CityView Magazine

56 | April 2016 McCormick Farms was started by John McCormick in 1796, aer he im- migrated from Scotland three years earlier. Alex, Bruce's wife, is a member of the eighth generation of the family. Now, Olivia, their one-year old daugh- ter, is the ninth. e past three genera- tions retired to the farm aer other ca- reers, but Bruce and his wife are the first generation in a while to start a family at the farm. "We think it's a valuable experience," Bruce told me. "We're grateful to have an opportunity to carry on something that was started 220 years ago and have that as a base from where we're starting. Plus, to grow a business at this point versus starting a business at the ground floor, it's a powerful tool." But it's not just business that appeals to this young couple. "We see the value of raising our daughter in an environment where she can see the value of hard work." Bruce credits his parents, especially his father, for teaching him the value of hard work. "Ever since I was young, my dad made sure to include my brothers and me in whatever projects he was doing. Whether it took him three times as long to fix our mistakes, we were always put- ting stuff in the wrong place, screwing stuff in wrong—while we were just cre- ating a whole lot more work for him, he was including us and helping us under- stand the importance of a strong work ethic, of taking pride in your work. at was big for me, for my entire life. I want to pass that down to my daughter." And he already has. By the time Olivia was six months old, she had planted an acre of rye grass, run an excavator and baled hay, the whole time, riding on her father's lap. "Anytime she's on a four-wheeler," he said, "she's all smiles." ough Bruce and his family's close- knit heritage, in today's world, is not rare, their proximity to one another is. Brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters, fathers, sons oentimes are separated by time-zones, work schedules, dis- tance, fatigue. ey may stay connected through e-mail or Facetime. A phone conversation once a week. Cattle Call In farming, where the days can be long and the work can be difficult, at the end of the day, Bruce enjoys coming home to what he loves most: his family.

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