One look at the photos with this article and you can tell Charlie Deering, firmly planted on his tricycle, is all boy. In fact, he’s all farm boy, although his dad and mom, Mike and Julie Deering, don’t live on a farm.

His mom is the daughter of Jim and Kay Douglas, Flat Rock, Ind. She and her husband live in Missouri. She is an editor for Seed World magazine.

The 2018 Indiana Farm Management Tour visited her parents’ operation, Douglas Farms in Shelby County, earlier this summer. A family interview was held on a makeshift stage consisting of chairs placed on a small trailer. Once the tour and interview were over and people were milling around and visiting, Charlie decided the vacated stage was a great place to ride. He could weave in and out of chairs that were still on the stage.

If you noticed in the picture above that he and his tricycle were nearing the back of the trailer, with Charlie eyeing the ramp, don’t worry. His grandma and grandpa were both just off camera, ready to grab him. In fact, Grandma encouraged him not to come down the ramp. So he sent his tricycle down empty instead!

DODGE OBSTACLES: Charlie maneuvers his trike around chairs left behind after the family farm interview on his grandpa’s farm concluded during the Indiana Farm Management Tour. Note that he found a mud puddle during the tour, as well.

Julie’s brother, James Douglas, farms with their mom and dad. Besides a crop operation, the Douglas family partners with Mark Legan and family, Coatesville, in a separate enterprise, D&L Pork. The Legan family delivers 3-week-old pigs, which are finished out by D&L Pork on the Douglas farm. It’s operated as a separate enterprise.

Right now, Charlie could care less about the business side of farming. He’s too busy enjoying the benefits of being a young tyke when he visits Grandpa and Grandma!

FARM TOUR INTERVIEW: The Douglas family occupied the temporary stage for its intended purpose before Jim and Kay Douglas’ grandson, Charlie, turned it into a riding course later. Kyle Nigh (left) is a member of the farming operation and a son-in-law. James Douglas, Kay and Jim’s son, is also part of the operation. Kay and Jim are on the right.