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

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

Agriculture is known for families, multi-generational families that help tradition meet progress.

Well, today, we have just that.

We're talking with Missy Scott and Maddie Larson.

Ladies, how are you?

- We're great.

- We're good.

- Thanks for having us.

- You are from... Okay, you're from Morris, right?

- That's correct.

- Which is where?

- It's right off of Route 47, kind of in between Yorkville.

Actually, we're in an even smaller town right off Morris.

Morris is our big city compared to our teeny tiny town.

- So Peoria, it's a stretch to say we're in Central Illinois.

Right?

- Right.

- Because I would say more north.

If you look at a map, it's actually more Northern Illinois.

And you guys are quite a bit north of that.

But yet, you all go by Central Illinois Sisters.

- Right, it's tricky.

- Yeah, why?

- So, that's a great question.

- Yeah, you're not dealing with a chimper.

Yeah.

(Maddie and Missy laughing) - Central used to be a train stop right along Route 47 where we're at.

And we kind of claimed it as a teeny tiny town.

It's my parents, my grandparents.

We have an uncle that lives there and then a couple neighbors that are like family that have lived there for 70 years with my grandparents.

And that's Central.

It's this teeny tiny town.

When they had kids, it used to be a town of 20.

Now it's about eight, but we still claim it.

So that's why we're Central Sisters.

- Does it have a Casey's, the dollar store?

- It doesn't, but it has Grandma's Breakfast.

That's better.

- That's a whole, yeah.

- That's better.

- Even better?

- Yeah.

- Okay, so twins?

- We are.

- Twins.

- Okay.

- Identical, I think that probably goes without saying, but.

(Missy laughing) - Are you talking to each other right now with the psycho kinetic or whatever you do?

- Oh yeah.

- Oh yeah, always.

- Okay.

(laughing) So, Maddie, you grew up on the farm, but you are married now.

- Yep.

- And two kids?

- Two kids.

- Missy, you are also married?

- Correct.

- Okay, but you guys are farm girls.

So tell me about the farm when you were growing up.

- So we were pretty involved growing up.

Nothing was off limits to us, that's for sure.

We got thrown into just about anything that Grandpa and Dad could.

If we were lucky, we were working with grandpa: picking up rocks, doing field work.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

What did you just say?

(Maddie and Missy laugh) - I think that's fair.

- There was dad and grandpa.

But if you were lucky, you got to work with grandpa.

- That's not a secret.

- Not only were you paid a couple bucks, if you were with Grandpa, that also meant Grandma was tagging along.

So you were gonna get fed well and you weren't gonna work very long.

- Yeah; yeah, yeah.

- So we started driving tractors young and got involved in all sorts of stuff.

And in high school, we both were in sports so we slowed down a little bit on the family farm.

- [Rob] What sports?

- We both did volleyball and basketball.

- [Rob] Oh.

- Couple other things, track a little bit.

Not really.

We were in a very small high school, so you kind of had to do everything.

- Kind of did everything, yeah.

- It's not saying much.

- We weren't standouts.

We were on the roster though.

- I think it's very cool though because, especially in a farm family, to grow up close to the grandparents and be able to have those memories, that had to be pretty special.

- Oh yeah.

- Absolutely.

- They did not miss a single thing.

There's 21 grandkids.

- Holy cow.

- And they seriously did not miss a thing.

They even would split up if there was ever two events going on at the same time.

Yeah.

- Everyone went to the same high school.

We're kind of spread out.

But yeah, they had 21 grandkids go through the same high school.

- You're kidding me.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And the high school is, there was maybe 100, would you say, or more?

200, it was a high school of 200.

- What high school?

- Newark High School.

- Oh, okay.

What's their mascot?

- Norsemen, Norwegian.

- That's dumb.

(Maddie and Missy laughing) Seriously.

- You don't wanna say that to two Norwegian girls.

There's a lot off limits to say to two Norwegian girls, and that's one of 'em.

- Norsemen, and we're talking to the Central Illinois Sisters.

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) So okay, the farm today.

So, Missy, you are working on y'all's family's farm.

Right?

- Correct, yeah.

- And, Maddie, you married a farmer.

- Yep.

- And you guys are farming on your own there.

Correct?

- Correct, yeah.

- Okay.

So, Missy, so you are working with... Who's all involved?

- Dad and Grandpa.

And then we do just a little bit with two of my uncles.

We have a farm with each of my uncles.

So it's fun; we get to farm with cousins and, yeah, we have a blast.

- Okay.

So your grandfather, he has to be getting up there in age.

- He just turned 90 last week.

- Just turned 90 and he's still farming?

- Oh yeah, still farming.

He's still our main combine guy.

And we're lucky to have him.

He is a huge, huge part of our farm still.

- Yeah, sometimes with these old farmers, you just have to tell 'em, "Hey, it's time to hit the pasture."

- Oh, he tells us what to do still.

(Rob laughing) - A 90-year-old, he probably has a better work ethic than most kids.

- Oh, it's incredible truly.

- He would say if you asked him that he doesn't work that much anymore.

But he's out before the sun's up and he quits at four o'clock.

But that's early for him.

He quits at four.

- He is slowing down.

He's down to six and a half days now.

- Oh, is that it?

Okay, that's wonderful.

- Yeah.

- So what all are you raising on your farm?

- We just do corn and beans.

No livestock for us.

- Okay, which is why y'all could come today.

- Exactly, exactly.

- Yeah.

- How about you, Maddie?

- I got some chickens.

(Missy laughing) Yeah.

- Okay, are these chickens that are for profit, or are these your chickens?

- They're just our chickens.

And we got the bright idea when eggs went up to $19 a carton.

And we were like, "Let's just get some chickens "and save some money."

It does not save us money.

It does not save us time.

But they are good eggs.

- You like 'em because they're more yolky than the ones in Walmart.

- Yes, yes, yes.

- You like that?

- Yes.

- I gotta say I don't.

- Oh, man.

- I guess I'm used to the other ones.

- Oh, they're so good.

- But everybody else says, "Oh, I love the other eggs 'cause of the yolk.

But I guess I'm, whatever.

- I would've brought you some.

And I think I could have turned you around on 'em, I think.

- No, I'm good.

- They're good, good stuff.

- Now is there such a thing as chicken math?

Because did you start with just a couple and now you have 400?

- Oh, you know what?

I think we got a dozen our first year.

And we ended up with like eight maybe.

So in the second year, we got like 15 or something, and then we ended up with 15.

And we were like, "They're multiplying.

"Like, this wasn't our intention."

But I don't know exactly how many we have anymore.

In the ballpark of 15.

They produce just the right amount for us.

So hopefully, we're not upping the count too many.

- We'll see next year.

- Yeah.

- The thing about like young farmers like yourself is you seem to get chickens, right, because that's what you wanna do.

We did that too.

I remember we got the chickens, the boilers.

And we didn't know.

I mean, they grow so fast.

And then you go to butcher 'em because we thought, "Oh, look how much money."

They were so tough.

(Maddie and Missy laughing) I mean, it was like eating this desk.

- Oh no.

- It was horrible.

We couldn't eat 'em.

We had to throw away all this meat.

- You're kidding.

- She tried everything.

She tried soup.

I mean, just like, oh, it was horrible.

But we had chickens.

(laughing) - "Braveheart".

- Yeah.

- So how close do you guys live to each other?

Like how far away?

- About 10 minutes.

We're close.

- Oh, that's nice.

- Yeah, yeah, and we got a few farms in between.

So it feels like we're even closer than that.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- So you married a local farmer?

- Yeah.

- Was it an arranged marriage?

- Not quite arranged, but if my family had anything to say about it, I was ending up with Ben for sure.

(Rob laughing) They had him picked out a long time ago.

(laughs) - Missy, your husband, any ag background?

- Yeah, actually, we went to the same junior college for ag.

And he started working for a farmer straight outta college and ended up doing some plumbing on the side.

So now, he's doing that full time.

And then, any chance I get, he's helping out with us.

Any chance I get, I guess.

I'm asking him a lot.

He's busy, but he's great help.

- So your thing that you brought was this book.

Tell me about this.

- Yeah, this is kind of the story of Grandma and Grandpa (indistinct).

So they just celebrated their 70th anniversary.

- 70th?

- 70.

(laughing) - Whew.

(Missy laughing) - Grandpa's been farming for 73 years.

And I would venture to say that the first three years were probably about the hardest without Grandma.

So the next 70, he's been coasting a bit.

They are quite the team.

- And they married young?

- Yes, they did.

- And she was not a farm girl.

- She was a city girl.

She was a city girl.

Grandpa was definitely a farm boy.

So they got married young.

And Grandpa moved her out to the home farm that we're still at today.

And it was a very old farmhouse.

And it had no indoor plumbing.

- Oh.

- So that was a step in the wrong direction for Grandma.

And her parents actually came and stopped by to see the house.

And they told each other on the way home, "No way this girl makes it.

"She's not gonna make it out here."

- [Rob] Really?

- And 70 years later, she's at the same house and she is the ultimate farm wife.

She made it.

- She is.

- I don't know.

She might leave tomorrow.

Then her parents would be right.

- She's tough.

She's tough.

- She sure is.

- You can believe in her.

(Rob laughing) - It's crazy.

It's like, you know, when they take a picture in a picture, it's like your book and our background.

- Yeah, yeah.

(Missy laughing) - It's freaking me out, dude.

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) This is cool though.

I was thumbing through it.

And it's just like, it starts with the very old pictures and ends in like the modern equipment that is today.

But I really like this.

I mean, when did you get this book done?

- That would've been just a little over 10 years ago.

She got it done for Grandpa's 60th year of farming.

My aunt pulled together pictures from literally starting in 1953 all the way up until present.

- Nice.

With the farm, family, it's hard to explain to people outside of agriculture.

Maybe it's this way in every business, I don't know.

I know what I know.

But when you have family and you have agriculture, a lot of times, people struggle with it.

You can argue with family a lot better than maybe perfect strangers.

But watching your social media, you can tell it's not just fun.

I'm sure you have your days, but the respect that you have for the generation before you is really impressive.

Was it just growing up watching your dad, your grandma and your grandpa and all those?

Was it just watching them and understanding them is why you have that level of respect?

- I'd say getting older, knowing Grandma and Grandpa's story.

Grandpa worked incredibly hard from a very young age and started from ground zero.

And it's so impressive to see how he's built this incredible legacy.

I mean, when he first started farming, he was farming a little bit and then working full time at a limestone quarry.

And then would come home during his lunch break to milk cows and just worked his tail off to create this life that he shared with his kids that my dad then turned around and worked his whole life to share it with us.

And Maggie can say the same.

- Yeah, I remember so clearly when it was like my first fall helping out full time.

And I had seen one of my cousins drive by on the road at like 4:30 or something.

And I was like, "What is he doing?

"Why is he not in the field?"

And my dad was like, "He's on the way to the volleyball game."

And I was like, "Holy cow."

Dad and Grandpa did that four nights a week for years and years and years not missing a thing just to go back out in the field till midnight to play catch up.

And I remember that so clearly and being like the sacrifices they made that they never asked for any recognition on and just like getting a little glimpse of that when I got older and more involved.

Yeah, they just, very hard workers.

And yeah, it's easy to respect what they do and how they do it, definitely.

- Now, Maddie, you've got two kids.

Do you just sit back and think, "Man, they were so much better parents than I am."

- Every day, literally every day.

And how did they do it?

- That's right.

- I call my mom about every day and ask her a question about what am I supposed to do?

And then I say, "And I just wanna say, I'm sorry."

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) I'm serious; oh, my goodness.

They're great, but it's busy.

- Yeah, how old are the kids again?

- Two, and then coming up on eight months now.

- Okay, so you are plenty busy yourself, aren't you?

- Yeah, yeah, it's busy.

And it's interesting now being on the other side of things and trying to give them what we had growing up.

And my mom never made me feel like it was a chore when she'd take us out to the field for rides.

And Dad never made it feel like we were really slowing him down when we would wanna help or ride or anything.

So it's neat being on the other side of it now.

But another thing that I've gained a lot of respect for, just, yeah, they did it really well.

And obviously, us wanting to come back and be involved in things speaks volumes of how they did that, so.

- It is different now.

You guys are quite a bit younger than myself.

Do you ever remember the combine or the tractors without the buddy seats?

- We actually remember the first tractor Dad got with a buddy seat.

So we used to bring just a little teeny tiny folding chair in there.

- Scooby-Doo folding chair, right?

- Yeah, Scooby-Doo folding chair.

Yeah, we remember Dad coming home and saying that he had a surprise for us.

And that same Christmas, Mom took us shopping and we got him the 1/16th tractor with the buddy seat in it.

It would've been, what would it have been, the Cat Tractor, the 95?

- I know, yeah.

- That was a big deal when we got the buddy seat.

- With the wheel wells.

We sat on a lot of wheel wells and lunchboxes and stuff too.

When you didn't know different, we just, yeah, it wasn't a problem.

- Well, that's the thing.

Everybody's like, "Oh, the kids are probably uncomfortable "in the tractors without the buddy seats."

And they never think about the person driving the tractor.

No, it's now, you got your knees over here.

- Exactly.

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) - And it is so nice now.

I mean, you could have, I don't know.

You can have kids in there.

You don't have to worry about the noise or the dust or that.

- Oh, totally, yeah.

- Totally.

- You can actually hold a conversation which, you know, that's good or bad.

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) - Depends on who's in the buddy seat.

- That's right.

(laughing) What lessons have you learned from watching your family?

- We could sit here all day on that I think, yeah.

I guess just work ethic to start.

And, well, most importantly, Grandpa and Grandma both, their priorities is faith, family, farming.

And it always has been.

And my grandpa would be the first to say that, that everything that we are, everything that he's built is from God and because of God.

And that's been something that has been so important to them and has been passed down now three, four generations.

So it's just cool to be a part of that.

Yeah.

- Definitely.

- Yeah, and I guess just things get hard, and lean on the people you're around.

And we're extremely fortunate to be around family.

And that's just nice to have that little support system.

That's been huge too.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, I know there's farmers out there that farm and not necessarily have faith.

I don't know how they do it.

I really don't.

- I know.

Because I mean, the way we lean on it on our farm is just, it's the most important thing.

It's like we have all these tools, all these tractors and all this, but what we lean on the most is our faith.

- Absolutely.

- And I think you learned that from the generations before watching now.

- Yeah.

- Absolutely.

Can I pull up a quote of Grandpa's from this?

- Yeah.

- I think it's in here.

- It's interesting too when you feel like you have done everything you can and you're waiting on the rain or something.

And it's just the realization of like, okay, if you could do more, you would.

But it's neat to have those times where just the realization of how much is out of our control and, yeah, just give it to God.

- Grandpa said this, "Most of all, I thank God because it's His ground, "and for giving me the privilege "to be His caretaker all these years."

And that's just, oh, that's so him.

He truly feels that he's God's caretaker.

And that's just a privilege that God has given him.

And that's totally what he's made it seem like, like he's excited to get out there every day and it's a privilege to him.

So I think that's been passed down too.

Like we're lucky to be out there doing this life and working God's ground.

- Absolutely.

- That's a great attitude.

Yeah, I don't know why you guys are pushing him out of the farm.

(Maddie and Missy laughing) Ungrateful.

- Oh boy.

(Rob laughing) - Tell me about your social media.

- We started that a few years ago now, kind of as a keepsake for us.

And it grew some kind of before we knew it.

And there's such a cool community on there that we never knew about.

And it's funny.

You know, like your little farming community that you're local with, you do kind of live the same life and you share the same stresses.

And we started sharing on social media.

And all of a sudden, it was like a huge, huge range of people that say the same things, are dealing with the same things.

There's so many niche things that it's fun to share that.

And then, yeah, you have so much in common with people you'd never guess you would.

- Yeah, same breakdowns.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- I tell you what.

As farmers, a lot of times, we think that we're the only ones making mistakes.

When I first started farming on my own, my dad passed away, I literally thought I was the worst farmer on the face of the earth.

It might've been true.

But I would actually go up to the John Deere, and I would just kind of like have an excuse to go in there and wander out in the shop to see other people broke down.

Just so I knew.

(Maddie and Missy laughing) - Anything to make you feel a little better.

- Every time I'd leave, I was like, "Yeah."

- I'm not the only one.

- I'm not the only one.

'Cause inside, it feels like you are the only one that can't get stuff done.

- Oh, it does; it does.

- Everybody finishes before you and everybody, mm-hmm.

- Oh, that's funny.

- Yeah, and that's the other thing.

When you finish harvest and you're driving around, you're seeing other crops up, it's like, "What's their problem?"

- You're two hours done.

"What are these guys doing?"

- Has it been a positive, sharing your stories on social media?

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah, definitely.

And it's funny, just the feedback that you get.

We get asked that, if we get some negative feedback.

And it's mixed in there.

But it is overwhelmingly positive.

- [Rob] It's social media.

- And you'are gonna have- - Posts for everyone to see so you get that.

And you just gotta take it as it is.

But it is overwhelmingly positive, that's for sure.

And people love seeing anything about Grandpa.

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, the thing about social media is that sometimes like in your hometown, you'll have that one guy that's a real nut job, a tool, and nobody likes him, and he doesn't do anything right.

Well, guess what?

He's commenting on social media all the time, right?

So you just have to throw that.

Do you get any sass for being a chick on a farm?

- Sometimes.

Sometimes, people think that we should be not working on equipment or driving equipment.

We should be packing meals or doing... They put us in a box.

- [Maddie] And people hate when you wear shorts.

- Yeah, they don't like that either.

- They think you're not doing it.

- They don't like legs.

What the hell?

- You gotta wear jeans or you're not really working.

The shorts get us a lot.

- Yeah, you're right.

(Maddie and Missy laughing) - But it is, yeah, you just gotta brush it off.

Take it for what it is.

- You can wear shorts, but do you have your pliers?

- Well, see, I bet we wouldn't get yelled at then if we had our pliers.

- No, if you had pliers, yeah, that's like armor, yeah.

- That's what we're missing, that's what I'm missing.

- And you gotta have your old-timer pocket knife.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) - Do you guys get to farm together very often?

- We try to.

- Yeah.

- You'll come out.

You'll come out.

And Maddie used to be our main grain cart operator.

So we throw her in there when we can.

- You know, they can't do anything right.

- And that's the best when I can get out of the grain cart.

Then it's her problem.

- Yeah.

- Then exactly.

Everything, she's slowing us down.

Right, I love that, I love that.

- She's horrible at it, isn't she?

Yeah.

My son runs our grain cart and he's awful.

Yeah, literally, 'cause he cannot sit there and know what I'm thinking.

(Missy laughs) He will get on the radio.

He's like, "Where do you want me?"

I'm like, "You know what?

"I think you're all right right there."

And then I'll figure, I screwed it up, right?

I'm on the other end of the field.

And I'm like, "Where are you at?"

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) Oh, it's fun times.

- I'm gonna keep this clip right here.

And next time Dad asks what I'm doing on October 11th, I'm just gonna send this clip about the conversation about grain cart operators.

- I can't read minds.

- "Yeah, do you remember this?"

- We're gonna edit that out.

I tell you what, no one will ever see that.

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) What do you hope for in the future, not just with the social media but with the farming?

- Continue doing exactly what we're doing and staying involved with the family farm.

And Maddie's doing a great job of it, bringing up the next generation.

That's so important.

And this is something that Grandpa started many years before us.

And we hope that it goes many years beyond us.

So I guess that's kind of our responsibility, too, is bring along the next generation with us.

- [Maddie] Definitely.

- Have you had that talk with everybody about what the future looks like, the whole succession?

Have you had that conversation?

- We're starting to a bit.

We have another sister that's involved.

She teaches full time and then in the fall rushes to our place to start drying corn and helps out in the spring a lot.

So it's more than the two of us.

And then we have two other siblings.

And we got nephews that would probably like to be involved one day.

So we're having those talks, but it can be a little bit challenging.

- Oh, horrible.

You know, I never had that talk with my parents.

I never had a talk that I was coming back to the farm.

It was just assumed, and that happened.

But we've interviewed a lot of people in agriculture.

And the lack of having that talk has led to the end of a farm too.

- Right.

- So as uncomfortable as it is, I think, you know, that conversation with everybody involved so there are no secrets.

My personal opinion, that's the way to go.

- Absolutely.

And our dad's doing a very good job at that.

Even though the conversations can be uncomfortable, that is much better to have the conversations now rather than down the road when you need to.

- Don't have that conversation during harvest though, or planting.

- To be honest, we try not to talk much at all during harvest and planting.

- That's the best.

- Yeah.

- Nobody else gets that.

They're like, "How was William today?"

I'm like, "I don't know.

"He was in the cart, yeah.

"There's several times he wasn't there when I needed him."

- There's 42 phone calls between the two of you all day.

And yeah, you don't know.

(Maddie, Missy and Rob laughing) - Well, it's fun to see.

It's fun to see you guys just enjoying the family as much as the farm.

Farming's easy to love.

But to enjoy the family as well, that's incredible.

Where do people find your social media?

- We are Central Sisters on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook.

That's where you can find us.

- Yeah, how do you like the old TikTok?

- We like it.

We don't know what we're doing.

We think it's hilarious, the videos on there.

- No, no.

- It's not for you?

- No.

- You're kidding?

- I unfollowed you, yeah.

- Oh.

(Maddie laughs) - We were preparing for the show.

I'm like, "Man, why am I following these two?"

- We're a hoot.

I can't believe that.

You're gonna have to give it a second look.

- I have a really good TikTok idea for the way home, just so you know.

(Rob laughing) - No, I enjoy it.

Yeah, how do I say this?

Sometimes in agriculture, young attractive women will use that to get attention, wearing the booty shorts and all that.

You guys, you're just having fun.

It's just showing yourself on the farm.

I don't know, I really appreciate it myself.

I appreciate watching it.

- We appreciate you saying that.

- We had this conversation once where we were like you.

There's a fork in the road, and you either pick that you're gonna be cute or you're gonna be funny.

And I don't know if we even picked, but we are on the funny road.

(Maddie and Missy laughing) - Oh, we didn't have a choice.

- Okay.

- Yeah, the bibs all the time don't really help us.

- Yeah, that's true.

- We hope we're funny.

- I guarantee you are.

And, everybody, you should go follow them.

Missy Scott and Maddie Larson from Morris, Illinois, you guys are a pleasure.

Not just to interview, but you are a pleasure to have in agriculture.

So thank you for all that you do.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, Rob.

- Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.

(upbeat music) - If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to explore more of our local content.

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