McNabb Way of life

Bannock County Farmers John and Karen McNab share some insights about their lifestyle. My great grandfather came in 1910 and homesteaded here and the early days they farmed with horses and then machinery came around and then my father passed away earlier this year. We miss him all summer long. I go around and doing the work and looking at the fields and I think of him and oftentimes I'm thinking, Boy, I wish I could ask him this question or that question. It's hard to get going as a young person in farming because of the cost, but it's possible. Like so many other ways of life, you start out from the bottom. You'd be willing to do whatever it is to do the cleanup work, do the chores. You start out with a little bit of equipment operation and learn how to repair it, and you just stick with it. And eventually opportunities can come. But it requires a lot of commitment and desire to be there. There are definitely things in life financially are probably more appealing to people, but the way of life on a farm and the opportunity to work together and suffer the hard times and enjoy the good times together, there are great experiences and a great place to raise a family. You know, I hope that our future generations will feel a responsibility to preserve the way of life, and we need to save and preserve our farmlands in this country. And it's a big concern of losing good farm ground that especially that with irrigation. And we need to be proactive about taking care of farming in the future.