Welcome to our Missouri Century Farm blog!

Soybeans ready for harvest Fall 2011

Welcome to our Missouri Century Farm located in Barton County, Missouri.  The original 40 acre farm was purchased by my great-grandfather, Lewis Lisher, in 1901, qualifying it for the Century Farm designation sponsored by the University of Missouri Extension program.  Another 80 acres was purchased a few years later and these 120 acres were passed down to my grandmother and then to my father, Earl Hininger.  The original farmland and homestead have remained in our family since then.

 Corn field BEFORE the 2012 drought. Stalks were at least 8 ft tall.

Our family farmed this land, as well as several other acres in Barton County, growing row crops such as corn, beans and wheat and raising Hereford beef cattle and Duroc and Chester White hogs until 1984.  Since that time, the farmland has been rented for row crops.

My husband and I purchased the remaining family interest in the house and outbuildings that sit on 6.5 acres of mostly pasture in November 2011. The house and outbuildings had not had much maintenance  over the last 30 years, so most of them were in some state of disrepair when we purchased them.  Our current goal is to preserve all the buildings we can by repairing/painting metal roofs and repainting metal and wooden buildings so they can be used for equipment storage, etc.  The house also needs exterior painting and repair of windows, soffits, facia, etc.

This blog will serve as an online journal of farm memories and our progress as my 'city slicker' husband discovers and I rediscover the joys and challenges of rural life, on a part-time basis for now.



Hog barn in need of roof repair - November 2011