(driving rock music) (driving rock music continues) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag".

So many times in agriculture you feel that farming is just like a birthright.

You're a multi-generation, everything was handed to you.

Well, that's not always the case.

Today we're gonna talk with Annette and Alex Marshall of Leland.

How you guys doing?

- Good.

- We're good.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, for the people in Peoria, where is Leland?

- Hmm, boy, two hours northeast of here.

- Yeah, that's quite a drive y'all had.

- Yeah.

- The crops look good?

- Actually, you guys down here are a little bit further behind.

We're tasseled and fully pollinated, and we saw some fields that on the way haven't even shot tassels yet.

- Yeah, well, it's a nice way of saying we're a little slower.

(everyone laughing) - Just this year.

- Are you both from Leland originally?

- No.

- No.

- I am from Morris, Illinois.

- Okay.

- And I'm from Somonauk, which is neighbors to Leland.

- Gotcha.

Where'd you two meet?

- College.

- [Rob] What college?

- Joliet Junior College.

- [Rob] Okay.

Was it love at first sight?

(Alex and Annette laugh) - Yes, it was for me.

- [Rob] Really?

(Alex and Annette laugh) - Yeah, but we don't wanna talk about that.

- The hell we don't, yeah.

(Alex and Annette laugh) Okay, did you meet in class or in a bar?

- We actually did in class.

It was "Ag Mechanics", ironically.

- [Rob] Okay.

- And, you know, being a young gentleman, I took the seat in the back, near the door.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And there sat Annette in front of me and I handed everybody a piece of gum and asked them to wad it up and throw it at her so I could get her attention and then- - [Rob] Oh!

- Yeah, the rest is history.

She- - [Rob] Most people call that assault, but?

- Well, I didn't partake.

I had an entourage, so.

- Okay, apparently it worked though.

- It did.

- Oh, apparently, yeah.

- I mean, was it like you chew it up and then throw it in your hair or?

- No, no, just the wrapper.

Just the wrapper.

They threw the wrapper.

- Yeah, it's just the wrappers.

- Yeah.

- That all came at me all at once.

- Annette, tell me what was going through your mind as you were getting bombarded by gum wrappers?

- Honestly, I grew up with three brothers, so I figured this was just normal.

(laughing) - Okay and that was in "Ag Mechanics", huh?

- Yes.

- Okay you think it'd be more like, you know, involving a ram shaft or something like that, but you went with gum.

- Gum.

- How long have you been married?

- 30 years in August.

- [Rob] 30, well, congratulations.

What's the secret to a long marriage?

- Forgiveness.

Lots of grace, mercy.

(laughing) - [Rob] Does that go both ways.

- No, it, you had to ask that question.

- [Rob] Two daughters?

- Two daughters, yes.

- Yeah, it does show.

- So did either of you grow up on a farm?

- Yes, I did.

- What kind?

- Grain and we had some livestock.

- [Rob] Okay.

- Corn, you know, corn, beans, cows, pigs.

- [Rob] Gotcha.

How about you, Alex?

- We grew up on a farm on the edge of town, and our family did raise pigs, but we weren't active in the row crop side, that was custom farmed mostly.

- So your family owned ground, but somebody else was farming?

- Correct.

- Yeah.

- Correct.

- Very common in farming and agriculture.

Okay, so you both met in college.

I mean, what was the plan before you got bombarded?

I mean, what were you both going to do in life?

- Well, I was unsure, but I was very much interested in agriculture, so my dad and I made a deal that college is important to have.

So I said, "Okay," you know, "I'll go get a degree."

And I went to Joliet Junior College and then also Illinois State University.

Graduated with a degree in Ag Production down there.

And I wanted to farm, but the opportunity didn't arrive right away so- - [Rob] Yeah.

- I started, I worked for Hormel in Rochelle, cutting up hogs, believe it or not.

- Oh, I always, I've heard that is a remarkably tough job.

- Yeah.

- Just, you wouldn't think, you know, just sitting there cutting, but apparently, that's a grind.

- Yeah, it was.

And ironically then I moved to, they call the trim blending, the department, and that's where they made hot dogs.

- [Rob] Oh.

- So that was even more interesting.

- Let me ask you a question.

Do you still eat hot dogs?

- I do.

- Okay.

- It's not what they say it is.

It's actually very much regulated and, you know, they do a very good job putting different spices together and coming up with a final product.

But it's a neat process to watch and I enjoyed it.

The only thing I didn't like about it is I worked second shift and I'd sooner get up, get the work done, and call it a day.

I was getting home at 10 o'clock, midnight.

- [Rob] That's tough.

Were you guys married?

- No.

- [Annette] Not at the time.

- [Rob] Okay.

- Not yet.

- [Annette] Very engaged.

- [Rob] Well that makes dating tough?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Well, I slept a lot of nights on her couch- - [Rob] Yeah, you did.

- Because we would date and I just couldn't make it home so.

- You're afraid your daughters are watching, aren't you?

(all laughing) - Yeah.

- You should say my mom and dad's couch, because that's what it was.

- Oh yeah, I should.

- You came and that came out all wrong.

- Story's changing already, isn't it, folks?

And Annette, what were you doing?

- I was working at the time, so I got an Associate's degree and then started working at a local grain elevator in Newark, Illinois, so.

- [Rob] Okay.

- And was there for, let's see, how many years?

Well, it was a total of about 22, 23 years that I worked.

But at one point then, CHS acquired the elevator and ended up working for them, so in their main office.

- [Rob] Gotcha.

- Yeah.

- Okay, well tell me about getting back into the farm.

How did that come about?

- Well, I got pregnant with Dylan, and Alex said that he wanted to farm and like he had said, the previous custom farmer, he had retired.

So kind of the timing just all worked out.

So I said, "Well, I'm working, I've got the benefits.

"So you might as well jump in."

I mean, when it comes to starting farming, you either jump in with both feet or you don't do it at all.

(laughing) - Well, Alex, did you just happen to have a full line of equipment just sitting around?

- We wish.

- No, fortunately, I had a college roommate who was, or not a college roommate, but he was just a friend of mine and he had some equipment.

We borrowed some money and bought some equipment and we traded back and forth, which is helping, it helped on labor.

And then eventually, probably after about 10 years of that, we were both large enough and on our feet that we parted our ways and we're still great friends today doing that.

But it took a lot of time, patience, and money.

But we finally did build up a full line of really well used equipment.

(everyone laughing) - I, you know, I started that way too.

Lot of tough stuff.

It got the job done.

- Yeah.

- But man, it made you work for it.

- Yes.

- Was there a lot of repairs?

- Yes, I got to- - Still.

- I got to learning well, back to Ag Mechanics class going "Oh, that's what he was talking about."

- [Rob] Maybe you should have paid attention.

- Exactly.

- [Annette] Yeah.

- I had other things on my mind, right, you're right, so.

- Okay.

(Rob and Annette laughing) - Well, you know, stable home, good roof, things like that.

- That helps, doesn't it?

- Yeah, it does.

- Yeah and what are you growing?

- We now grow corn and soybeans, but when we first jumped in, we did grow peas and Lima beans and sweet corn for Del Monte and we'd have a little wheat every once in a while.

So that helped spread out the workload 'cause the Del Monte crops, they would harvest.

So that wouldn't be our on the combine and the wheat we do in July, which would, you know, 80 acres of wheat would always take us a week because, you know, something would burn up on the combine and- - [Rob] Yeah, like the combine.

- [Annette] Yeah.

- Right and then you got that fixed, but usually then you had all the bugs worked out of it, so when the end of September rolled around, you could dive into the beans or something but.

- I always thought like July, when the wheat is being cut, that's when the farmers are all supposed to go to their lake house.

- Yeah.

- That's right.

We're still working on that.

- Yeah.

- If we get enough rain though.

- You'll have a lake house.

- We will have our lake house.

- A lake, yeah.

Just will have a wheat field under it.

- Is farming your only gig or you do something else?

- I am a custodian at the high school that I attended and graduated in 1987.

That way no one has to ask my age.

You can figure it out.

- Do they have the pictures of the, are you up there as like the past class, the alumni?

- Yeah, they did at one time have pictures of their, of every class.

- [Rob] Did you, you took 'em down when you got there?

- I, you know, it's funny you mention that because believe it or not, they're remodeling the lobby of our gymnasium, this, as we speak.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And those pictures I just took down.

- [Rob] Ah.

- So they're gonna digitize them and put 'em in screens so you can look 'em up because they're growing because actually the school I graduated from, they had a class from the late 1800s and pictures all the way up till, well last year.

So there's quite a catalog there.

- There's only so much room you can put up pictures, yeah.

And they're always in those big frames, right?

Is that what they're?

- Yeah.

And believe it or not, in 1987, it was still black and white picture.

- [Rob] In 87?

- In 87, yeah.

- Yeah.

But how big was the hair?

Like the, you remember they used to do that with their I don't know what the, did you have that back in the day?

- No, I didn't.

- You didn't have the- - Nope.

- Bangs?

- I had hair, but it wasn't big.

(Annette laughing) - Oh, you, yeah, what is this?

- You go ahead.

- No, you tell the story.

- You tell the story.

No, you're better at it than I am.

- No, go ahead.

- I'll add to it.

You, I was talking a lot about work there, so.

- All right.

Our family always has some, I should say it's my husband.

He's big on practical jokes.

- [Rob] What?

- Yeah.

- [Rob] Ah.

- So, well, I'm not sure how it originated.

So you actually have to start with how we ended up with the clip anyways.

(laughing) - Alright, so I was thinking of a practical joke.

- With this?

- We had this old set of jumper cables that- - Did you throw out your wife's hair?

- You get it?

Wasn't it because 44 40.

- You're telling the story wrong.

- With.

- Oh, that's right.

- Because it was Ricky's, right?

- That's right.

So this kid that works for us, I call him a kid 'cause he is like 20 and he's a good kid, hard worker.

And, but I don't wanna say too much about him 'cause he'll smile when he sees it, sees this, but.

- [Rob] Nobody sees this.

- He'll wanna raise.

- [Rob] No way we're putting this on air.

(everyone laughing) - Well good, then I'll say what I wish about him.

But no, we had 44 40, it was giving us grief.

It just wouldn't start.

- [Rob] It's a great tractor but anyway.

- It is a great, and we still have it, don't get me wrong, it didn't go down the road only because we can't afford anything.

(everyone laughing) So, and that being our newest tractor.

- [Annette] No.

- No, I'm kidding.

It wouldn't start for the life of me.

We couldn't figure out why.

Something was, every night, draining the batteries down.

And I couldn't figure it out because, and it got frustrating because it's so simple.

It's such a simple system.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- But Ag Mechanics, I guess that's where I didn't pay attention to.

I had other things on my mind as we mentioned earlier.

But, so we are, I said grab a pair of jumper cables, couldn't find ours.

So we grabbed his and they were just some run of the mill jumper cables.

I won't say what- - [Rob] Was it this one?

- Yeah.

- These are pretty beat up.

- Yeah, they are.

- Okay.

- So we go down there with the truck, we call the man purse.

- Which that's another story.

- Yeah, that's another story.

- Call your truck a man purse.

- Well, we'll digress and we'll come back to the jumper cable.

- No, no, finish the jumper cable.

- Whatever you wanna do.

All right, so.

- I don't know what's going on.

- We (Annette laughing) That's perfect.

That makes you in charge then.

- Yes, I didn't say it was unusual.

- You'd fit in.

- Alright, so jumper cables.

- So we put the jumper cables on the tractor just to try to get it to turn over or click or something.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And all of a sudden Ricky goes, he points, the wires are just melting off of the jumper cables.

- [Rob] I don't think that's good.

- No, it was not good.

So it melted so bad that the wire just fell to the ground and there was this clip hanging on the battery.

And I go, "I don't think it's the batteries, you know?"

And he goes, "Yeah, I'd agree 'cause," but it ended up being I think a solenoid on the starter or something that wouldn't- - Oh, you tap those with a sledgehammer.

- Well, we tried that too.

We tried the, we tried to follow the diagram on the starter that says don't do this to get it to start.

And that didn't work.

But make a long story short.

So there's this clip, so I kept it as a memento.

We have some- - [Rob] This?

- There it is.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And I started fastening it to certain people, certain places.

- [Rob] But?

- Like on the hood of your- - No, no, that's not what he said.

- I know, he- - He said you started fastening this to people.

- Okay, so Ricky was greasing the combine one day and he had a sweatshirt on and the hood's hanging there.

So I gently went up behind him, he's pumping away, you know, and- - [Rob] Okay.

- Clip it on his sweatshirt and after about two minutes he's like, "What is this?

"What's going on?"

And everyone's laughing.

- [Rob] Except for Jimmy.

- Yeah.

- Ricky.

- Ricky.

- Ricky.

- Ricky, well Jimmy isn't either.

- Jimmy probably wasn't laughing either.

- No.

- You know, he wasn't even there.

- But have you ever like, put it on like parts that- - Not fingers or ears?

- It shouldn't be.

- No, no.

- Actually I wasn't thinking that, but, okay.

So never on people.

- No.

- Right.

But on their clothing.

- Okay.

- I guess you could say.

- That's what you do on your farm.

- So, well then it went on to, you know, the little joke of who was gonna get clipped next and stuff like that so- - Is it like a thing of, a badge of honor now to get clipped?

- Correct.

- Yeah, well, the thing is is the end all of everything.

My husband got me rather well.

I run the combine.

So we were opening up a field and I went to swing the auger out and sure enough, there it is just hanging from the end of the auger.

- That's actually not bad too, because a lot of people put that stick down so they know where the corn's gonna hit.

So maybe he was trying to help.

(Annette laughing) - Yeah.

- Okay so there was no way I was going to get that thing off without help to move it to somebody else.

- 'Cause one of the rules is if you get clipped then you need to do the next, you're in charge, you know, it's like a gag.

- [Rob] Oh, it's a traveling.

- Yeah.

- It's traveling, yeah.

- Yeah.

- It's been in several different places.

- So I have to clip somebody.

- There you go, yeah.

- That's it.

- So yeah.

- Well, but you have to do it them unknowingly.

It can't be staged.

- It's my show.

- Okay.

(Alex and Annette laughing) - Yeah, alright.

You're making it difficult, man.

- Making what difficult.

- There you go.

- There.

- All right.

- He didn't even- - What the hell?

(all laughing) - Exactly how it works.

- Okay, that's, I can see the joy in it now.

- Got it?

- Yeah.

Alright, I, where were we?

Okay, let's go to this.

You talk about the, your employees and how they've gone on, past successes.

Tell me about that.

- Well, when we got, probably one thing that everybody knows about farming is you can't get help.

I mean, getting people to help, because it's mostly seasonal.

You sit around and look at each other in July 'cause we don't have any wheat.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And then all of a sudden we need you every day for 14, 16 hours a day.

- And if you get that type of person, all they wanna do is sit in a seat.

They don't want to grease or- - Right.

- Yeah, I get it.

- And they'll let you know when the air conditioner - Yep.

- or radio doesn't work.

But with that being said, we do a lot of farming for the FFA alumni and the FFA.

We farm their farms and our family just donates our time and equipment for that.

- [Rob] Nice.

- And it also became a great pool to pick help from.

And so what had happened was we started seeing these juniors and seniors in high school, and we'd ask 'em if they'd wanna come out and help.

And man, right after school, they'd be there on the weekends and they very much enjoyed it.

But since we've been farming for 25 plus years together like that, these kids who are now 18, many of them are very successful in the agriculture industry themselves.

So it makes Annette and I very proud to see them blossoming.

And they're actually, I think, I guess if we had to compare it in financial numbers, they're actually doing better than we are.

One of them owns their own trucking company and they farm 3000 acres with their family.

- [Rob] Oh, wow.

Which is big, yeah.

- Yeah, it is.

And he is a kid who is always trying to reinvent the wheel and he's done it, you know, he's like, "Oh, if I could just get this, then this would work."

And if the trucks aren't hauling grain for local farmers or the local elevator, that truck's hauling gravel for construction sites.

And he has it figured out and, you know, very happy there because he didn't even want to graduate high school.

- Yeah.

- And so that's a great success story.

And then others, couple of 'em are working for local dealerships as mechanics or managers of stores of John Deere.

One guy owns his own business and does the precision planning.

So does very well.

And how we know a couple of these guys are doing well and hopefully they watch this and they get this is because they own pulling trucks.

- [Rob] Oh.

- If you own a pulling truck, I think that you're doing just fine.

- That's throwing away money there.

- That's right, that's right.

- If you're pulling trucks.

- All right, I got my little dig in.

So it's all good.

But that's something that we very much enjoy and they still come and visit us.

- [Annette] Yeah.

- And say, hello and then they're showing us their kids.

So we feel like grandparents.

- Yeah, we really feel old.

- No pressure, girls but that is very rewarding to us.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- To see that.

And then we have plenty of stories that, you know, to share with them and.

- I bet.

- It is.

- Like clipping stuff onto them.

- Yeah.

- Yeah right so.

- Annette, you guys say you have settled on a seven acre piece of heaven.

- Yes.

- Tell me about that.

- Yeah, we live out in the middle of a 240 acres and we've accumulated a lot of animals that keep you busy, but also bring you joy, you know, and lots of exercise.

When you do chores in the morning, you're either chasing pigs or goats or chickens.

- [Rob] What all animals do you have?

- We have cows, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, geese.

- Yeah.

- We've had pheasants before, Guineas.

- Why?

- Pheasants?

Well we used to release 'em.

- No, anything.

You know what's great about farming, not having livestock?

- Yeah, yeah.

I think we're getting to the point where it'll be passed on to the kids.

You know, when you get to a certain age, you're just like, yeah, I don't need to be messing with frozen water buckets anymore.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- That's their job now.

- The goats are evil, aren't they?

- They're Houdinis.

- Well they really are curious animals, so they get into everything.

But they have great personalities too, so.

- I don't think they do.

- You?

- I think you're just saying that so it's like- - No, they're very enjoyable, they are.

- Okay, well they, I mean, they'll eat anything like a tin can and stuff like that.

- No, they won't eat a tin can.

- They'll eat the label off of a tin can, but.

- But they won't eat the tin can.

- Will they eat a thistle?

- No, I have not seen where they've eaten a thistle.

- But we don't have any thistles in the pasture.

- Ah so maybe they are.

- I'll go with you.

- That's a good farmer right there who doesn't have any thistles.

- I'll go with strong maybe.

(Rob laughing) - Well, what would you tell, let's say younger people, that are trying to make that decision.

"Hey, let's make a go of it at farming."

What advice would you give 'em?

- Ooh, that's a good question.

- [Rob] I do this for a living.

- Yeah.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- You know.

- Have a second job, with cameras on.

Have a second job.

- You know, honestly, just give it a try because there's no such thing as really failure.

It's just an opportunity to grow so.

- [Alex] And don't buy a pulling truck.

- [Rob] That's actually really good advice but you- - No, buy a man purse instead.

- Yeah, buy the man purse.

- [Rob] That's what we were gonna go back to.

- Yeah, we were.

- Yeah, yeah man purse.

- [Rob] What is with the man purse.

- I'll tell this story 'cause I'll get it over with.

- How much time we got left?

- It's all me so.

- We get three minutes.

- Go.

- Oh, long time ago, I convinced Annette that if I just had a truck that could carry the fuel, tools, air compressor, things like that to fix in the field, instead of going back home, loading everything up from the shop, putting it in the back seat of the truck, driving it up there, fixing it, it could sit right in the field.

It could be right there and so- - And it would have everything you need.

- Yeah, I was getting to that wording.

I said it would have everything I needed on there.

- [Rob] Like a man purse.

- So about the second break after we bought this- - Yep.

- We bought this big F-550 with a flatbed.

- [Rob] Oh okay.

- Four wheel drive, air conditioning.

I mean, it was a workhorse truck.

Had, just needed floor mats and a vinyl seat.

Nothing fancy.

About the second breakdown of the fall where we had to, you know, lift open the side of the combine, take a good look.

I started looking up there and I go, I'm gonna have to run to town 'cause I need to get that.

And I heard, "Oh, I thought you said the man purse "would have everything you need."

- [Rob] It's a good point.

It is a good point.

- It's just, you know, logics.

- [Rob] Did you know every guest of this show gets a Thunder Creek fuel trailer?

(Alex and Annette laughing) It might be this big.

- Yeah.

- Right, there you go.

So yeah that's another thing to tell people who are just starting out.

Be very careful of your wording.

I excluded the word most everything.

I should have had most in there and, but- - Yeah.

What's the address of your guys' TikTok account?

- We don't have a TikTok account.

- Shocker.

(Annette laughing) Are you on social media at all?

- Not really.

- Yeah.

- We leave that up to our kids.

- Leave that up to the girls, huh?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, they can put that on there.

- Yeah.

- I really enjoyed talking to you.

I'm not sure what happened with this interview, but I had fun.

I love talking to people in agriculture.

I love farmers and I love people that have a passion for what you do.

And you two, you wouldn't be where you're at if you didn't have a passion to get into agriculture and work hard and stay there.

So I want to thank you guys for coming and talking with us today.

- Thank you for having us.

- You're good for the show.

You're good for agriculture.

- Thanks.

- So keep it up and you guys have raised two amazing daughters.

So Annette and Alex Marshall, guys, thank you very much.

- Thank you.

- Everybody else.

We'll catch you next time.

(driving rock music) (driving rock music continues) (driving rock music continues) (driving rock music continues) (driving rock music continues) (driving rock music continues)