I hope you enjoy our annual building and construction issue. This issue features tips for hiring contractors, a look at selecting and designing hoop barns and ways to obtain funding for storage facility projects on your farm through the Farm Service Agency and much more.
When I think of building and construction I can’t help but picture my parents. My dad has been involved in the construction industry for 40 years. However, in the last 15 years or so, mom left her job in town to join my dad on the jobsite. Together they were able to raise a family and maintain a small farm from the earnings of their drywall business.
Many of my early childhood memories were made on jobsites with dad. He would cart my sisters and I with him and instruct us to keep ourselves entertained and let him work. I can remember spending many hours playing with scrap pieces of sheetrock and leftover drywall mud, usually just writing our names or pretending to texture. By the end of the day we would have drywall mud clear up to our elbows and splattered all over our clothes.
As I got older, going with mom and dad to jobsites became less enjoyable. As you can probably imagine, they would put us girls to work spotting nails, scrapping popcorn ceilings or, the worst, peeling old wallpaper. But I can’t complain because we usually got paid to help out.
I always had a fascination with walking on stilts. I remember practicing on carpet before mom would ever let me attempt to walk on stilts on the job. The straps didn’t quite fit my feet but I was determined to make it work because I wanted to be just like dad. But when it came to stilts my dad had everyone beat. To me it seemed as though dad’s legs and the stilts were one in the same – he made it look so effortless.
Rest assured, as dad approaches retirement age he seems to pass on the stilts and resorts to using a ladder. He also doesn’t hang much anymore, joking that he’ll “leave that up to the young bucks.”
However, no time on the jobsite tops the time when I was 8 years old. I woke up early that morning sick with stomach pains and couldn’t go to school. Mom still worked in town so my only option was to go along with dad while he built cabinets. I had no signs of improvement as I lay on the couch all day. Dad would come in occasionally and check on me but as the day progressed the stomach pains got worse. Eventually dad threw in the towel and called mom. They decided it was time to take me to the doctor’s office. My prognoses – appendicitis. That’s one day on the job with dad I’ll never forget.
It may not have always been a glamorous life but it has treated my parents well. I can’t speak for them, but hey, I got some great memories out of it and even learned a thing or two about finishing.
