Senior Ian Drake will graduate early in December and will go from a part-time student to a full-time farmer.

In 2019, when Drake was in seventh grade, most students were worried about junior high Morp; however, Ian Drake took over a farm.

In the 1970s, when Patoka Lake flooded, Drake’s grandfather, Donald Drake, got land near Tucker Lake, where he began to farm that land.

Drake’s grandfather passed away, and the farm went to his father, Richard Drake, who taught Drake more about running it. Around the first or second year, his father quit, and Drake managed roughly 60 cattle by himself. 

Drake spent most of his time helping Harry Bledsoe at his farm, then came home and worked independently. 

One of Drake’s biggest problems began when his dad quit helping to upkeep the farm. He sold all their equipment, and Drake was unable to buy his own.

Drake’s parents were not fond of his idea of running this farm alone. 

“I recently started to figure it out. I’m gonna go buy a new truck here soon. It should be a pretty expensive truck because we had a truck and he sold it. My dad wouldn’t let me buy it, so I’m buying one just to show that I can do it,” said Drake.

Farming consists of a lot of ups and downs along the way.

“It’s fun but sometimes it sucks,” said Drake.

Drake’s day-to-day life was challenging because he was also on the football team. So, his day consists of waking up, going to school for half a day, and then co-oping out to get work done until he makes his way back for football. After football, he heads home and works at the farm until late at night. Then, Drake wakes up the following day for zero hours and repeats the schedule.

The hardest part of having this farm for Drake was dealing with problems at inconvenient times. 

“I fix mostly everything I do. I can’t afford to do otherwise. Like the only thing I don’t do is like, if tires break, I call but everything else, I just try to wing it,” said Drake.

Over time, Drake has made some purchases and has some regrets.

“I would have saved my money and not gone and just bought stuff that I didn’t need. I would also have kept some things that I have sold,” said Drake.

Drake plans to graduate mid-term. After graduating, he plans to work excavation and farming for the Union.

Drake already has plans for his future after he completes his time at the Union. 

“I hope to build up my farm and become a full-time farmer,” said Drake