Thank a Farmer Week: I am Thankful For My Grandpa

Next week we will all be sitting around enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with our families, but this week we are all giving thanks to a farmer we appreciate.  Two days ago, I thanked my father.  Today, I want to thank another special farmer in my life, my grandfather, Leland Rincker.

My grandparents on my dad’s side live very close to where I grew-up so I would consider myself extremely blessed to have had my grandparents play such a large role in my childhood.  My brother and I would go to my grandparents’ home after school and my grandparents made it to watch my brother and me show cattle at county fairs and participate basketball, volleyball and track.  Not everybody has an opportunity to have their grandparents play such a big part of their childhood.

My grandpa raises Simmental cattle and when I was very young he dabbled in the pig business.  He also grows corn, beans, alfalfa hay, and wheat.  Along with my grandma, Davadia Rincker, he plants a large garden and some sweet corn each year.  Throughout my youth, my favorite time of year was when I would help my grandparents shuck the sweet corn (while taking breaks to jump on the intertube from a tractor tire like a trampoline).  Before his morning chores, Grandpa would sometimes go pick pumpkin blossoms in the morning which my grandma would make for lunch (my favorite).  Grandpa always would come in for lunch, listen to the farm news and weather report, and then take his afternoon nap before the evening chores.

After all these years, Grandpa is still farming . . . and Grandma is still there by his side helping him everyday.  He will probably continue to farm and raise cattle while he is still physically able because he loves it so much.  He has worked hard for his entire life and living his dream of managing his own farm.

I feel very lucky to have had him and my grandmother as role models.  To a large extent, it is people like my grandpa that inspired me to go to law school because I believe in protecting the livelihoods of those who work their whole lives making their living off the land.