ten billion butterfly sneezes

I haven’t blogged anything about this, but, for four years now, my little bride and I have been the proud owners¹ of 40 acres of Kansas farmland in Jeffferson County KS. We found the realtor online, and made a trip back there in search of housing/building lots for our emeritus years. We only wanted enough land to build a modest house, with perhaps enough left for a sizeable garden, and maybe also a decent shed or other such-like outbuilding.

We actually got a lot more than that. The land, and the adjacent 52-acre parcel, on which we had the first option², was and had been being farmed by a local man for cash rent.

The realtor gave us the farmer’s name, we got in contact with him, and met him in the Nortonville KS, city park. We agreed on a rent of $55/acre, I told him to treat the land like he owned it, we sealed the deal with a handshake. He gave us his check, and back to NoVA we went.

That was year one. Two hears ago, he called us and said that with fertilizer costs, and other such items, he could use a break on the rent. I asked now much, and he asked if we could settle for $45/acre. I said we could do that, and for two years, the checks came in at that rate.

During our recent first annual Bundy FunDays, another check arrived. There was a Post-It attached to the check, stating that he was raising our rent to $60/acre, and hoped that was OK with us. It was sufficiently OK that we deposited the check.

Where else in the country could business be done like ths?

Another reason I miss the Heartland.
-k-

tbbs tags: Kansas