Living Life Well on the Farm

After Lynn Selking completed his short course at Purdue University, he returned to the family farm in Decatur, Ind., to start building things.

It was 1968. His dad was farming a little more than the original 80 acres homesteaded in 1853 by Lynn’s great, great grandfather. He offered Lynn some land to rent and later offered him housing.

“Sandy, my wife, and I got married in March of 1972 and my dad wanted us to move into the house trailer on the farm,” Lynn recalls, “but I wanted to build.”

Sandy and Lynn Selking enjoy one of many dances danced during their 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

Nothing against the offer, but Lynn had already been doing some construction work with Sandy’s uncle and liked the idea of building a house. Since that time, he and Sandy have built a family, a farm business, a seed business and lots of precious memories.

The farm is now 2,500 acres of mostly corn and soybeans. Three of their four sons work there and own a cattle operation.

Lynn started selling seed in the typical way. His Brodbeck seed company representative got him started. Bob Purlee is now his Dairyland Seed district manager. It’s been close to 20 years now, and Lynn still loves selling seed.

“There’s so many stories going back with Bob and me that I could write a book,” he says, “a book you can’t publish.”

He cherishes the relationships he’s built. He’s keen on helping area farmers improve their yields. Putting the right hybrids on a farm, he believes, will make or break his future sales. “Bob is pretty excellent at making sure we get it right,” he says.

Which varieties worked well last season? Everything, Lynn says. The last two years his customers have experienced phenomenal yields. He credits genetics and some outside support. “The good Lord still has to help it.” On his own farm, DS-4510Q™, DS-4878AM™, and DS-5144Q™ shined.

Interest in seed runs in the family, all the way down to his grandson Camden, a fifth-grader. At night before bed, Camden likes to read seed catalogs. He also constantly asks Lynn questions about seed.

They have five grandsons, four living within four miles. The other, Grant, lives a three-and-a-half-hour drive away in Floyds Knob, Ind. His mom and dad “work in corporate,” but Grant thinks he wants a career in agriculture someday.

“Grandma spoils the dickens out of all of them,” Lynn says. “There are always treats in grandma’s cupboard.”

Their oldest grandson, Evan, is a sophomore in high school and likes welding. “He’s also not afraid to pull a motor apart and put it back together,” Lynn says.
Another grandson, Caleb, in fifth grade, also likes to build with wood.

Sandy and Lynn (center) pose with their kids and their families for this treasured, multi-generation photo, March 2022.

Caleb’s dad bought a woodworking shop 20 years ago. Lynn spends a lot of time there getting lost in projects on rainy winter days when there’s really not much to do on the farm. “Tinkering,” he calls it.

He doesn’t buy any wood for his creations. It all comes from trees he cuts and has milled into boards. He stacks the boards on pallets, sticking plaster lathe between each row of boards, and planes them smooth after they dry.

“I’ve got a 4-foot fan that runs at a slow speed, and I cover the stacked wood all up with tarps, and then leave one end open and pull the air through with a fan. You have to pull the air through. You cannot push it through,” he explains.

The fan draws out the moisture. In about four weeks, moisture drops from a start of 23 to 24 percent down to 8 percent.

Lynn has built crosses with welded iron and cement nails and spikes. He crafted a manger scene made with Mary and Joseph. His church birdhouses have the parish name on the side. He made 15 of those and gave them all away.

This cross designed and crafted by Lynn features high school graduation photos of him and Sandy, a picture from their 1972 wedding, and one from a trip to the Canadian Rockies.

In 2022 he made a particularly special cross out of walnut to commemorate his and Sandy’s 50th anniversary. Each of the fours ends features a picture of them. He kept some of the live edge (bark) on the wood for texture. The words “And the two became one” are indelibly burned into the cross. Each coat of polyurethane on the bark makes the finish shine more. Lynn applied seven coats.

His dedication isn’t reserved just for Sandy. One of the couples he and Sandy run around with are avid Indiana University fans. Lynn, a Purdue alum, is not. But when IU defeated Purdue a couple years ago in the rivalry’s storied Old Oaken Bucket game and took home the traveling bucket trophy, Lynn built his own authentic-looking bucket as a gift for his friend. As most sports fans would attest, it’s not exactly the kind of friendly gesture upon which rivalries are built.

He sometimes gets his ideas for woodworking projects at night when he’s not tired. He gets out of bed, sits in a chair, and dreams up his next idea. But for now, he’s focused on finishing the cross and nativity set he started as well as the house remodel he began in summer.

The farm, Lynn says, is a good place to raise a family. It’s an environment that helped him and Sandy teach their kids family values and a strong work ethic. Today, their grandkids are gaining invaluable hands-on learning that will serve them well in whatever future endeavors they choose.

Lynn and Sandy built the life they wanted, one filled with family, faith, good health and friends. “The Lord has blessed us very much so,” he says.