(upbeat music) ♪ Hey ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Hey ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Hey ♪ - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

They say one man's junk is another man's yard art.

Well, today's guest is gonna tell us all about it.

We're talking with Ron Meador.

How you doing, Ron?

- Pretty good.

- Yeah.

You're from Chadwick?

- Yes.

- Where's that at?

- It's a little town up in the northwest corner of Illinois, about 20 miles north of Sterling=Rock Falls.

- Mm-hmm.

About how long of a drive to Peoria?

- An hour and 50 minutes.

- [Rob] Oh, you need put the hammer down a little better.

(laughs) - Yeah.

Yes.

- Well, thank you for coming.

- Yeah.

- And my wife and I met you up at the Whiteside Cattleman's dinner?

- Steak supper.

- Yeah, that was at Sterling?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

We were speaking up there and then met you in the parking lot afterward and you mentioned that you were into yard art.

- Yeah, I thought maybe you thought I was a farmer, but I'm into the junk part of the farming.

- What, you didn't think we'd talk to you, not being a farmer?

So this is it, right?

I mean, you're taking metal and making it into art.

- Yeah, I take whatever I have and use what I have and I turn it into tractors and flowers and... I've made quite a few of these little tractors.

I kinda like making tractors, but... - [Rob] Well, how long have you been doing this, the yard art?

- As a business, since 2020.

But periodically when I was in the welding field, I played around.

- Yeah.

- On my break.

- Okay.

- Over on time, on company time.

- I was gonna try to interrupt you before you admitted to that.

But you grew up kind of working... Well, you worked with your uncle?

- Yes.

I went out and lived with my uncle when I was 10 years old when my mother was killed in a car wreck, and I went out there to live with him for a whole year.

And I learned a lot of different things from him, how to work.

My work ethic came from him.

And he welded a lot of stuff.

He did a lot of brazing, I watched him braze.

But I picked everything up pretty much from him and then I continued on to go into the welding field.

Went to- - Did you go to school for it?

- I went to vocational school for two years, my junior and senior year at the Whiteside Vocational School in Sterling.

- Mm-hmm.

- And what, like back then, were they just teaching you to stick weld or were you getting into the MIGs and TIGs and all that?

- They were doing a little bit of everything and we had projects that we did.

I actually made a bunch of tree planters for the Ag department where I went to school and they used 'em to plant walnut trees.

And those walnut trees right now are 50 years old, so... - Time to cut 'em, huh?

- They're getting up there.

- Are they?

Can you weld upside down or can you weld up?

- I love to weld upside down.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- I don't know how you do it.

- Yeah, it's really pretty easy once you do it.

- Well, thanks, Ron.

Generally, you know, if you gave me two pieces of metal that were like this, I could lay a bead on there like nobody's business, but that's about it.

- Yeah, I had to weld a three=inch pipe for an alcohol plant one time up against a building and I had to use a mirror.

That was a little tricky.

- Oh, my gosh.

Now, three inches, you don't have to get all the way through there, do you?

- Three-inch diameter pipe.

- Oh, okay.

Alright.

- Gas pipe.

- They don't like those to leak?

- No.

- Yeah.

- They tested it.

- It didn't have gas in it, did it?

- No, not at the time.

- So that's what you used to do.

You were a welder at one time, right?

- Yes, I had a welding business and I primarily worked at a fabrication shop as a welder and a layout person.

I did blueprint reading and built lots of different things.

- Gotcha.

Then when did you get into the truck driving?

- That was in 1985, '86.

And I spent 36 years doing that.

And I chopped up a lot of truck parts.

- So did they know you could fix stuff?

So when a truck broke down, they were like, "Hey, go fix it."

- Well, that's what I did with my portable before I got into the trucks.

And then I had to get rid of the welder because everybody kept calling me.

But I maintained my own.

And at that time, I had an aluminum welder and I can do a little bit of aluminum too, so... - Is that more difficult?

- A little.

Little difficult.

- Nothing's hard for you, right, basically?

- Well, sometimes.

- Really?

Can you weld this wood?

- Sometimes life is hard.

- Can you weld it?

Well, anyway, yeah.

But do you ever, I mean, you're probably the kind of guy who, if somebody comes up to you and say, "Hey, I just need this welded," you're gonna figure it out?

- I always tell 'em I'll try.

- But you're gonna figure it out?

You know in your head you're gonna figure it out.

- Yeah.

I did quite a bit of things that I probably shouldn't have done with the welder.

- But you hauled, what, feed?

- Feed ingredients for DeKalb feeds in Rock Falls, and I really liked doing that.

My boy and I both hauled and each had a truck and we just went in separate directions and meet in the end of the week.

- Yeah.

Well, that's nice.

Okay, so your life took a turn.

Your wife had an accident.

Tell me about that.

- She fell and hit her head out in my shed and got a brain bleed and she had to go for rehab.

And then they told me that she'd develop dementia, probably easier with that brain injury.

And she did, and then... She did pretty good for a few years and then she developed the dementia and got a little worse and a little worse.

And then just in 2024 there, she just kind of... Was her heart that gave out, but... - Yeah.

Yeah.

How long had you been married?

- Two months shy of 50 years, - Two months shy of 50 years.

So just you're living life and one slip and it changes everything.

- Yeah.

And she was a integral part of my Hairy's Yard Art.

She was always there with me and we always had three chairs underneath my canopy.

And to this day, I always take three chairs with me and one's hers.

Or if somebody wants to sit down, I always take three chairs.

It's kind of a thing I do.

- Yeah.

So you were doing the yard art before the accident?

- Yes.

- And she was part of it.

So after that, did you struggle with should I get back into it or not?

- I stopped doing it for a little bit and then I decided that I needed to do that because that was kind of a therapy for me.

And I've been hitting it harder ever since, I go out there all the time.

It helps heal, so that's- - So when you're building something like this, I mean, are you enjoying yourself?

- I enjoy it very much and I enjoy making things for people that I know I can reach out to 'em and help 'em heal in their own life, you know, what they're doing.

- Hey, let's forget other people for a while.

I'm talking about you.

- Okay.

- I mean, when you're doing this... I mean, I could not imagine losing a spouse.

When you're doing this, I mean, is it helping you heal with that?

- Yes, when I sign, I always put her initial on there first.

And if I put more than one S on there, that means I'm thinking about her more, I guess.

And I go out there and I work till the wee hours of the morning and I just get it out through my fingertips, I guess.

- Gotcha.

- Doing what I do.

- Is it a deal where, like, it keeps your mind off of it?

Or are you remembering her when you're doing it?

- Well, I've got pictures of her out there all over the place.

- Yeah.

- So she's watching me.

And she always come out and sat... Every picture I've got of her I think has a junk background.

- Oh, yeah.

- So- - When you mess up something, can you hear her saying... - She never said too much when I was... She kind of stayed away from the grinder and the welder.

- Yeah.

- Sat there.

- So this stuff, I mean, obviously this is junk that you just have around or?

- I've accumulated it over the years.

I've been all over.

Some of it's my own and I go to sales.

There's people that bring me stuff and lay it in my yard and pile it in the yard, I mean.

- So this neighbors or people that know you're an artist?

- Yeah, they are very good about things.

Everybody that redoes the combine head knows where to put their stuff for the... - I was thinking about this on the way down here as Emily and I were driving, like, you know, the of what we have a lot that goes... So I got the opener disc of the planter, obviously those, and then, you know, like cultivator sweeps, stuff that we replace a lot.

But this looks like this is, I don't know, 20, 30, 50 years old stuff.

- Yeah, it's stuff that you probably don't use on your big planter right now.

- No, no, I don't think we have chains like that.

- I have a lot of square chains and that's old stuff.

- Yeah.

And I mean, did you ever, I mean, before this, did you ever look at yourself as an artist?

- No, I really looked at everybody else's stuff, you know, I thought, "Well, I'd like to do that someday," and out the window of my truck, mostly.

(Rob laughing) Whenever I drive by something in my truck, it's kind of hard to park that 50 some foot trailer someplace.

But I'd pull over and go look at people's things and stop at antique shops and buy junk and load up the sleeper.

- Hairy's Yard Art.

Is your nickname Hairy?

- Yeah, it's kind of, I got that from driving the truck.

- You got hairy from driving a truck?

- Well, I'm gone a whole week, so... - Yeah.

- The Hairy Beast was my handle.

- Really?

- And I mirrored that onto one of my trucks and made a little headed guy.

- A hairy beast.

- A little hairy beast.

- Hairy Beast.

Says a lot about your, Ron.

- It kinda stuck with me.

I guess it's easier just to call me Hairy than to call me Ron.

- Do your buddies call you Ron or Hairy?

- Some of 'em call me Ron, some of 'em call me Hairy.

- Long as they don't call you late for dinner.

- Yeah.

- So with this, I mean, is this like the type of stuff that you do?

Or, like, what's your bread and butter art pieces?

- I make a lot of these little tractors.

I make bigger tractors.

I like making motorcycles and flowers.

- Oh, yeah, we got the motorcycle.

- Oh.

- Is this like a tip?

Good Lord, I might need Don to give me a hand with this.

All right, so this is a motorcycle.

- Kind of a chopper with a V-twin motor in it.

- And how do you even concept this?

Because are any two the same?

- No, I actually bought one from another artist because I liked it.

I was at a show and I really liked it and so I started making a few my own way and that's what I kind of come up with.

I have all the parts I need to make all kinds of them, but- - Yeah, it's got chains on both sides.

So where's the signature on this one?

- The HB is on this side and the S is on the other side.

- Oh, yeah.

Okay.

- If you look... - Okay - if you look close, it's= - Oh yeah.

Yep, yep.

- [Ron] I kind of hide them (indistinct).

- [Rob] Hairy Beast.

Oh, so it's like a (indistinct).

- It could be... Well, disclaimer, I didn't wanna put HD for- - Harley Davidson, yeah, no, you don't want that, yeah.

But this is, it's stout, the wind's not gonna blow that away.

- Yeah, well, it's usually on my coffee table at home in my living room.

- You do your own wheelies at home.

Do you ever put the little guy on there?

- I've thought about putting a little rat on there or something.

- Okay.

I'll get this, PBS staff, don't worry.

I don't know what that weighs.

(bike thudding) 300 pounds?

Something like that.

- Must be pumping some iron out there.

- The tractor there, how long would something like that take?

- Well, I cut a lot of stuff up beforehand and I have it all laying around and I label it as seats and steering wheels.

And the steering wheels actually off of a barn door, the rollers on the barn door.

So I have a whole bucket of those.

I tear 'em apart and I have everything ready to go and I'm like a real assembly line sometimes out there.

If I get in the mood, I can go out there and produce a lot of stuff.

- But the wheels turn.

- Yeah, it's got a I in the front.

I sold one at the Sterling Farmer's Marketing and this young boy bought it and I gave him a rope and he pulled it away.

- Oh, yeah.

- It's actually in New York.

He lives in New York.

- Yeah, tell me about that.

Because you made some pieces for people that really meant something.

- Yeah, this tractor here is one I made for my neighbor.

She was my role mail lady?

- How tall is that?

It's about this tall.

- Okay, so that's a big- - About like a pedal tractor- - Yeah.

Okay.

- Size.

But it weighs a whole lot more than the pedal driver.

- Believe me, I lifted that motorcycle.

So this was your mail lady?

- Yeah, and she actually... I just took that picture at her house the other day and I had it blown up.

Just to bring it here.

I told her I could probably bring it, but I know it wouldn't fit on your table.

You'd have been hidden by that tractor.

- I don't think this desk will hold much more, yeah.

- But she's real nice lady and her son got cancer and passed away and I just decided one day that tractor was gonna be an Oliver and he liked International Hs.

So I went out there, started where it didn't take me long after I decided what I was gonna do.

And I whipped it into an H and put his name on it and give it to her.

And she likes it.

- Oh, I imagine - She said I could bring it, but I'd have to bring it back.

- We got a picture.

You told me a story about, you know, being at a sale and you were buying stuff, right?

And then you ended up making something for that family.

- Yeah, that was early on when I, actually, before I even started my business and this lady and her husband were school teachers in Saudi Arabia.

And they'd come home and her dad had passed away, I believe.

And they were doing the sale and I was walking around buying all kinds of stuff and she confronted me on what I was gonna do with it and I said, "I'm gonna make some flowers and different things with it."

And she asked me if I could make some for her, some birds and flowers for her, her and her sister, and I did.

An it took me a little while and then I called her up and she come and got 'em and they're still out there.

I go by there, I can see 'em from the road.

Yeah.

They're really nice and painted now, but they were under a tree.

Yeah.

I've stopped there a few times, but I can never find them at home.

'cause I wanted to tell 'em that I've got their information on my website.

I left my card there a few times, but... - Oh, I don't think they'll care.

- I don't think so.

- What's that mean when you show up and you give someone a... I mean, obviously a person's gonna buy something at a show, it's one thing, but when you're giving something that's personalized, what's that mean to you?

- That's a whole lot different than just making something, you know?

I'm in the process of making a few things right now for some people that I know that it'll make 'em happy and maybe some little closure on a few things and... - [Rob] Yeah.

- So I just don't even think too much about it, I just make it.

(Rob laughing) - So how do you sell stuff?

Do you go to craft market, stuff like that?

- I go to farmers' markets and events and people come to my house, stop by all the time.

But mostly farmer's markets.

I load everything up in the trailer and haul it down someplace and unload it.

My son helps me.

- I was gonna say, I don't know how much that tractor weighs, but, yeah, there's a lot of heft to 'em.

You mentioned, like the patina.

So if you make something for somebody and it just gets out there, it gets rusty, does that bother you or do you... Is that what it's supposed to do?

- That's what it's supposed to do.

Some people, they like to paint things, but I tell 'em, I don't paint.

If you want to, but I said the rust actually lasts longer.

- Instead of trying to keep it away.

Yeah, just let it rust.

- That's natural.

- So your shop, I mean, is that a place when you go out there, it's like, "Ah, I gotta do this, that, or there," or do you look forward to going out to your shop?

- I primarily go out there, but every day that I can and as long as I can and I give a tour every so often.

- Yeah?

- I got the 10 cent tour.

You got the... - Something tells me- - Takes a half an hour.

- That it's the same.

- Sometimes it takes an hour.

- Yeah.

- But I just let people look around and that's primarily what they do.

- You've won some awards.

Well, you won something, right?

They chose your sculpture to display.

- Oh, the art in the park.

I was juried in with a cello and they let me post that in Rock Falls for a year - You made a cello?

- Yeah.

- Out of what?

- A couple of displays, a piece of expanded metal.

- Of course you did.

- A chain.

A whole lot of different things that... I should have brought a picture of it, I guess.

- Oh, they'll get one.

- It's on my website.

- Do you ever donate pieces?

- A lot of pieces I've donated.

- Well, that's nice of you.

- My wife used to tell me I give more stuff away than I sell.

- Well, again, if this is something that brings you joy and something that, you know, helps you, why not?

- I mean, the people, my junk donors, I like to take care of them.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- And do things for 'em.

- What is the favorite thing that you've built?

- Probably these little tractors.

I kind of go back and forth.

I like the tractors or if I ever get my Harley finished that I'm making, my big one I'm making, I'll probably like that a whole lot.

- [Rob] Like a full-sized one?

- A full-sized Harley.

- Oof.

Yeah.

- But it's taking me a while to get all that done.

I have to- - Well, that's a lot of everything.

Then how do you move it?

- With a lot of people.

Or the loader tractor.

- You worry about that when it happens?

- I usually make 'em and make sure I can balance 'em so I can lift them up with my loader.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- I have a small, well, it's a, almost a full scale Harley that you can pick it right up in the middle.

It balances out pretty good.

- Gotcha, now something like that, are you gonna sell or is that gonna be yours?

- I haven't sold it.

I used it a few times.

My niece used it in there for a Halloween decoration.

One year they put it in their office and put a skeleton on it for the Halloween and put a smoke machine and it made it look like it was coming out of the exhaust pipes.

- Oh, really?

Does it bother you ever to sell something?

- There's some things I put the price on it up enough that I won't sell, but then it sells and then I have to make another one.

But some of this stuff you can't duplicate - Just 'cause you can't find the parts?

- You can't find the parts anymore, so... - So when that happens, you jack the price up 'cause you don't wanna sell it and then someone sells it.

You're like, "Well, I guess I'm not charging enough."

- Well, that was the I want to keep this and look at it more price.

But I guess that doesn't work all the time.

- I guess at some point it's probably forced therapy, 'cause you'll be covered up in stuff.

- Yeah, I've made some really... I wish I had pictures of all the stuff I've made and gotten rid of over the years.

It would probably fill up my shed a couple three times.

- But, you know, this stuff doesn't get thrown away.

- No, I'm glad it doesn't because I wouldn't have anything to do if they did.

- No, I mean, if I bought this, right?

Even if we decide, you know- - Oh, it's a lifetime thing.

- Yeah.

We aren't going to put that in a yard anymore.

It's not gonna get thrown away.

It's probably gonna go somewhere else.

It's probably gonna go to a kid or something like.

So the stuff that you're doing is gonna last generations.

- Well, that's why I sign everything.

So I hope someday in the future somebody sees one that says HB and an S on there and remembers this guy.

- They're gonna Google, they're gonna come to this show and they're like, "Oh, yeah, that's one of Hairy Beast's."

The Hairy Beast.

Well, Ron, if people want to find your stuff, where would they go?

- Hairysyardart.com.

And I have my phone there and my address and everything.

- And it's Hairy with an I.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, hairysyardart.com.

I tell you what, I like what you do and, you know, I don't mean to be a jerk to the other people, but sometimes people do this stuff and it's like, "Oh, it's, you know, it's cute," or whatever.

This stuff is good.

What you do is really good.

I mean, that is a piece of art.

To have that kind of in your mind conceptual wise and then to be able to have an end product like that, it says a lot about you and it says a lot about your mind, which is a fascinating place.

So Ron, I want to thank you for coming on the show.

I truly, truly appreciate it.

Go check him out, Hairy's Yard Art, that's Hairy's with an I, the Hairy Beast.

We'll catch everybody next time.

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