by David Middleton | May 30, 2022 | Farm Journal
“Do you know what time it is?” I ask Roger one day while we are switching a full hay wagon for an empty one during a break picking up bales. I have the tongue of the empty wagon in my hands as Roger is backing the tractor up to me.“I don’t know,” Roger says over his...
by David Middleton | Sep 2, 2012 | Farm Journal
“We’ve gotta have a system” Ike says with unusual vigor and exasperation. It is the middle of winter and we are in the middle of the barn in the middle of morning chores doing a middling of work. Time to meddle. “A system for what I ask suspiciously, not being...
by David Middleton | Sep 2, 2012 | Farm Journal
“One of us is tired this morning, but one of us is really tired,” I say to Roger as I walk into the milk barn at dawn. I find him standing in the manger leaning on a hayfork, oddly stationary for this time of the day when there is so much to do. “I know which one I...
by David Middleton | Sep 2, 2012 | Farm Journal
Roger Bromley is a dairy farmer, been so all his life. Roger’s father, Hugh, is a dairy farmer, been so all his life. They farm together, done so all of Roger’s life. Roger’s grandfather, Delos, was a dairy farmer, was so all his life. Roger’s great-grandfather,...
by David Middleton | Aug 18, 2012 | Farm Journal
Grass–growing grass, drying grass, baled grass, chopped grass–is the engine that powers the Bromley farm. A cow turns grass into milk and manure. A framer turns milk into money and turns manure into fertilizer to grow more grass. It is a simple yet elegant...
by David Middleton | Aug 18, 2012 | Farm Journal
“So is this what it was like when I first started coming here?” Roger straightens up between the two cows he is milking, pushes his cap back and starts to slowly shake his head. His eyes though are in full twittering delight and with great drama, between not so quiet...
