Section 27 - A Century on a Family Farm

by Mil Penner.

In this collection of brief, evocative vignettes, Penner traces the influence of pioneer roots on the present generation as he chronicles the transformation of the land from untouched prairie to productive farm.

University Press of Kansas, 232 p., illustrated, cloth, 61/8 x 81/2. ISBN: 0-7006-1196-7

See review and more about the author, below.  

As a boy, Mil rubbed shoulders with the very pioneers who tamed the prairies and he now draws on these recollections and memories to make the past come alive.

Through Penner's accounts, readers will discover a window into yesteryear through description of breaking sod and harvesting, Mennonite customs and religion, education in a one-room school, and the evolution of farm equipment from horse-drawn to engine-powered plows.

About the Author

Mil Penner has a background as a farmer, soil conservation contractor, and in irrigation development. In the mid-1980s he changed careers and produced two coffee table books with Carol Schmidt,Kansas Journeys andPrairie: The Land And Its People.

In 1990, his daughter Marci joined him and together they have produced three Kansas guidebooks. Because of their extensive travels across Kansas, Mil and Marci gained a unique perspective of what was happening in rural communities. They decided to form the Kansas Sampler Foundation to help address their concerns.

Mil passed away in 2015. His wife, Verna Lee continues to live on the farm near Inman that has been in the Penner family since 1874.

In this journey of introspection, Penner reflects on how, when his great-grandfather first broke the sod on section 27, it altered the land profoundly. As our country moves away from its rural roots at an ever accelerating pace,Section 27 is a signpost that makes us pause and reconsider that fading heritage before it is gone forever.