People need real challenges in life, especially young people; they need to learn to press on even when the going is extremely difficult.

We as parents need to get into the projects with our kids and help them succeed when they get in over their heads. We need achievers, overcomers, not quitters and failures.

I’ve seen in life, as boys grow into manhood, they will oftentimes take on something extremely difficult, if not almost impossible, to do. It takes a ton of determination along with a lot of hard work and sweat to do it, and then the outcome can be very questionable. But if they succeed, it really builds character and a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Such is what happened here this spring with my son, Joshua. I spent a number of days out in the fields getting the crops planted, and he stayed around the buildings doing the chores and then whatever else he wanted to do. Over the years, I’ve given him the liberty to choose work he wants to do on the farm here – without me telling him exactly what to do always.

He’s been very responsible in this and has, on more than one occasion, surprised and blessed me in the extra things he’s done here all on his own.

But this last spring, after a very long day out in the field, I came home and half-moaned when he told me what he had done. We have a small field just west of our building site with some big trees on the south side of it. Along that edge, there had been two very large trees that stuck out into the field.

About 10 years ago, one, a huge elm tree, died of Dutch elm disease, so I cut it down for firewood. Later on, I cut the large oak tree down too. I had an excavator lined up to do a little bit of work on the farm, so I planned on having him grub out those two stumps, which would make my little field a lot nicer to work.

Well, my excavator never showed up, so the two very large tree stumps stayed on the edge of the field. Over the years, as the kids and I would walk by them, we would comment how nice it would be if those stumps were out. On this particular spring day, Joshua went to grubbing out the elm tree stump the old-fashioned way – with a shovel, a big iron bar and an axe.

When I got home that night, and Joanne and Joshua told me what he had done, I groaned. I said, “Not that elm tree stump! Those are the worst ones to grub out because of all of their roots. A backhoe would have a tough time grubbing that one out.” Well, Joshua thought he could get it, though.

I went up and looked at his project and was amazed at what he had done. He had a trench dug 3 feet deep all the way around the stump. He had cut all the roots off he could and even dug out a bunch of shale rock. He was smiling and happy over what he had done; I just shook my head in amazement over how hard he had worked.

A couple days later, we took one of our big diesel tractors up there along with two log chains, which we wrapped around the stump and hooked up to the tractor. I tried several times to pull it with our tractor, but it wouldn’t budge an inch. I told him, “I feel bad about this; I know you put a lot of work into this, but I don’t see how we can get this.”

His face was really fallen, but he said, “OK.” He went to start the evening chores, and I felt bad about it because he had really put all his heart into it. So I got thinking and came up with an idea. What if I shoveled under one side of the stump and then put a hydraulic jack under it and jacked? I can jack heavy tractors up with them, so why not a tree stump?

I got the hole dug and the jack under it perfectly, with a heavy plank under the jack and a heavy iron plate on top of it. And then I jacked until I couldn’t jack any more. The stump didn’t move at all. Joshua came up to see what I was up to and thought I had an excellent idea. It’s hard to quit when you both get “Moby Dick fever.” But the problem was: Moby Dick wasn’t giving an inch.

I had to quit for the day on it but decided to leave the jack under it with the tons of pressure on it. Although, I must admit, I didn’t think it would do much good. The next morning, after milking, Joshua went back up there and was able to give the jack handle one more pump.

Later that day, when we went back up there, to our amazement, Joshua started pumping the jack up. We could start to hear tree roots under the stump starting to break. We were all smiles over this. Taking our diesel tractor back up there, after a few pulls on it, it broke loose and came out. We were thrilled at this, especially Joshua.

After this, we tackled the big oak tree stump and got it out too. Fortunately, that one came easier than the elm.

I’m sure Joshua will remember those two stumps the rest of his life and the tremendous sense of accomplishment he experienced. People need real challenges in life, especially young people; they need to learn to press on even when the going is extremely difficult.

We as parents need to get into the projects with our kids and help them succeed when they get in over their heads. We need achievers, overcomers, not quitters and failures. We, as parents, need to set the example for them and then, as they follow it, they will be blessed. I know Joshua surely is; it isn’t every day you conquer Moby Dick.  

PHOTO: Joshua by his tree stump. Courtesy photo.

Tom Heck, his wife, Joanne, and their two children own and operate a 35-cow dairy farm in Wisconsin. Contact him at Life on the Family Farm or order his book at Tom Heck Farm.