Kyle Dreier - Mr. Critical

My grandfather’s brother is still in the business. He farms the original Dreier farm in Central Kansas. One late afternoon my dad and I took the boys to get a small taste of farm life.

My uncle talks of using GPS to steer tractors while we look at one of his huge tractors then we venture over to the side of the barn to see the remnants of an innovative device he and my grandfather built 60 years ago.

Blake, Jacob and Matthew where having more fun than if we’d let them loose in a Toys-R-Us. I was, too. The history. The visuals. The open air. But, I admit, I’m pretty ignorant to the hard work it takes to run a farm.

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Only 30k miles. Original tires. Still in service.

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Old equipment my grandfather and Nelson built.

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“There’s Frank!” the harvester.
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A lesson in separating wheat.

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Barrel full of things.

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Ready for the ascent.

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My dad and Nelson. Dad is 6′3″. Those are big tires!

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$1,200 to fill ‘er up.

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So, now I sit here and wonder how to engage my own desire and the curiosity of my boys like that day at the farm from here in a subdivision with 2,200 homes on one quarter of the land that my great-uncle farms.

-Kyle