Years ago, in a previous professional existance, I visited a North Dakota sign factory for a feature business story. As I was preparing to leave, the company president handed me a road sign printed with my last name. I thanked him but said that, as a journalist, I really shouldn’t take it. He shrugged and said something along the lines of, “Hey, we make a lot of these things. Just take it.” So I did.
Not having a good place of my own to put it, I gave the sign to my parents, thinking they might want to stick in somewhere on the family farmstead in central North Dakota. My father took it, made a sturdy stand, which he dug in along the driveway to the house, and attached the sign.
I’m happy to report that after all these years the sign, the stand, the farmstead, the house, my parents and I are still here. All weathered and a little worse for wear, but still in place and holding up as well as can be expected.
Recently, as part of a companywide effort, I was asked I wanted to update the photo for this blog. Well, Nick Nelson, Agweek photographer, and I were out on a story trip on which we passed within a few miles of my family farm. So we took a few minutes to get the standing photo that’s now on top of this blog.
My thanks to Nick and Agweek Editor Bianca Bina, whose technical skills allowed her to incorporate the photo into the blog design.
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Do you have a sign with a story behind it on your own farm? If so, drop me a line or photo or both.
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