auction day

       an old farmer in our area passed about five years ago , and though i had never met him personally i felt as if i had always knew him in some way. his farm was highly visible from the state route that ran through his land. many years i traveled the road in front of his house. he ran a mushroom farm and had cattle and could always be seen on tractor as he traveled to and fro from the fields. eventually after more than fifty years of farming he succumbed to a stroke leaving his affairs to his wife, it is said he never took a vacation in his life.

      not knowing how his affairs were. it all seemed to transition smoothly. and the first thing was the farm sale. this was a big equipment auction as this guy had quite a bit of equipment to sell, his wife selling out as she had no use for the equipment . friends and neighbors and equipment dealers were all heading to this farm sale  as it was guaranteed to be a big one. 

      as for myself it was something i looked forward to with apprehension as it was going to be another beginning of the end i have seen so much of lately.as it seems so many of these farms are being sold in  five acre lots to wannabe farmers . this stretches our resources and requires significant upgrading of facilities to be paid for in loss of tillable land and in taxes as property values increase. these all add up to total lack of farming due to restrictions. some day we will be taking these farms back to feed the world. so it is always more than an auction to me. 

     as i arrived  and drove off to the cornfield on the opposite side of the road away from the farm and parked in the stubble . i left the truck and began walking as others to the barn across the road about a half mile away,  but clearly visible. people could be seen milling around barn . a hot food trailer was set up and it looked as if check in for the auction was in the garage with a sign stating that, pointing its way in. it was a slight grade uphill and one could notice a lot of things like the house was a dark brick fairly modern and barn was a curved arc barn with classic lines. all well maintained. the mushroom barn had been taken down years ago. i could remember a fork lift to lift trays of mushroom spawn in and out of barn. i can still see him at the intersection of the state highway and township rd i was going to cross sitting high on his tractor and would wave as i went buy. i waved at him not that i knew him but more out of camaraderie as one would for a fellow farmer. 

      i crossed the highway , and looked toward the house and straightened and embraced the long walk ahead and observed the house again as i thought i saw movement. and i did in the dog house adjacent to the house the farmers dog had looked up in my direction . i could see him in his dog house and he appeared to look at me . i kept getting closer to the end of the lane and people were starting to look at equipment to be sold mostly small stuff laid in the grass adjacent to the lane . i looked toward the dog house and scanned the area for the dog who appeared to be on the move. i kept working my way up the lane toward the house noticing a couple of folks i knew,. again i scanned the area for the dog who apparently had found what he was looking for as strangers stopped the dog to pet him . it appeared as though he was headed out the lane. and was walking towards me though. the dog soon left the people who were petting him and came again towards me and avoiding a couple of other people and in an instant just walked up to me with his eyes shining. 

       i said  "  how you doing old boy" . he wagged his tail and seem to be content ,  i pet him and wondered why me . i came up with some explanations such as i looked like the old farmer as he seemed to notice me as i came in from that field across the street as he saw the old farmer do many times. maybe the dogs eyes aren't what they used to be. anyone over fifty can attest to that. maybe we had a psychic connection, as i would like to think it was , but in the end it was it what it was a touching moment of me and that dog. it was as if what he was seeing wasn't real , and that he wasn't helpless to stop them from taking the old guys life away and that i had come to stop it. all i could do was offer him soft words and a warm heart to help him through his hurt . i pet and comforted him as people watched . some guy said to me he "walked right up to you".in amazement .

    the old dog allowed me to pet him awhile and then he returned in the direction of the house. he began  walking up the road and past the swell of people crowding around the auctioneer and past others wanting to pet him and curled up inside of his box laying his head down . no longer caring and maybe knowing it was over.

      the old tractor i saw the farmer on when waving at me was now being sold and in some way a piece of the old guy went with it. he tinkered on it , he rubbed its long classic lines to shed the dust off of it. and now it was being loaded on to a trailer and other equipment being loaded up with it.. piece by piece the old farmers spirit went out the lane.  the end of an era and uncertainty of beginning a new one. so far it is till a farm.