency because i think that broke him in i i think that um had todd been the middle brother and Todd set the bar very high academically. There's nothing worse than when you walked into the first day of whatever class in high school and the teacher would go, Whistler, are you Todd's brother?

Because if they said, are you Todd's brother? They were expecting big things. But if they said, if they said, is Trent your brother, then you were like, oh, this is the bar, for tomorrow. The bar is not going to be as high. He was a social god. Well, right. And that's right.

That's where you get it, Tarky. But you're right. We love the people. You know, my high school, and yours is the same way, you don't equate your high school experience with anything to do with academics. Because you just hope that you got through it. And that's how I was. But when people, when people ask me about high school,

I had a really good time. Yeah. I didn't learn a whole lot. But the thing was, I think I was a lot like, and Sawyer was this way. At least, at least, we gave him the ability to be okay with that. Because, you know what? So, you know, if you ask him,

he's learned more in the last few years about what he wants to know. Right. than what he learned in high school. And I'm the same way. Academics, grades never interested me. Never interested me. I was just trying to get by. But when you started talking about sports

or money or business or farming, I was all years passionate, wanted to know how to learn it. Isn't that, that's, yeah. I was talking to your aunt Tessie and I was, you know, we were talking about you guys and Cliffy and just where you guys are in your 20s,

you know, and, you know, we got off on that tangent. And of course, I'm the proud uncle and we don't need to spend too much time on that. But I mean, you are 21. Yeah, sometimes I don't feel like it. It's just beautiful to be an uncle and step away from the parental side that you share at this table with your dad and just be, you know, the uncle. But I'm just, I feel like with my own girls, you know, I mean, I'm just, and really with all of our, let's face it, the family of these young people, this includes Todd and Missy and Texas and the kids, just tuning in to those who they are.

and their strengths that they have and the things that they gravitate toward and encouraging those things and allowing for them to blossom. Honestly, it sounds like a paid program, and I don't mean it to, but again, I'm just an uncle and I can't help it. But living here and coming back here and being closest to this end of, the reason I come here and not in Texas is because I wasn't born in Texas. The farm is not in Texas. So it's not that Todd and I don't have that.

and Todd and Mitzie and all the kids. It's just that we have that because this is where I was born and raised. And as I said, from the time that I left, even though there were rocky times, I did always have, kind of like, to your point, soy, of what you said a few weeks ago on that podcast, that you feel sort of this already, this responsibility to carry it on, to take from what one day your dad will pass down and will be gone at some point. It just is the circle of life. The circle of life.

There you go. There's that voice. There's that voice. Wow, that was powerful. Anyway, but yeah, it is. It's the circle of life. You know, that beautiful Disney movie that really does show it that it's going to happen. Like it or not, we all move on.

Something happens. The young ones take over. And I appreciate in both you and Cliffy, you guys supported him to be his true best self. But then I look at you. And you're the walking poster child of that. But the reason you are that is because, like, you guys spoke two weeks ago, the legacy. And I don't know if some people watching take that away to maybe we need to take a step back as a family and go, wow, look at these guys. They're all so freaking different.

I remember at the end of our dad's funeral, one thing I remember. because we pretty much led our dad's funeral service, and that beautiful pastor allowed for us to do that very graciously. But I remember him saying at the end, something along the lines of, you know, isn't it great to see just these are three different sons with three different sort of stories and examples, but yet look at the legacy that Lawrence left to his children. And I think it's really pretty powerful. And I, as a hairdresser, I will say in my own world of stories, I'm not going to sugarcoat it to say that I hear from a lot of people with a lot of farms, land, whatever, across America that our story truly is unique because there are a lot of people who want what they

want and they better get what they want to get and there's this is my house and this and it gets destroyed in the midst of all of it the legacy does not get to live on and it's worth speaking to because it gets clouded by all the other stuff and I'm just thankful for us that somewhere along the line I just realize, you know what, it's not my thing. It's okay, but oh, somebody else knocked over their drink. You're spilling it all over. Party foul for torque now. Which is a commercial at this point.

What he just knocked over, ladies and gentlemen, was the beautiful, this will do farm yety. You can order through our website if you'd like to. We don't have a website. We don't have a, we're working on it. I'm going to be the face of showing these. 69.95. No, yeah, I think, yeah, you're right. It's good.

If you, if you're a farm family, you got to keep your eye on the legacy. because I think people forget the fact that, well, I always go back to the fact that 1% of the people in this world get a farm or 1% of Americans farm. Like that is, you're already a 1% of the country if you get to farm. So why, when you are in those disputes between your family, just think of that stat alone. Because if you piss it away, good luck. Yeah, you'll never get it back in. And it's not, it's not as.

I mean, it can be profitable if you get smart and you do. We've talked about this. But, you know, farming what it was back then being profitable, this is how you grow a family, you wanted to farm, you can grow your own food, you know, it's profitable, all this thing. Now it's not as an amazing deal as it was back in the day, but it's still a great opportunity. It's really great.

It's a great thing to do. But it's got to work between everybody and the family. And it doesn't. And it doesn't. Most of the time, it doesn't. It's very, it's very, because another thing that people have told me, and then I'm going to be done. But another thing people have told me is they're like, it is crazy rare that you, Trini, as a lot of my people call me Trini, you are 55 years old. You have left a farm and yet you're still going home to the same place.

Because a lot of them are sold. A lot of them aren't there anymore. and I'm still 55 years old and the chances of me being 60 and 65, as long as, praise Jesus, as long as I'm in, you know, good health and continue to, you know, just be how I am or whatever, that I'm going to be able to come back here and that we're, we are going to see your kids and the other kids and all the generations. Hopefully some grandkids. Hopefully we get some grandkids. We'll get there eventually. just not yet.

Anyway. Got to hire an editor first. Right, we got to get an editor. What else do we need to cover? Well, I think that's a great point to end on. Well, I want to say one, I want to go down one more rabbit hole. Yes. Before we end things.

I think it would be funny and entertaining for the folks out there. If we all went down in a triangle here and told our most embarrassing moments on the farm. Like the most like. I've got mine. It's embarrassing. It already comes to me. You want to start? I sure can.

Go ahead, Trent. Okay. Well, there's a few. I want to, I have in my mind what I think it is. So go ahead. Well, you know what? We have not prepped this and I'm just going to trust that people think that we haven't because we really didn't.

No, we haven't. This is all on the fly. I was up here at the barn yesterday as far as being at the barn. Yeah. But I literally did not want to come upstairs here because I wanted to be in the moment today. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm sitting. here in the hay mouth that dad used to be, you know, tripp it are the words.

Drop them. We're echoing in my mind. You know, dad was on the hay wagon. I was pulling it back. I don't know. There were two or three up here in the haymow. And this is what we did every summer. And I hated it.

You like sitting up here better than, or do it? No, I honestly think I liked sitting on that tractor because there was a breeze. You all need to put some air conditioning in here. I know. We're all. Anyway, back to that. What do you think, Torquey, that? my most embarrassing story is going to be.

Well, if I had to... Well, you need to tell it, but you can just guess. Well, I'll just... My guess is herogating on the diagonal. Harrogating. Oh, yeah. Okay. See, even that, I'm like, what?

Harrogating on the day. Now, let me interpret harrogating on the diagonal. How I interpret that is, I was in the field right smack dab across where we are. And there was a little red shed out there. And I think there was a white shed, you know, as far as in the sheet pasture. or whatever pastor that was. It was just, oh my gosh, there was a lot in that pastor. So evidently, dad still had hope for me at that time

that he could tell me what to do on the tractor, show me the gears, show me the brake. All I had to do is just sit there and drive down one end of the field, back up the other, drive down one end of the field, back up the feather, and I was good, right? No, that's not right. I mean, you're not given enough detail for the people that don't know. Okay.

So at that time, we plowed everything. Right. So we plowed. So you plowed the field the same way the rows were planted. Okay. But the goal was to have that field like powder. Remember how, because we were planting, we were planting corn with a 495, four-row planter, and there was no such thing as trash wheels or,

down pressure springs or air anything. I mean, it was a mechanical deal. So to place the seed, you wanted that seed bed like three and a half inches of just like potting soil. So you plowed straight. But then a harrogator, a harigator was like a heavy harrow.

And it broke up the, well, you remember. Well, I do. It's just you're such a farmer, Torque and you're talking to your brother here that I'm like, uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh. So you harrogated on the diagonal. Yeah.

So you crossed. Oh, I crossed it. Remember? So you ran at an angle. Well, I really, so in all honesty, I'm like, um, the guy, here, but the only thing I really do remember to get to the punchline is all of a sudden the fence was following behind me. And I was like, what is this tug all of a sudden on the, is that called the harrogator?

The harigator. Well, one of my spikes, eight of four. my spikes. I don't know how many of those spikes, right? He had spikes, didn't it? Yeah, right. See, I remember that. Well, I didn't know, but I was pulling out the fence, and it was following me. Well, and Lawrence Whistler came marching along the highway, and it was not pretty. I thought, oh, I'm going to be buried out in this field, because he, as wonderful as I said, we finished the race well, but rewind the tape and as a young child that I was, I feared the ground that he walked on. And I was like, oh, crap.

All I knew was to turn that key off on the tractor. Pull the stop. And we won't, we don't really even need to share the words and the conversation. Let's just say, so one of my favorite Christmas movies is Christmas story about the kid that wants the Red Rider BB gun and you'll shoot your eye out. But there's a great line in there when his dad goes down to the base. basement because the furnace like black soot comes out of the vent and you know it's kind of being narrated by ralphi and ralphi says my dad was one of the best furnace fighters that there's ever been and he's down in

the basement and you can hear him and it's you he's not using real explicatives but it's like mother trucker wring and he said my dad used profanity like other artists used oils and that all always identified because if you were going to get your butt chewed by our dad, he used profanity like other artists used oils. And it was not going to be, it was not going to be a short outburst. It's going to be fairly lengthy. It's going to be very detailed in the amount of names that you're going to be called.

Yeah. That was one of, yeah. I mean, and there is just one. Is that the one you were thinking? So you ran through the fence. Well, I just pulled the fence out. I didn't run through it. You were dragging it. I could see what was ahead of me, but I just clipped it on the side. I got too close or something. And he, let me just tell you, he was so not happy.

No, he wasn't. And so that kind of, that let go my ability of being in the field. He did not try me out again. That's why I say, you probably. I was a good lawnmower. I was good on the tractor pulling the hay up, and I was good at washing the hogpins. And he just utilized me in my best giftings, because the last one was, real quick, I was backing the truck out of the garage, the pickup, and, you know, of course. Clip the mirror. Oh, I think I tore out the wall. It took a clean off.

I think I broke half the wall or something and that kind of caved in and the mirror came off. I remember that one. That wasn't good either. I was like, crap. And then my senior year of high school, I backed my car out of the garage and I hadn't put oil in it for probably a year. So that caught up in fire. I didn't know I was supposed to do those things. Oh, man.

It was a challenge. Caught on fire. Well, sure it's torquy. I mean, there's multiple, multiple. Like, we were talking about this the other day. Like, when we were sorting pigs, my dad had the N and the by. So, in was not really in, because N was staying in the pen. And you couldn't get it confused that that was letting a pig into the alley.

And then by was letting that pig go by. And when we would sort pigs to sell, we would, we would sort. And I was, I was the gate runner when, because my brothers were either gone or in school to where they were doing something. And I was available. So I got brought up from the minors. But, you know, weight is subjective. So as you're bringing the pig up there, oh, that pig looks big enough to my dad.

So it was like, buy. buy that pig is going out and then and then at the last minute oh no it's not quite big enough so in well but you thought bye so the gate was open so you let that pig out and then the head shake and the expletives of why did you let that pig you know buy well because you said so no i said i said in well yeah you said in but you said bye five times before you said in but you didn't dare say that and there is nothing more demeaning then, you know, if you really got, and it was the pigs, it was the pigs that frustrated. We're going to do a shirt. We're going to do a t-shirt. Well, that's how it is. We're going to do a t-shirt that says on the, it's going to have, it's going to have this will do farm on the front and on the back, it's going to say, I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you while we were loading pigs, or something like, I'm sorry for the names I called you while loading pigs. But anyway, you know, I can remember as a small kid. Well, yeah, it's just

Just, just Handling pigs, it's not You're not, you're not mad, you're like, the little thing set you off Because the pigs piss you off enough To where you're getting to the breaking point But, and if someone makes a mistake You can't yell at the pig

Because they're not going to know Right, we do yell at the pig sometimes, but And with Lawrence Whistler, it was not all, It was not the pig. It was you. Yeah, you messed it up. But I guess, you know what? The one that we should talk about

and because you and I share this, the only one of the brothers that was ever able to do a good enough job collivating to have that job was taught because I couldn't collivate. So my dad, our dad, we had a 60 John Deere with a four-row front mount cul-vator

and he had the shovel set out so wide that if you didn't drive precisely, you were going to tore out the corn. You were going to tear out the corn because he wanted maximum cultivation. And there was something about a two-cylinder John Deer, tut-tut-tut-tut-tut-tut-tut. Before long your head's going,

before long your eyelids are going, the next thing you know, you're about falling asleep. I could not focus. And he would get mad. And finally, I worked myself out of a job because he just was convinced there was no way

that TORC was ever going to be able to collivate. But Todd could collivate, but I never could because it was just a constant frustration. I guess my most embarrassing moment was when I had the chopper, coelvator, coltator. Oh, the Bessler.

No, it wasn't the Bessler. Oh, it wasn't the Bessler. I know it wasn't. Oh, the field collivator. It was a field culvator. And I forgot to fold it up. So I got done using it. And I, you know, I've been in the tractor all day pretty much.

You finish the field. Finish the field. I'm ready to get home. I'm ready to be done. And I didn't think anything of it. I lifted it up out of the ground and I forgot to fold it back in. So it doesn't all the way out. And I'm driving and I'm not hitting anything at all while I'm getting out of the field.

I get to the road. I still haven't hit anything. And I just start going. one on the road with that 30 feet 30 feet just pulled it out if there was a car coming they got to put it in reverse terry because it's they would have been screwed but luckily no car came no i made it home but i did smash the mailbox yeah he took out the mailbox somehow i knew you were going to say it was the mailbox took out the mailbox completely and i remember just dad looking at me down at the patio where i live now and mom and him are out there and he just looked at me and he was just

giving the Lawrence giving the head shake you actually handled it pretty pretty well you know you didn't really chew my butt too much but he yeah I totally took out the mailbox I'm pretty hard on myself so when I do that I was I was pretty pissed

at myself about that but I'll never make that mistake again that's right you just gotta it's the thing you gotta be about the little details but comes to farming about big equipment you gotta be you gotta be precise you got to think you know what the thing with farm mistake is they got to happen to learn because you're never going to learn. I'm sure every farm kid can relate that you've messed up something somehow. There's a million mistakes we've all made.

And before you close us out, Torque, can I just say, really, this was kind of fun. I mean, well, I'm glad it was. We're letting me come in this morning. We started you. You guys are rock stars. I just, all of the people that listen to this and watch it, as you all say, click and subscribe. It's worth it. It's so, y'all are. beautiful people. Well, thanks. Well, we appreciate it. The temperature is rising. Yeah, I'm sweating

pretty good. I'm gonna need a shower. So in closing, I want to say, you know, you've endured through these podcasts and at the end of everyone we say, hang in there, we're getting gas, you know, we're going to keep working on it. We want you to get value out of this. So thank you to Trent because he's our first

guest. Yes, but... Uncle Trent. Wasn't probably a whole lot of value. Oh, no, there's value. There's value. There's no doubt there's value. Value can be in many ways. Yeah. All right. So what's coming? We have our first second guest. You are our first. We didn't know that you were going to do. We were unsure if we're going to have Tren on the podcast. This was an imprompt. This was an imprompt off the cusp. We figured we got to have Tren on since you're here. Also, his birthday's Wednesday. We're celebrating at Dodich's. Yes. Shout out to Do Dichis. Shout out to

do Degis. Yes. 20 second birthday. Right. Right. Now my younger brother, Tramp. Yeah, there you go. But yeah, we have another guest coming on. I think next Friday is the shoot day. We're going to do it. I think I'm going to wait to tell you guys about who it is, but I think you guys really, really enjoy him. He's a fellow farm YouTuber, puts out a lot of great content, and it's going to be a really, really interesting one. So we do have guests lined up. We're finally getting some guests. So that's awesome. We're going to get some more in the future, but really looking forward to the next one. This was a really good one. I'm glad you guys got to meet. meet my uncle Trent

Torque's brother, Trent he is he's the man he's the myth he's the legend we love you too hope you guys have a great rest of your week and we will see you next Friday