Books in Memoirs | Farm Reads

AND THAT'S THE WAY I REMEMBER IT!: Tales of Tractors, Shenanigans, and Illinois Farm Life

This book is over 70 short stories about 12 free-range kids raised on an Illinois farm. Join in on the adventures from back in the '50s and '60s. Most stories will bring a smile to your face and a few will bring tears to your eyes. It was too much for Mom and Dad to always keep an eye on us so every morning. Mom would pray to God to have his Guardian Angels watch over us, and it must have worked because all 12 of us are doing well now in 2025. Disclaimer: although a friend edited this book, some of you will find warts and errors, but this is the way this country boy is content to leave it. I don't think you will be disappointed.

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John Deere: He Gave the World the Steel Plow

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

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John Deere He Gave to the World the Steel Plow

Excerpt from John Deere: He Gave to the World the Steel Plow His hair was curly, his eyes steel-blue, his muscles powerful in the glow of the forge fire; and when he heard the screech of ungreased axles in worn hubs, signifying the passing of settlers' wagons, he let go the bellows stick, laid tongs aside, strode to the door of the shop, and, standing' bareheaded in April sunshine and a leather apron, cast a critical eye over the newest newcomers to the West of golden promise. Even to the experienced blacksmith who had seen many such, they looked a weary, road-worn lot. Five canvas-covered wagons; tired ox-teams, heads adroop; a pack of flea-bitten dogs; wilted women with small children in the drivers' seats; bedraggled fowls in crates; half- or full-grown boys and maids peering curiously through flaps of the canvas; a calf or two tied behind; gaunt men afoot alongside; patched harness; worn rawhide whips . . . About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Reflections of a Farm Boy: From Tractors to Aircraft

This is the story of our father, born in 1933 during the Great Depression on a Texas farm located in the southern fringes of the Dust Bowl. After receiving his B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering, he joined the US Air Force Aviation Cadet Corps and received his wings and commission as a Pilot and Navigator. He was trained to fly and navigate the largest US Air Force cargo plane, the C-124, across the Pacific. Stationed in Hawaii, his story describes in detail all the pitfalls of the crew working to keep the aircraft airborn while flying across the Pacific. During his three-year tour of duty, he flew to eleven different countries with twelve different cultures: Japan. Okinawa, Taiwan, Philippines, South Vietnam, Thailand, India, Momote (Admiralty Islands), Guam (Marianna Islands), Tongareva (Cook Islands), Kiritimati (LineIslands), Kwajalein Atoll (Marshall Islands) and Eniwetok Atoll (Marshall Islands). After release from active duty, Dad worked in the oil and gas industry in Midland, Texas, where he went to church with two future presidents of our country, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. After a short time in Midland, he elected to take over management of an irrigated farming operation from his father-in-law, where he became a cotton variety breeder and developed the earliest maturing cotton variety in the country. From there, he went back to the oil industry as an independent oil and gas well operator. Dad’s story is full of laughter, joy, disappointment, success, failure, excitement, love, and happiness.

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