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November 2007 Issue
Down on the Farm, God's presence is felt everywhere
| Even after a day's work, Belding farmer Ken Gasper will
often climb on his four-wheel drive ATV and survey his 950
acres. Amid the hilly fields, he can drink in the smell of
fresh soil, a sunset, dozens of deer and geese and the sheer
beauty of acres of farmland blanketed with the rich green
and amber mosaic of healthy crops. |
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God's presence is "everywhere" for a farmer,
says Jane Gasper, 60, Ken's wife of 35 years. "Somebody had
to put all this together," agrees Ken, 58, who sees God's
hand in the life cycles of farming, whether watching crops
grow, the birth of a calf or the death of a cow. "You're working
with life all the time." The farming way of life, with its
uncertainties, fosters a deep dependence on God - for rain,
or just to make it to the other side of a down year.
"We're always praying for something and then
we're always giving thanks," says Jane. The Gaspers, together
with their son Aaron, run a fifth-generation dairy farm. Their
farm is about 25 minutes outside of Grand Rapids, but seems
a world away as you go east on M-21's two-way highway to the
dirt road that leads to their inviting farmhouse.
A turn-of-the- century farm
The farm, named Lew-Max Holsteins after Ken's
parents, Lewis and Maxine, has been in the family since 1894.
Ken's great- grandmother, Maggie, purchased the then 60-acre
farm for $1,910. After her husband died in his 40s, Maggie
continued to run the operation and expanded it while raising
her children. In 1926, Ken's grandfather, Ted, took over the
farm. His parents, Lewis and Maxine, took the reins in the
late 1940s.
As a young man, Ken drove a milk truck for
a couple of years, but the pull of the land brought him back
to farming and he formed a partnership with his parents in
the early 1970s. "It's something you have in your blood,"
explains Ken, who has an associate's degree in agriculture
from Michigan State University. "It's just the enjoyment of
watching the crops grow and watching the cattle mature." Before
Ken formed a partnership with his parents, the farm had grown
to 950 acres, but had just 60 cows, along with chickens, hogs
and cash crops. To keep up with the times and technology,
they decided to convert the farm to a strictly dairy operation.
The Gaspers continue to grow crops - corn,
soybeans, alfalfa and wheat. Most of the crops are processed
for cattle feed using special equipment, while the wheat is
a cash crop. They now have 450 cows, 400 of which are giving
milk at any time. The cows produce 34,000 pounds of milk each
day. In grocerystore terms, that's 3,860 gallons. Some of
the milk is sold under the Country Fresh label, but most of
it goes to an area manufacturer of the cheese you'll find
on frozen pizzas. Ken maintains the farm's roughly $500,000's
worth of machinery and oversees the crop program; Aaron works
with the cattle and Jane takes care of the business side,
handling the finances and payroll for the farm's 13 employees.
Jane also maintains a garden and does canning throughout the
year. On a typical day, Ken and Aaron start work anywhere
from 6 to 8 a.m. - though sometimes they may start as early
as 3 a.m. to get the milking going. They work until about
6 p.m. each day. Theirs is a high-tech operation. In the milking
parlor, for example, each cow wears a wireless pedometer allowing
the Gaspers to track their activity levels. Computer technology
also measures their milk output. The Gaspers keep up with
research to make sure that the cows are getting the best possible
nutrition in their feed rations, because that directly affects
milk production.
"It's more than just throwing some feed in
front of a cow," says Ken, who enjoys his role as sometimes
"nutritionist" and other times "veterinarian" for the cattle.
He estimates that eight to 10 calves are born each week on
his farm.
God 'in his back pocket'
As hard as the Gaspers work to make their
farm efficient and productive, there's no controlling the
amount of rain that falls or crop prices. This year, for example,
an unusually dry summer meant a decrease in corn yield, which
means the Gaspers will have to pay more to supplement with
purchased feed for their cattle this winter. The Gaspers rely
on their faith and support one another as they face the uncertainties
of farming and the inevitable ups and downs.
"You depend so much on rain, moisture, the
weather," says Ken, recalling that a parish priest once said
that, "Farmers are the closest to God. If something breaks
or it doesn't rain, they can't call somebody and say, 'give
me two inches of rain.'" Jane, who grew up on a small farm
in Lake Odessa, was impressed by Ken's faith and positive
attitude when they met more than 35 years ago. She remembers
him calling her in February. "By November he'd asked me to
marry him," she recalls. "I was having so much fun dating
him I didn't dare say no." When they married, Jane recalled,
Ken assured her that, "He had God in his back pocket." He's
had to reach into that back pocket a number of times in the
last 35 years. An optimist with a strong sense of humor, Ken
places his trust in God.
"I've always said that if you have faith,
he will provide," says Ken. "The bins will be full, the silos
will be full, the cattle will be fed." Even when the rains
don't come, or other challenges arise, Ken believes there
is a reason - and he knows there is nothing he can do about
it. He is fond of the saying, "You just keep going 'til it
rains." Says Jane, "It's a constant looking to your faith
to keep your head above water. There are some tough times.
It's always faith that holds it together." That trust has
been evident in the Gaspers' lives as they faced those tough
times. Their worst year was 1978, when drought stressed the
crops, nearly wiping them out. They wondered how they would
make ends meet. "We prayed a lot," Ken says simply when asked
how they got through it. The difficult times are off-set by
the sheer joy in farming and an awareness of God's presence
that is deepened by the beauty all around them. Never is that
more evident than during planting and harvest time. "It's
enjoyable having an 18- hour day," says Ken. "You smell the
soil; you see that seed germinating."
The Gaspers have instilled their faith and
love of the land in their son and three daughters, all of
whom are college graduates. Farming, said Jane, "has been
a good way to raise the kids. All four have a really good
work ethic." Son Aaron "has loved nothing but farming since
birth," and his two small boys already are following in his
footsteps, says Jane. A close family, the Gaspers are proud
grandparents to five grandchildren under the age of three.
A faith deeply rooted
The Gaspers belong to St. Mary Catholic Parish
in Miriam (near Belding). Ken has committed the Mass schedules
of area churches to memory, always attending somewhere should
the demands of the farm put an unexpected wrench in his Sunday.
They passed that faith along to their children, sending them
to St. Joseph Catholic School in Belding. When they moved
on to public high school, their children remained active in
religious education and continued to participate in Mass as
lectors and in other leadership roles. Father Fred Brucker,
pastor of St. Mary and St. Joseph, blessed the Gaspers' new
barn and crops this past summer. He brings Communion every
first Friday to Ken's parents. Farmers' dependence on nature
fosters a deep sense of faith, says Father Brucker.
"Their livelihood literally sinks or swims
on the weather. So they're very much dependent on that. There's
a great sense of the wholeness of life in farm people, because
they know what they have today they may not have tomorrow."
Being a pastor to the Gaspers and other farm families has
been enriching for Father Brucker, a priest for 31 years.
Their faith, like their livelihoods, has deep roots. "There's
such a strength and depth to faith. Part of it might be because
of the uncertainty of life," says Father Brucker. He noted
that the farmers he knows are thankful for what they have
and trust that God will provide. "I find my own faith strengthened
by theirs." He adds that it's never a challenge for him to
give a pro-life sermon, because life abounds in these parts.
"You can't go out there and see those acres of corn … my heaven's
sakes, how could anybody not believe in God - it's so beautiful,"
says Father Brucker. "It's the miracle of life."
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