By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
Sean Timm’s grandfather, Leland, really did walk from school to the farm every day during the horse and buggy days. It was a small dairy farm that his parents (Sean’s great-grandparents), Henry and Lena Timm, started on County Road A outside of Plainfield, a distance most kids couldn’t fathom walking today.
Unfortunately, Henry passed away at an early age, and Lena raised their kids in town while renting out the farm. “Once Grandpa Leland graduated from 8th grade, he told his mom that he wanted to go back to farming because the people on the farm weren’t taking care of it the way he wanted,” Sean says.
“My father, Nathan, had hay fever issues, so Grandma and Grandpa didn’t expand the farm much,” Sean explains. “My dad worked for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, in Madison, and Mom taught in the local school.”
“My introduction to farming was coming up to visit Grandma and Grandpa,” he adds. “My dad would help raise crops, and Grandma and Grandpa milked cows until they were 77 years old, selling milk to the Wild Rose Creamery for cheese and butter.”
“When they finally quit milking, they were down to seven cows and probably 20 head of cattle total in the barn,” Sean relates.
