It was shiny and red, with a bright blue seat and the number 70 painted on it. The Honda name was on the side of the gas tank.
I will never forget the day my daddy unloaded my 3-wheeler. This little ATV would change my life. I know that sounds a tad dramatic, but it’s true.
As an eight-year-old little girl, I loved the farm. I loved riding around with my daddy and grandaddy, checking the rice fields, or pulling the truck up for my daddy when he was flagging the airplanes. I spent countless hours on the combine during harvest. I got off the bus and onto a grain truck with my mom or grandmother, loading and unloading the rice as it was harvested. My brother and I would ride our bicycles around the grain bins, “cook” imaginary food in our imaginary ovens between the grain bins, write on the concrete with soapstone, and “plant” and “harvest” our own little rice fields. We swam in the well pools, frog hunted, and even spider hunted. There was always fun to be had.
We lived right on the farm, but until the day that Honda 70 came into my life, I was limited. I depended on other people to drive me around the farm, but I was introduced to freedom that day.
My little dog, Cocoa, loved to ride the 3-wheeler with me. I would come straight home from school, scoop her up, and away we would ride. For hours on end, I would ride the levees between the rice fields. I knew every bump, every snake hole, and every patch of honeysuckle. It was those 3-wheeler rides that made it personal for me. This place wasn’t just my grandaddy and daddy’s farm but mine, too. It was a place that made our living, but it was so much more. I loved it. And so, I never left.
I married my childhood sweetheart, who, by chance, also loved rice farming. The transition was easy. We got married, and he started working on the farm. My dreams had come true. I wouldn’t marry and move away; I would stay here and raise my family on the farm.
And that’s just what we did. We raised our kids here, and they have spent their lives loving the same land, levees, fields, grain bins, and farm shop that I did. They spent their childhood days riding combines and tractors, too. But more importantly, they spent their days with family. They have vivid memories of days spent with grandmother and grandaddy. They live across the field from their nanny and poppaw. And if nothing changes, they plan to make their lives here on the farm as well, as they have each found their little niche’.
Today, my role at Isbell Farms has changed. I no longer ride around on the levees, although I would love nothing more than to find a Honda 70 3-wheeler and do just that.
On this farm, innovation is at the heart of everything we do. My grandaddy began the innovative spirit when he pioneered zero-grade rice farming. My dad followed in his footsteps and began growing Japanese rice varieties in the 1990s. Today, our farm grows Yamada Nishiki, the king of sake rice. We supply brewers domestically and internationally.
This innovative mindset has been passed down through each generation, allowing them to find their own innovative project.
I spend my days posting about the farm on our social media platforms, answering emails, hosting companies, organizations, and individuals, attending meetings, and working on new projects and ideas. And I get to do all of this while working with my family.
There’s nothing better in the world, and every day, I pinch myself because I’m living my dream.
I am thankful to my parents for thinking outside the box and trying new things. I am grateful for every experience I’ve had in my lifetime, and if I had the time, I would tell you all the things we have had the opportunity to do.
As we move forward, find new projects that interest us, and implement them into the farm’s workings, I am filled with joy knowing that my kids feel the same way that I do about the farm. Isbell Farms stands to exist for generations to come, bringing new and innovative ideas to the farming world, learning new ways of doing things, feeding the world, and doing it together as a family.
— Whitney Isbell Jones
England, Arkansas