EIF-B_Where We Come From

WHERE WE COME FROM
“I don’t think there’s a single farmer out
there who doesn’t think of their legacy.
It’s their soul. Passing it on to the next
generation is one of the greatest things.
But it’s also not what you leave them, but
what you leave in them.” Dustin said. “The
mindset and the work ethic is huge.”
He and Jessica agree those two things
and more are traits that came from their
ancestors.
They add stubbornness, persistence and
a good grasp of farming to the list.
Dustin, who took German in high
school, had the chance to visit Germany,
Switzerland and Austria during those
years. In 2010, he traveled back to Germany
for work and also visited Amsterdam.
He did a deeper dive into his family
history during the pandemic. Jessica had
given him Ancestry.com for his birthday,
and in his down time, he “just devoured”
information. He also has an aunt who
knows a lot of the family’s history.
Both Dustin and Jessica
grew up working on their
farms, which at the time
included hogs and cattle.
Today, they both are grain
farmers and work land in
Cedar, Muscatine and Scott
counties.
They share fond memories
of growing up doing chores.
“I spent a lot of time with
hogs. I remember busting ice
and getting silage out of the
silo,” Dustin recalled. “Grandpa
had bunks set up so I could
scoop it and walk down the
bunk so a cow wouldn’t trample
me.”
Jess, who grew up outside of
Stockton, recalled a Christmas
morning when she and her sister
awoke super early in hopes
of opening the presents under
the tree.
“My dad was waiting, and he said ‘You
can’t open any presents until you clean the
hog pens.’ So, we had to do that first,” she
said. She left the farm as a young adult
working in other fields in urban areas.
“I wanted nothing to do with farming,
but then I grew up and I realized I missed
the farm. I wanted to go back to farming.
I started working again with my dad,” she
said.
She and Dustin, who had met briefly in
the past, reconnected one night at a bowling
alley where Jessica joined her dad for a
few drinks. Dustin and his dad had just
finished harvesting nearby and came into
the restaurant.
“They came. He pulled a chair up and
sat down, and we talked every day since
then,” she said.
When the couple married in 2014, they
were farming separately. A few years later,
Mother Nature nudged them together.
“It was a really wet year, and he was
having trouble getting the beans out. It
was late. I got done on my family farm,
Jessica, Dylan, Harper and Dustin
Marolf come from a long line of
farmers in Eastern Iowa who
originally came to the area from
Germany and Switzerland. Jessica
and Dustin represent at least the
fifth generation. Harper Marolf
and Dylan Marolf love to help their
parents in the fields during planting
and harvest. Their parents, Dustin
and Jessica, hope to instill love of
the land and appreciation for hard
work into their children as their
ancestors did for them.
EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTOS /
CONTRIBUTED
and I brought my machine over,” Jessica
recalled.
“After that, every year we just started
slowly doing things together,” she said.
The have a babysitter for nights that
they have to work late in the fields, but “on
weekends they are in the combine with us
or with one of their grandmas on the farm.
They absolutely love it,” Jessica said.
They are happy to work hard growing
the dream of their ancestors and for future
generations.
“It’s all about keeping it going,” Dustin
said. n
eifarmer.com SPRING 2024 | EASTERN IOWA FARMER 65