Tag: family

Handsome African American farmer in his fifties with short graying hair and a neat gray beard standing in a peanut field in Alabama at golden hour

For 40 Years I Ran My Family’s Farm and Signed Every Contract. My Granddaughter Was the First Person to Find Out I Couldn’t Read Any of Them

Posted on by

I have farmed four hundred acres of peanuts in Alabama since I was fourteen. I’ve signed loans, leases and crop insurance policies. I’ve sat on the board of the local co-op. And nobody knew that I couldn’t read a single word, until my granddaughter handed me a letter and asked me to read it out loud.

Continue reading
Handsome Texas cattle auctioneer in his mid fifties with silver hair, a trimmed silver mustache and gray eyes wearing a white cowboy hat and a pressed shirt in front of the historic Fort Worth Stockyards at golden hour

I’ve Called Cattle Auctions in Fort Worth for 30 Years. Last Spring I Caught a Bidder Cheating, and When I Saw Who It Was, I Wished I’d Never Looked Up

Posted on by

An auctioneer sees everything from the block. Every nod, every finger, every ear tug that means a bid. Last spring at the Fort Worth Stockyards, I saw a man bidding against his own cattle to run up the price on an old widow who didn’t know any better. He was my sister’s husband.

Continue reading
Handsome farmer in his early fifties with dark hair gone gray at the temples, a trimmed gray beard and brown eyes leaning against a pickup truck outside a prison gate in Missouri at golden hour

My Little Brother Walked Out of Prison After 18 Years. I Was the Only One Waiting. He Had $40, a Paper Bag and 30 Days to Find a Job or Go Back

Posted on by

He went in when he was twenty-two. He came out when he was forty. The world had changed, our parents were gone, and his parole officer gave him thirty days to find a job and a permanent address. Nobody in our town would hire him. So I did the only thing I could think of: I put him to work on my farm and dared the town to say something.

Continue reading