Innovation At Its Roots

Innovation in today's world is something that is talked about so much. Coming up with an original idea to solve a problem is something that farmers have done for longer than anyone can probably figure out.

All you need to do is look around a farmer's property to find ingenious ways to solve simple problems. An example of one of those problems might be keeping the milk bucket full of fresh milk from the milk cow away from hungry barn cats while finishing chores. This is how our family solved that problem years ago. It was actually probably used for something before that, but that's what I remember my dad using it for when I was a kid.

We no longer use the hanger/antler for milk buckets (we haven't had a milk cow since I was in junior high), but now we can use it to hook the egg bucket on when it is full of eggs. I don't even know how many years I have used this to hang a bucket on, and I just take it for granted. But for some reason the other day I looked at it with fresh eyes and though, "What a cool idea."

After living and being around our farm all my life, it is still neat to see how four generations of our family have used common sense and the resources at hand to solve problems along the way.