Several Truckloads of Generativity

Here's a story of Minnesota neighboring — the kind of good news story that makes my heart swell with gratitude, as the original Featherstone Farmer.

To get the full impact of this, you need a bit of backstory. So please bear with me.

When Jenni and I moved to the area and opened our first checking account at the bank in Rushford in 1994, across the street were the offices of the Tri-County Record, a weekly local newspaper published by Myron and Darlene Schober.

In the years that followed, I became well acquainted with Myron, Ron Witt, and others at the Record. They wrote multiple articles on Featherstone Farm before, during, and after our move to Rushford following the flood of 2007. I always found Myron to be curious, thoughtful, and deeply supportive of independent local businesses like ours. His commitment to collecting and reporting the news of the area was unmatched; the Record was a community cornerstone for decades, as these testimonials demonstrate.

Myron passed away in 2014, a year after he and Darlene sold the paper to another local publisher (it eventually merged with the Fillmore County Journal in 2020). But around that very time, members of the Trinity/First Congregational Church began an outreach effort to Featherstone Farm's immigrant employees. Darlene was among the stalwarts of that group. They hosted countless picnics, open houses, clothing drives, and meals for FF people — we all have such fond memories of these events (they continue to this day!). Nathan in particular recalls Darlene, by this time in her late 70s, throwing herself with gusto into a watermelon-eating contest!

Darlene passed away last September. And then, earlier this month, Nathan received a call from the Schobers' son Mark, who was in town cleaning out his parents' house. When I visited the farm Friday morning, Nathan and Abby, Molly and Kai were all away with farm trucks "clearing out a house" (Nicole's report to me). It was only after they returned that I heard the full story: following his parents' wishes, Mark had offered Featherstone employees nearly the entire household of furniture, kitchen equipment, and garden tools — enough to fill several truckloads!

And here, the story gets even better.

Featherstone has long employed Ofelia (name shortened for privacy), a Mexican-born immigrant who came here legally about 12 years ago with her husband and three young sons. Ofelia has had something of a roller-coaster ride since then, moving at least twice after leaving farm employment around 2022. Featherstone was a solid grounding for her family through all of it, however — Ofelia knew she would always be welcomed back to work if she wanted. Field Manager Abby Benson, in particular, was a huge friend and advocate for the family through all the ups and downs.

In late February, with a great deal of Abby's technical help, Ofelia and her husband purchased a house of their own in Rushford!! I spoke with her 90 minutes after she signed the closing documents; they would be using FF vehicles to move what furniture they had to the new place, though she acknowledged that some of them might be sleeping on carpets for a time.

Well, you can see where this is going. Last Friday, the four FF staff helped Ofelia move loads of furniture from Myron and Darlene Schober's place into their new home. As Mark told me on the phone that afternoon, "those beds are gonna get used tonight!" (emphasis Mark's)

Generativity is a wonderful, life-affirming thing; passing along not just one's worldly goods, but one's spirit, even from beyond the veil. All of us at Featherstone Farm — ¡todo el mundo! — are incredibly grateful to Myron and Darlene, and to Mark and David Schober, for these remarkable acts of neighboring. Thank you!

- Jack

The Schober family