Neighbors

The Brooks family owns a farm in Webster County near Marshfield, Mo. They also own and operate Brooks Gas Company.

Jack Dill operates Alva Dill and Sons dairy farm near Conway, Mo., in Dallas County. Jack said, “It’s a family partnership.” Alva Dill is his father. Also included in the partnership is Jack’s son, Jordan, his brother, Jerry, and Jerry’s son, Jarrod. Five families are working together and making a living on the farm. Jack is quick to point out that while he is the manager, everyone has an equal say in decision-making.

Russ and Marla Jones are partners with Marla’s parents Jerry and Shirley Green in a diverse, small acreage farming operation in Muldrow, Okla. The farm includes dairy goats, Boer goats, chickens, St. Croix hair sheep and Jersey cows that supply area residents with milk, milk products and meat. Other family members are also involved causing Russ to comment, “This is as communal as you can be in the United States without raising eyebrows. We all work together.”

Gene and Dianna Buffington live on a 530-acre ranch in Watts, Okla., on land that once belonged to Gene’s parents. They also have 30 acres in Siloam Springs, Ark., that is Dianna’s.

David and Rita Stratton’s farm is nestled in the woods and hills of Cookson, Okla. They are currently remodeling David’s boyhood home with the intention of turning it into a bed and breakfast and then building themselves a smaller home nearby.

"It’s all I’ve ever known,” shrugged Geno Middleton. “Raising, breaking and training horses has been in my blood. I’m the third generation to do this,” he explained of Geno Middleton Stables north of West Plains, Mo., in Howell County.

Growing up in Lockwood, Mo., about a mile from his current farmstead, Charles Obert was deeply frustrated by his father’s refusal to buy exotic animals. Instead his father ran a dairy and raised chickens and hogs for personal use.

Greg Hoelscher has lived on a 40 acre farm near Humansville, Mo., in Polk County since 1992. He rents another 100 acres.

Roy and Beth Kibbe from near Mulberry, Ark., have taken full advantage of the second chances they’ve been given. Today, they raise around a dozen Santa Gertrudis and Black Angus cross cattle on 15 acres in eastern Crawford County, but six years ago, Roy’s diagnosis of cancer put everything else on hold.

Tucked into the hills outside Lincoln, Ark., right near the Oklahoma border is Salem Springs Stables, home to Michael and Mary Pinkerton and their three children: Mary Kathryn Bryant age 17, Jared Bryant age 14, and Ava age 5. The homestead is 250 acres with a large valley pasture below the house nudging a gentle creek up against the steep hill that provides the backdrop for the tranquil view.