By Richard Shank
Shank’s Scoop
A 90-degree March-day seemed like a good time to travel north to check out the Shank farm near New Cambria in Saline County where I spent my formative years.
First I required a stop at the Mid America Farm Expo in Salina to attend a Bankers Appreciation luncheon at what I remember as the old Saline County Fairgrounds. The luncheon provided an opportunity to see familiar faces from the past, including those hearty souls who till the fertile farmland in Saline County and raise livestock to feed the world.
With tariff wars and an increase in fertilizer prices, there wasn’t a lot to celebrate this day, but all were in good spirits. And farm shows are great places to stock up on free caps, pens and pads to last until the next show in March 2027.
The road leading to the farm seemed dustier than usual due in part to excessive wind and above-average temperatures, combined with a lack of moisture. Still, as one farmer told me, “A wheat crop has nine lives and we have four to go before the June harvest.”
Our residency at the farm is part-time so we discontinued mail service more than 20 years ago, but the mailbox remains. I noted the flag on the mailbox was upright, which caught my attention. Inside the box was a thank you note from a company in Hutchinson that recently delivered a new building to the farm. Kudos to the Post Office for getting the mail delivered.
The farm seemed peaceful, almost too quiet, but why wouldn’t it be, as there were no longer four children running around the place making noise.
A recent visitor to the farm pointed out this place is not a working farm, presumably because Shanks no longer farm the spread. Bill Came Jr. a farmer from Salina, farms the Shank land and thousands of acres of land for others.
Still, I told the visitor there is plenty of work that happens on the 3.5-acre farmstead including mowing, weed eating, and picking up limbs from the 70 trees still standing on the farm. The previous owner to Shanks had a passion for trees and must have planted new ones every week.
Security cameras photograph everything that happens on the farm and night photos show a long list of animals walking around in the dark including coyotes, deer, squirrels, rabbits, and raccoons. Birds who fly in the path of the cameras activate a photograph. Some animals walk in front of the cameras as if to pose for a picture.
Then it’s always good to see the Saline County Sheriff’s office patrolling the neighborhood.
My folks purchased the property in 1962, so this year marks 64 years of family ownership.
A pair of walnut trees believed to have been planted in the late 1800s greet visitors at the entrance to the farm. When a crew of county workers were widening ditches last year to create better drainage, they considered removing the trees. The current owner convinced the crew otherwise and requested no removal of those trees as they are part of the family, so they remain to this day.
For this landowner, spring creates a desire to undertake an improvement project, and this year is no exception.
Following the death of the farm’s longtime neighbor Walt Harris in 2023, I acquired his 1970 Chevy pickup truck. The old pickup hadn’t been driven in years, but after hauling it to Gordine Auto Service in Salina, it was up and running like new again.
This past week, I took a leap of faith and drove the old Chevy down I-35 and Highway 61 to Hutchinson for body work and a spray-on bedliner. Powered by a 350 V-8 engine, the truck sailed down the highways guzzling more gas each mile, but we made it.
The only problem with restoring an old pickup is that one becomes hesitant to use it out of fear of causing a scratch.
Up the road from the farm in the tiny town of Niles, a retired farmer is completing the final touches to painting a John Deere Model 70 tractor. This old tractor was acquired in 2023 from a family friend and looks like it could still do a day’s work. Perhaps the only work it will do now might be a drive around the neighborhood. Ear plugs are recommended as the continuous put-put sounds caused by the John Deere can ruin one’s hearing and the repetitive sounds can be irritating.
In the 1930s, writer Tom Wolfe penned a phrase, “You can’t go home again,” signifying you cannot return to the past, your childhood or a place you used to live, because you and that place have changed.
Perhaps, there are exceptions to everything, and on this spring day I experienced it while visiting the farm of my origin.
Richard Shank is a retired AT&T manager and external representative for Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. He can be reached at shankr@prodigy.net or by calling 620-664-1517.