🌾 A Very Big Day for our Farm 🌾

Today, August 21, 2026, at approximately 1:30 p.m., something pretty significant happened.

Our Missouri Century Farm, a.k.a. Quail Run Farm, officially became mine. ❤️

Well… technically, Mom and Dad Joyce Roger sold it to me for the princely sum of $1 for each half of the farm. 😂

Yes, there are two halves — the east half and the west half — and Mom and Dad each had their dollar in hand for the picture. Apparently, this is what happens when your parents sell you 160 acres: you pay two dollars and get the pleasure of doing all the work and not making any money on it. 😂🌾

But there is so much more to this farm than two dollars.

Quail Run Farm has been in my family since 1902.

The Northcraft family line brought this farm into our family beginning with Dewitt and Sarah (Wildman) Northcraft, who purchased the farm in 1902, and passed it to James and Willa “Mae” (Wilkins) Northcraft, who then passed it on to my grandmother Gayle Northcraft Henderson—who married my grandfather, William “Bill” Henderson.

Granddad farmed this land and put his own blood, sweat and tears into it.

Mom and Dad originally purchased the first 80 acres in the 1970s from “Aunt” Leora — who was actually a cousin, but in the country we have a long tradition of calling cousins Aunt or Uncle out of respect. They paid that note off early, farmed the land and continued caring for it.

My grandmother died in 1974, and my grandad eventually remarried. After my grandad’s death and later his second wife’s remarriage, the farm reverted to the heirs. Mom and Dad then bought out Mom’s two brothers (Uncle John and Uncle Gary Henderson)—with Mom and Dad bringing the entire 160 acres together again under their ownership.

Mom named the farm “Quail Run Farm.”

And today, I became the fifth generation to carry this farm forward.

During the signing ceremony, I also reminded Dad about a story he had told me years ago about his own mother (Margaret Harrison Kilpatrick)— how her parents decided to give each of their children a piece of land and how he wanted to do that for me. I reminded him of that story and said, “That’s essentially what you’re doing for me today, Dad.”

He liked that. A lot. ❤️

And I think that’s exactly right.

My Grandma Gayle was born August 19, 1907, and it seems fitting that this official transfer of the farm was just two days after her birthday—albeit 119 years later! Her mother, my great grandmother Mae, was able to hold me as an infant, and passed away just a few months after I was born. I always feel a special connection to her, even though of course I don’t remember the meeting. Mom had told me that story many times.

This summer, I’ve spent a *lot* of time getting things done at Quail Run — dealing with repairs, the roof, maintenance, waterways, lake, the land and all the things that come with taking responsibility for a place like this. My cousin Sean Henderson has been a tremendous help along the way, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. (Sean who, as synchronicity would have it, lives on a street with the same name as our farm—Quail Run!)

And, of course, our farm neighbors, the Hunziker family (Kenny and Lois and their son Rhett…and Kenny’s dad before him, Billy Hunziker, and all the rest)—who have had their farm and their family rooted here even longer than ours. They have been part of the landscape and story of this place for generations, and friends of our family through our farm’s history. (Much time was spent on the “party line” phone between my grandma Gayle and the Hunzikers. 📞)

There is still plenty of work ahead. But today wasn’t really about the work. Today was about the passing of a torch. 🔥 A legacy.

It is the continuation of the legacy of the ancestors who came before me — the Northcrafts who bought this land, and the Northcrafts, Hendersons and Bilderbacks who worked it, loved it and passed it forward. And somehow, on our farm, you can still feel and hear them.

In the wind moving across the fields.

In the branches of the old elm tree — formerly two sentinels, now standing as one.

In the call of the bobwhite quail.

In those quiet moments when the land seems to whisper something into your ear.

And you feel its heartbeat underneath your feet.

Their hands may no longer be here to work the soil, but their presence is woven into this place and into my heart and soul.

And today, I became its next caretaker. Northcraft-Henderson-Bilderback. Quail Run Farm. Since 1902. Fifth generation… received. 🌾❤️