Farm Rescue - 05/23/2008 10:00 PM

05/23/2008

Farm Rescue

It seems there's less and less time these days to get everything done, but some still manage to find enough time to come from all over the county and lend a hand.

Of all the lessons to learn in life, many can come from the farm.

"They can read it in a book somewhere but to actually see it and understand it is a whole different thing," Jack Limke said.

Limke comes to the area from Kentucky and makes his rounds in one field after the other. Along with his wife and daughters, they learn daily lessons from the farm, some not always desired.

"Part of his arm was severed just below the elbow. He was caught on a chain of some sort on the baler," Limke said.

"Fires to broken legs, caught in power take offs," Bill Gross said.

"His leg was caught in a power take off as he was grinding feed," Limke said.

And that's why Limke, an airline captain from the south, is behind the wheel of a tractor in South Dakota.

He makes his rounds through field after field, free of charge for farmers who, for one reason or another, would have trouble finishing the work on their own.

"We want to help as many farm families that have had major injuries or illnesses as possible," Gross said.

It's all through a non-profit organization called Farm Rescue. Bill Gross founded it in 2006.

"It's not a financial bailout or handout. It's for a family that's had a major injury or illness occur that we come in and do the planting or harvesting so they can maintain their livelihood and continue on," Gross said.

The money to run the non-profit comes from sponsors and donors. In its first year Farm Rescue helped ten farmers; last year it was 21. By the end of '08 it's looking like that number will be higher than 30.

"I just want to thank Farm Rescue. I appreciate everything that they're doing," Stephanie Wicks said.

It was no more than three and a half months ago that Wicks was in the hospital, having lost all feeling below her chest. Her husband Terry was with her during most of her five-week hospital stay and through her slow recovery ever since.

"This wasn't my main concern I guess, the farm," Terry Wicks said.

So in came the Limke's and the rest of the volunteers. As is the case at every other farm, their time here comes without pay, not in money anyway.

"My girls have been able to watch a family separate the calves from the cows and wean the calves and play with a lot of cattle," Jack Limke said.

"Went to another farm and had geese and turkeys, everything, so it's not something we have in the suburbs of Louisville, KY," Genita Limke said.

Granted the circumstances that bring them to the north, they wouldn't wish on anyone. The lessons they learn while here, they wouldn't give up for anything.

"This is my third year now and I plan on doing it until, 'till whenever, 'till I can't do it I guess," Jack Limke said.

Farm Rescue serves farmers in the Dakotas, along with parts of western Minnesota and eastern Montana.