Between a tree nursery and 1,000 acres of row crops, Terry Bell and sons Tyler, Trevor and Travis have little downtime on their Warren County, Tenn., farm. They try to schedule row crop planting and harvest to coincide with the least hectic times in the tree nursery—typically summer and early fall.

The trees require at least limited maintenance year-round, but the busiest period is during dormancy, the best time to dig and transport trees to market for transplanting. Bell says the market is basically over after trees leaf out in spring. They start back in late fall.

They use the period between tree harvests to manage 1,000 acres of row crops, usually corn and soybeans, but just beans this year because of a down corn market.

Bell says he’s thrilled to have all three of his sons come back to the farm. The youngest, Travis, finishes high school in May and is already working in the nursery and the row crop operations. Tyler and Trevor each have acreage of their own and are establishing nurseries.

“We run the entire operation with just the four of us and some H2A workers,” Bell said.

His wife, Beckee, is also part of the operation and with Bell’s mother, Elvadean, used to run a family restaurant. His daughter Rachel, 15, plans to go into nursing.

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Bell is the third generation to farm this Warren County land and he’s proud that the fourth generation is in place to carry on the tradition.