Faith, perseverance and a rich farming history run deep with Phil and Renee Porterfield, who farm 216 acres between Brodhead and Albany. Phil is the fifth generation of his family to farm this land, dating back to 1853.
Each morning after breakfast, the Porterfields sit at their kitchen table and read aloud from the Bible. On a recent morning, Phil recited a verse from Isaiah 46: "Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."
Following the reading and a prayer, Phil dresses his prosthetic leg before attaching it to his body. He changes his jeans and heads out to start the morning chores.
The days are long and the work is not easy, but Phil and Renee, both 69, are still able to do the work. Phil lost his right leg in January 1994 after slipping into two augers while working to fix a stuck silo unloader 45-feet high. It took medics two hours to lower Phil from the silo, and he lost five pints of blood from his injury. Besides his amputated leg, he has trouble with his shoulder and arthritis, "but what farmer doesn't?" Renee jokes.
Renee has issues with bulging disks in her neck, a condition that forced her to slow down last year. Unable to keep up the pace she once did, Renee has learned to take breaks. She is also in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. She's still coming to terms with this. Diagnosed in 2010, Renee has only recently felt comfortable saying the word "Parkinson's" aloud. Her hands gently shake when idle.
The couple got rid of their dairy cows after Phil's injury. This time of year, after feeding the steers and pigs, Phil's days are mostly filled with a slow but constant pace of harvesting the crops before unloading them into the silos. If machinery breaks down, he is often on his hands and knees working to fix the problem so he can get back into the fields. Renee's days are filled with chores around the house: canning her tomatoes into sauces, peeling apples, washing the exterior windows and attempting to fatten the skinny barn cats with a chicken and oats meal before cold weather hits.
Renee and Phil married June 28, 1963. They celebrated 50 years of marriage this summer, but they've known each other since they were young children. Renee still recalls what Phil wore the first time they met at a Vacation Bible School in Albany when they were 5 years old: "He was so cute. He wore a brown sweater with pheasants around the bottom edge."
They didn't see each other again until a spelling bee competition in eighth grade. The two didn't speak, but they noticed each other. Phil remembers the blue dress she wore that day. Renee remembers the dress, too. "It was the first dress I bought from a catalog," she says.
The next time they saw each other was in high school. They started dating their junior year at Albany High School, after Phil picked up a book Renee dropped and offered her a ride home after school. The two married when they were 19 and 20 and moved onto the farm, where they raised four children. They now have seven grandchildren.
Renee describes the family's long history on the farm as a "blessing and a curse." The Porterfields are unsure of what will happen to the farm when they decide to retire.
"It's great to have that history," she says, "but you don't want to be the one to sell the farm or land.
"If Phil had his choice he would die with his boots on," Renee said. "(Farming) is all he has ever wanted to do."
Each morning after breakfast, the Porterfields sit at their kitchen table and read aloud from the Bible. On a recent morning, Phil recited a verse from Isaiah 46: "Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."
Following the reading and a prayer, Phil dresses his prosthetic leg before attaching it to his body. He changes his jeans and heads out to start the morning chores.
The days are long and the work is not easy, but Phil and Renee, both 69, are still able to do the work. Phil lost his right leg in January 1994 after slipping into two augers while working to fix a stuck silo unloader 45-feet high. It took medics two hours to lower Phil from the silo, and he lost five pints of blood from his injury. Besides his amputated leg, he has trouble with his shoulder and arthritis, "but what farmer doesn't?" Renee jokes.
Renee has issues with bulging disks in her neck, a condition that forced her to slow down last year. Unable to keep up the pace she once did, Renee has learned to take breaks. She is also in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. She's still coming to terms with this. Diagnosed in 2010, Renee has only recently felt comfortable saying the word "Parkinson's" aloud. Her hands gently shake when idle.
The couple got rid of their dairy cows after Phil's injury. This time of year, after feeding the steers and pigs, Phil's days are mostly filled with a slow but constant pace of harvesting the crops before unloading them into the silos. If machinery breaks down, he is often on his hands and knees working to fix the problem so he can get back into the fields. Renee's days are filled with chores around the house: canning her tomatoes into sauces, peeling apples, washing the exterior windows and attempting to fatten the skinny barn cats with a chicken and oats meal before cold weather hits.
Renee and Phil married June 28, 1963. They celebrated 50 years of marriage this summer, but they've known each other since they were young children. Renee still recalls what Phil wore the first time they met at a Vacation Bible School in Albany when they were 5 years old: "He was so cute. He wore a brown sweater with pheasants around the bottom edge."
They didn't see each other again until a spelling bee competition in eighth grade. The two didn't speak, but they noticed each other. Phil remembers the blue dress she wore that day. Renee remembers the dress, too. "It was the first dress I bought from a catalog," she says.
The next time they saw each other was in high school. They started dating their junior year at Albany High School, after Phil picked up a book Renee dropped and offered her a ride home after school. The two married when they were 19 and 20 and moved onto the farm, where they raised four children. They now have seven grandchildren.
Renee describes the family's long history on the farm as a "blessing and a curse." The Porterfields are unsure of what will happen to the farm when they decide to retire.
"It's great to have that history," she says, "but you don't want to be the one to sell the farm or land.
"If Phil had his choice he would die with his boots on," Renee said. "(Farming) is all he has ever wanted to do."