Neighbors

Having once lived on a farm, when Bob and Joyce Stewart decided in 1987 to move back to Arkansas from Missouri, the decision to come back and go into the cattle business was not hard for them. His parents, John and Unia Stewart bought the family land near Timbo, Ark., in the mid-1940s.

"I had a good job as a battery engineer,” explained Chad Kelly at Davidson’s Quarter Horse ranch recently. “I worked for the company that supplies the batteries for NASA and other major government contracts. I have four degrees plus an honorary degree in engineering, but I really hated my job. I was inside all day and on the road 40 weeks a year. I put myself through college starting colts and shoeing horses and I realized after 10 years as an engineer, the horses were what I really wanted to do.”

You can take the boy off the farm but you can never completely get the farm out of the boy — even after almost 40 years.

Love is in the air when Feb. 14 rolls around at Tim Durman’s farm in Seneca, Mo. That’s the time Tim chooses to crossbreed his Black Maine-Anjou bulls with mostly Black Angus momma cows.

The 110 acres making up the home-place property where Mike Crow and his wife Robin live, has been in the family over 100 years. He grew up working alongside his dad, Willard Crow, and his mother Patsy.

Odell and Evelyn Ray of Berryville, Ark., have lived the city life, as well as the country life. Both of them agree they are blessed to have been able to return to their roots in Carroll County, Ark. Odell was raised very near their present farm, and Evelyn was raised on the edge of town in Berryville. “I went to Kansas City when I was about 20 years old. There were no public jobs around here. So, I left and got a job on the railroad. I worked there almost 40 years,” said Odell.

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.” This quote from Richard Bach instantly springs to mind when you meet the Cruikshank/Kilgore family. This is a family that has been forged in the fires of adversity and has come together through the healing bonds of love. The 300-acre farm was bought 16 years ago by Kim Cruikshank and her husband Marty Kilgore. They built two chicken houses and a dairy barn on the property after clearing pasture. Marty’s untimely death in 2002, in an accident, left Kim with their four children and a large broiler breeder and cattle operation to run. After years of running the farm and raising the kids, Kim met Cory Cruikshank and they were married in 2007. Kim’s daughter’s Kaylee and Alyssa are grown now, but 15-year-old Whitney and 11-year-old Levi are still at home. The love and pride that Cory feels for his stepchildren is palpable when he talks about their achievements and what hard workers that Whitney and Levi are.

Eric and Kathy Vimont moved their family from western Washington state to 68 acres between Mt. Vernon and Aurora, Mo., almost three years ago, and have had no regrets. Their goal was to establish a small, sustainable family farm that they could pass on to their son and daughter.  Thus was born “Pasture Nectar Farm," where the family offers high quality raw milk, grass-fed beef, pastured hen eggs and seasonal fresh vegetables — when Kathy has time to put in a garden.

What does owning a beautiful piece of land in the Ozark hills, raising cattle and hunting rattlesnakes have in common? Just ask Don Sisco and his wife Mildred or “Mil” of Christian County area near Chadwick, Mo. After a career of working at Hiland Dairy and also serving as the Chief of the Chadwick Volunteer Fire District and several years in the area of law enforcement Don now has the time to enjoy some farm life.

In the early 1950s, Charles and Norma Daniel settled in the Greenfield area with 80 acres each, nine or so cows and a team of horses.