Not far from today's busy,
often disconnected world, you'll find
a farm community,
striving to do what's right.
Not only for themselves,
but for neighbors, the land,
and for generations to come.
My parents live there my cousin lives
there my aunt lives just beyond that. We've
got another set of cousins that live over there. My great
aunt lives in my great grandmother's house. You've heard
of the Hatfields and the McCoys. My son lives in
the next house right here on the other side of this field. My daughter
lives other daughter Kelly lives in the
next house down and I have a cousin that lives back over here.
the Sharks and the Jets
we've got one of the other original Shinn family houses right
over there that one of
our cousins lives in
Here in Lodi, it's a friendly rivalry known
as East Side West Side.
Oh, you're asking me, the old
timer.
The East Side West Side Story
Many years ago, I would say we have to go back now.
Probably it kind of boils down to
back in the day to 1865.
Ulysses S. Grant deeds a homestead to John R. Shinn
in what is now west side Lodi.
It's one of those amazing pieces of history that we we hold
on to, you know, to be some of the first people that ever
actually settled here.
Kind of cool that you know, we've kind of handed that
down through the generations. While over
on the east side... Our family heritage goes back quite
a few years. They actually moved here from South Dakota
in 1899 and started at farming
operation right here on this property. Then long
comes me. Okay, another generation. They always
talk about how great their East Side sand is over
there. So we always kind of poo-pooed those guys
over on West Side for quality.
It really probably wasn't that true, but we always did it
anyway.
That's because with each generation comes a
newfound respect for the land and for those
who farm it.
Kids that grow up in a multi-generational business whatever
it is, I think it's good for them to get
out and do other things and see the world and then bring back
what they've learned to the family
business, and so it's a great responsibility that
we all have here collectively to make sure that
we show our appellation well. When they succeed, we
succeed, when we succeed, they succeed. It's part of
just you know, it's part of the bigger farming family. And
any one of them over there that needed something we jump to
help them.
We borrow equipment from each other. We loan equipment.
It's about respect, mutual respect, and when you
give it to your neighbors, your neighbor, your neighbors will give it back to you.
East Side
West Side
In the end does it still matter?
The three words that best describe the
farmer and our region are the Northeast
side, the central East Side, and
the southern east side. They're the best regions.
Apparently, it really matters.