The conversation is more lively than the work. When he's not showing the tall one how to mend a fence, the farmer with the cowboy hat talks about his daughter's wedding, his father's cultivation philosophy, his cousin's grazing practices, his neighbor's crops. The tall one plies the cowboy hat with questions until, around midmorning, he pulls a pen and a notepad out of his fanny pack and jots a few things down. He's not taking notes on fence fixing. He's taking notes on the farmer.
Cal Hoff and Tom Fricke may be the most unlikely pair of field hands ever to work a fence line together. For the past two years, Hoff and his farming family have been the subjects of an in-depth study by Fricke, one of the lead anthropologists in a nationwide program to study the changing work habits and family lives of ordinary, middle-class Americans. Fricke's home base is the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but he has lived and worked with the Hoffs for months at a time, braving irate Herefords, errant hailstorms, barbed humor, and barbed wire. His cowpoke status gives him a close-up view of farming communities in the American heartland. In return, the Hoffs get a chance to spread the word about the imperiled lifestyle they cherish— as well as another pair of hands to help out around the farm.
