Farm Genes Double Dose

Scientist have argued for a long time whether behavior was inherited through genes or just developed through experience. When you hear my family talk, it is almost a given that behavior is inherited.

The girls talk about the "Being late to Church gene" (not inherited from me!). Then there is the "Exquisite taste bud gene" as opposed to the "No taste gene". Then of course there is the "Annoying gene". And so on and of course implied is that these traits go back to the parents.

I have wondered, if true, is there a Farm gene in our family? Grandpa MacEntire had a 50 acre farm in Heber..my parents had two farms, one in New York and one on Redwood Road and 59th South in Salt Lake City.

The farm in New York was upstate in the Catskills near Sidney. It was 135 acres with two sets of forests, two barns,a 19th century house with no plumbing or running water or electricity. Mom stayed up there with the four kids while Dad carried on surgery in New York City. I loved that place. A war was going on and meat and certain foods were rationed so we always had some livestock on the farm that we butchered before returning back to the city.

When we moved to Salt Lake, Dad bought a 20 acre farm out in Bennion. We had a milk cow, 200 chickens, pigs, a white faced steer, rabbits, ducks etc. I hated this farm because there were so many chores that interfered with my studying. When we bought a small farm in Michigan, my sister could not believe it.

The farm in Michigan was a working farm and various people lived on it and took care of the horses. Jeff and Tammy lived there as did Al and Paul with Rob renting a room as they all went to University of Michigan. Everyone saw action on the farm. We had to take care of things on weekends, repair fences, fix the horses, cut and bale a 20 acre hayfield, cut down fallen trees etc, and weed a huge garden and is was pure pyschotherapy for me.

Now Bryan bought that farm and is fixing it up.

Rick, who did not see much farm action as I remember it, also recently bought 35 acres in Northern California near the Sierras. It has a log house with and additon, sheds and buildings and a stream running through it. It does not have livestock but there are a lot of fallen trees. Rick has been fascinated with cutting wood and recently Bryan and Scotty went out there to help Rick with some farm chores.

The picture shows a days work in cutting and stacking wood. I noticed that it was as evenly and exactly cut as any woodpile I have seen in Austria. There is Rick's devotion to exactness in full display.

Now Al and Paul are moving out to Michigan and they are talking about finding a piece of land, a small farm maybe and living there

Maybe there is a "Farm Gene" and our kids have a double dose.