 Veronica, Andy, and Jessica Photo by Mike Shelton |
Without a doubt, the Dudgeon family is the biggest family that our farm project has worked with. Chuck and Rita have six children, bringing the total number in the household to eight. Michael (17), Danielle (15), Ann (13), Andy (11), and the twins Veronica and Jessica (both 7) have all been raised on the farm and all work hard to help with the daily chores that have to be done when you live on a farm. Together, the Dudgeons farm 400 acres. Their farm is very diversified, defying the modern trend to specialize in one food product. They not only grow corn, soybeans, and alfalfa in their fields, but they also raise pigs and cattle.
We have six children and our oldest son does the bulk of the work while Chuck is at work. He does a lot of field work and the two next girls do a lot in the barns in the hayfields in the straw, they work, we all work right along with him, but I'd say the two guys do the bulk of the work, the heavy machinery work. But that's pretty much what I think of when I hear family farm is that everybody works together, no matter how big or how small. You all just dig in and do it. You're all dirty and tired and hungry at the end of the day. You feel good, too, because you've accomplished something that means something. You feel very gratified. And there's no better place to raise children, in my opinion. Rita Dudgeon, Gambier |
