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Showing posts with label Grumpy Old Man Nostalgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grumpy Old Man Nostalgia. Show all posts

On the Cusp of Extinction Roy Carling Captures the Family Farm in Comics and Cartoons









Roy Carling captured the family farm right on the cusp of extinction. Roy was born in 1918 and lived to 2009. I purchased some 100 of his original cartoon drawings recently at a flea market and am just getting around to reading them. Roy lived and worked in Howard City, Michigan.

Family farm. A term which evokes pleasant memories even if you never worked on one.

You won't see any gags by Roy about Listeria or E. coli outbreaks from somewhere affecting folks ten states over. There are no jokes about recalls or "lot numbers" to watch out for. Back when Roy was doing his farm gags, crops traveled to the market down the road, not across the country. Each cow had an affectionate name, and when she gave birth the calves got names too...(they sometimes even talked!) Property was bought and sold by the acre, not the million hectacres.

Monsanto, patent owner of the genetically modified seeds everyone has been forced into relying on today evokes no pleasant memories, nor do any of the other "agri-business" companies now holding us and our elected officials by the turnips.

In Roy's work you will see chickens strolling freely and stopping to peck at a feeder. You see they had beaks then, they weren't clipped off to prevent fights in the factory. Today, Roy's chickens would be known as "free-range" as if that is something strange.

You will see a farmer trying to figure out how to use his new combine, or getting his tractor repaired, or discussing the new "hired man". One man...who negotiates his monthly wage while the farm owner rolls in the dirt laughing.

Junior is asked to open his piggybank for the next tractor payment. A farmer marvels at his new "six-row" tools. The big day is when the "poultry buyer" drives up while the wife gathers eggs and junior receives his allowance. One farmer here brags that he has doubled his flock size from 40 to 80 birds.


Roy depicted the world he knew, and that world had neighbors loaning their barbwire stretcher to each other. The "milk tank" springs a leak and the barn cats have a feast. A local eccentric stacks his chicken cages in piles of four. FOUR. Have you seen a chicken factory of late? Chicken skyscrapers. In fact they don't WANT you to see them. Long buildings back from the road with no signs...just enormous fans to remove the smell and warnings from a distant conglomerate to keep away. I can remember an elementary school with a visit to a farm. Not anymore.

Roy didn't know he was capturing the death of the family farm. In his work you see the silos getting bigger, the owners worried about being bought out, the first experience with breeders and traveling seed salesmen and putting up a barn sign as it changes ownership. The hardworking family imagines a bright future with "atomic" powered tractors. The availability of "new crop varieties" gives the wife a chance to argue for a new hat. After all, if corn comes in varieties, why shouldn't her wardrobe?






Roy Carling numbered each cartoon and saved a few of the publications they appeared in. The newsletter of the Central Ohio Breeders Association runs Roy's gag with a farmer holding his hat out for donations while leaving the local IRS office. The New York Breeders Cooperative runs his "cow a minute" gag. Roy saved a letter from Land O Lakes asking for a turkey cartoon for the thanksgiving issue.

Farms are not funny anymore.

Original, hand-drawn gag cartoons by Roy Carling, circa 1960-1975 Collection Jim Linderman

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How to Find the Museum of Woodcarving and Let Others Know if it was Worth the Trip




Joe Barta picks a nice, sunny day to chisel his spear and shield carrying African warrior boy, who will soon be placed in the "Suffer the Children" exhibit inside his curious shaped museum building in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. I am going to guess the extension to the building is where the massive Last Supper is displayed, but you shouldn't take my word for it. The museum is open May through October, so wait for a thaw. Joe carved 100 life-sized figures and 400 miniatures.

For those of you who do not know where Shell Lake is, go to Spooner and you will be close. In the old days, say 5 years ago...you could stop at the local gas station and ask Gomer "Is there any good stuff to do around here" and probably learn about his dog and the time he fell into the grease pit while giving directions, THAT was quite a day...but today there is a better way.

Trip Advisor® (A website which provides information on things one used to "happen upon") kindly gives not only numerous links to travel and reservation sites but tons of aggregated information you don't really need like Weather Underground® average rainfall in August (5 inches) , the "top rated" restaurants nearby (Bistro 63...7.4 miles down Highway 63 from the museum, so skip the restroom) it also allows all to contribute their OWN reviews of the attraction! (In case you are one of those people who can't mind their own business)

I will let you read the detailed reviews from your peers yourself while you plan your trip HERE.


Joe Barta Museum of Woodcarving Real Photo Post Card collection Jim Linderman