Chapter 25 - Leaving the Nest

Mike has one semester left until he earns his degree in agribusiness.

Marie is on her last year of Ag Science.

My brother Danny is awful proud of his kids and anxious to see where they land after college.

The plan all along was for Mike to earn his degree and come home to start work here on the farm.

But, this past Sunday Mike called (he called because my brother refuses to Skype and when asked to text he just gives you a funny look) to tell his Dad about an opportunity to learn commodity trading on the floor of the Mercantile Exchange in Chicago for six months after graduation.

It's graduate level experience for the rest of his life.

As much as the family was looking forward to and counting on the extra set of hands and fresh education to get our dairy plan underway; we all know that this extra opportunity is too good for Mike to pass up.

I think my brother is worried that after living in the big city how is he going to keep Mike down on the farm?

Meanwhile, Marie is doing undergrad research in dairy biology that is already changing the way we operate back here.

Thanks to some of the studies she and other students have completed at U.W. we made changes to the type of feed and how we feed the herd.

Personally, I don't know if we'll be able to keep her in the Valley for too long once school is over.  I am hoping that whatever Marie decides to do that she'll continue as an unpaid consultant for the family farm.

That's the thing about kids leaving the nest - it's up to the baby birds, not the flapping parents to decide where to land.

In the case of my niece and nephew both have learned well and are prepared to succeed anyplace in the world while never forgetting where they grew up or the values they hold dear.

In that sense, they never leave home.

Catch up on the series here.