WildManofBuffalo - 11/19/2024 17:09 Mine are 1) Parked the plow/tillage equipment and went to minimum/notill. Dad loved plowing and I hated watching soil blowing away. I remember a couple open winters where the soil blew all winter long and ditches were level full with topsoil by spring. I was told every single fall after harvest was finished that nothing would grow next spring if the fields weren't completely black. Yields have consistently increased every year since I stopped doing heavy tillage. He'd never admit until the day he died that plowing was the wrong thing to do. 2) Talked with people and tried to be involved with the community/church. I'd help with chores in the morning before school and on summer vacation/weekends. Every single day we'd drive by the feed store and my dad would turn up his nose and ridicule the guys sitting around drinking coffee and talking because they weren't out working. When I was old enough to drive I'd stop by and visit with the other farmers a couple times a week before school. Made some lifelong friends and got my first land leases out of that feed store. Some of those leases turned into purchase agreements a few years later. I caught holy hell from my dad every single time I stopped to talk but I never would have had any success without making some connections. To my dad, everyone was an enemy and he never had a good word to say about anyone. We had a few squabbles about other things over the years but those are two that caused the worst fights.