Danielle Eggemeyer
Bradford P. Nadziejko
English 102
September 23, 2010
To the Mill To the Mill To the Mill We Go
As the showers move out and the leaves begin to change the farmers know their work is about to begin. Fall is a time when people know that they have to keep an eye out for the farming equipment on the roads, if they live anywhere near the country. New trucks, trucks passed from generation to generation, and even semis; Percy elevator is a location in which those farmers maybe traveling to. As a child I would travel with my mom to Percy elevator to sell our grain. As we traveled down the road with the windows down and the wind blowing through our hair we would sing the famous “mill” song. The “mill” song is nothing special, it goes: “to the mill to the mill to the mill we go” very simple, but special between my mom and me. Percy Elevator is simply a building with grain bins, but the people that are associated with the mill give the building its character.
The door is always swinging at Percy Elevator with different farmers coming in and out. Some come to Percy Elevator for animal feed, fertilizer, and to sell their grain. During the spring months the fertilizing business is more active. As we go into the fall months, fertilizer is still a part of the business of the mill, but the selling of grain is rapid. Their business of feed is year round. For my fieldwork I am going to be looking at the people that keep the doors swinging along with the people that assist them with their needs. I am even going to talk to people within the community and paint a picture for my reader of the town Percy to give the research a more personal feeling. With being a farmer’s daughter I share similarities of the people that keep the door swinging at Percy Elevator, but I have my differences too. I am nineteen and the only nineteen year old that travels to Percy Elevator. My parents have worked hard the past forty years on the family farm, but I have only been a prospector of their work. Throughout my childhood my mom sheltered my sister and me from the farm work. This makes me different from the people at the mill, because they are all like my parents: farmers from many generations. The farmers that come to Percy are all different ages, but have farmed their whole life. Experience is written all over their faces.
As I prepare to observe at Percy Elevator I fear that their experience is going to come between us. I am a young individual which they are not going to take the time to talk to, because they have corn or soybeans in their fields waiting to be harvest. My concern is that they will not take the time to talk to me. If this is the case I do have a plan. Since my parents are farmers and have been traveling to Percy Elevator for years I feel that they will be able to provide me with the opportunity to talk to different farmers outside of the mill setting; this opportunity maybe going to the field and talking to the grain hauler while they wait for a load. I will get the information that I need no matter what.
Through my research I am searching to see how the Elevator affects the community of Percy, the history of the different farmers that keep the doors swinging at Percy, and the experience the employees have received while working at Percy Elevator. When I say the effects of the mill on the community I mean what exactly the mill does for the town of Percy. I want to find out why the farmers sell their grain to Percy and not the surrounding Elevators. Through the employees I hope to hear about the different types of individuals that come through the mill each and every day and the impact these different people have on their lives.
I am eager to see the mill from the other side of the spectrum, not just as a driver driving through with a load of grain. There is more to the mill than just hauling a load of grain, which I am interested to see what happens throughout the course of a day at the mill as well as what takes place within the walls of the facility itself. Through doing this work I think I will get an understanding of the different moods and looks of the people I come in contact with when I take a load of grain to the mill. If I understand the individuals that come to the mill I will know how to treat them.
As I start on this journey I look forward to learning more about the town of Percy more then knowing the fact that it is where the mill is located.
MORE TO COME…but I hit a dead end anyone know more I can add to it?
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