Farmer Field Report August 29, 2026 – Jed’s Boot Camp Graduation & Watermelons
Well… we’re back. It’s Corinna writing the blog post this week! Farmer Kurt is busy getting the lay of the land again after our return from a week away on vacation! We rolled back into Ohio last night after spending the week in San Antonio, Texas, where we got to watch our oldest son, Jed, officially graduate from Air Force Basic Military Training.
But before we jump back into harvest mode, I wanted to share a little bit about our week, because it was a pretty special one for our family.
We Almost Missed the Plane
Our adventure started with a little excitement before we even left Ohio. We arrived at the airport Sunday morning with PLENTY of time to spare. Farmer Kurt was in charge of getting us to the right gate, so we happily made our way through the terminal, found some seats, and settled in…
Until about 25 minutes before takeoff, when we realized Kurt had been looking at the seat number on our boarding pass instead of the gate number. Oops. We were sitting somewhere around Gate 23. Our plane was leaving from Gate 76. On the OTHER SIDE of the terminal.
We grabbed our stuff and started RUNNING through the airport. We made it to our actual gate about 30 seconds before they closed the door. And thus began the Bench Family San Antonio Adventure.
Back in San Antonio After 30 Years
We stayed with my old high school friend Milly, which made the trip even more special for me. Some of you may not know that I actually lived in San Antonio during part of middle school and high school years, and I haven’t been back in about 30 years.
It was fascinating to see how much the city has changed. San Antonio has become so much more cosmopolitan and tourist-friendly, especially downtown. The Pearl District was beautiful, and the River Walk has expanded so much since I lived there. But there were also moments when I’d see something familiar and think, “Oh my goodness. That’s still here.”
We spent our first couple of days tooling around with Milly. We visited one of the old San Antonio missions, including its historic farm and irrigation system — which, of course, the farmers found interesting. We explored the Pearl District, ate some ice cream at a great place called “Licks,” and walked the River Walk in the evening when the Texas heat was slightly more tolerable.
We also spent a day at Milly’s ranch house, where we swam in the pool and picked prickly pears growing on the property. Josiah tried eating them and was NOT a fan. All that work to harvest those prickly fruits, too! We threw the rest of them out.
We made this sign so Jed could find us in the crowd.
Seeing Our Airman
Our alarms went off around 4 AM Wednesday morning. My brother Torsten had arrived the night before, so he joined us as we headed to Lackland Air Force Base in the dark, trying to figure out where in the world we were supposed to park. Apparently thousands of other Air Force families had the same idea about getting there early. By the time we found our seats, the good spots were already filling up. Unfortunately, we ended up in the section that would eventually be in full Texas sun.
The first event of the morning was the Airman’s Run at 7:30 AM. This was the first time we’d actually SEE Jed since we dropped him off for Basic Training. We had made a giant sign with his name on it so he could hopefully spot us in the stands as his flight ran past. It was a pretty unusual sign, shaped a bit like one of the RC airplanes he loves to build, and there definitely wasn’t another one like it in the crowd.
And then we saw them coming. Jed belongs to Flight 609. (All trainees are assigned to a squadron – he was the Mustang squadron – as well as a flight). Suddenly, there he was, running past us while all of us screamed and cheered from the stands in our matching Mustang shirts. They passed us twice. After all those weeks of letters and a few precious phone calls, it felt SO GOOD just to lay eyes on him.
The Coin and Retreat Ceremony takes place in the Pfingston Center and is the larger of the two events. Jed received his Airman’s Coin. He is located in the middle “flight” in this pictures, front row, fourth man from the right.
From Trainee to Airman
Later that morning came the Coin and Retreat Ceremony. This is the moment when the trainees officially become Airmen. Each graduate receives an Airman’s Coin marking that transition. There were 810 graduates in Jed’s class. And according to Jed, Lackland turns out roughly that many new Airmen every single week.
Watching all of them march onto the field in their OCP camouflage uniforms was pretty incredible. Hundreds of young men and women moving in formation, marching in step after weeks of learning how to function as a unit. Meanwhile, we were sitting in direct sun in nearly 100-degree Texas heat and humidity.
At the end of the ceremony came one of the moments I had been looking forward to most: “tapping out” our Airman. After the ceremony, the Airmen remain standing at attention. They aren’t supposed to break formation or move until a family member or friend physically touches — or “taps” them. Families actually put quite a bit of thought into who will do the tapping and how they’ll do it.
We decided to do it together. We walked down, found Jed standing there at attention, surrounded him… and basically all hugged him at once. A lot of families film that moment. We deliberately chose not to. I didn’t want to experience seeing my son for the first time in weeks through the screen of my phone. I wanted to actually be there. So that one is just stored in our heads.
Our first moments with Jed after tapping him out.
We both got a little choked up. And then his first concern was basically, “Can somebody please give me something cold to drink? ” The poor kid was HOT. We also brought him something else from home that he had requested: sweet corn. He handed a few ears out to some of his buddies. And then, for the first time in almost two months, we got our kid back for the day.
What Does a New Airman Want?
Ice cream. That was request number one. We found the closest Baskin-Robbins we could and got him off base for some ice cream. After that, we went back to Millie’s house. And mostly… we talked. That was what he wanted to do. We played a game. We sat around. We listened to stories. We eventually went out for some Texas barbecue. And the hours absolutely FLEW.
Before we knew it, it was time to start the long process of getting him back onto base before his curfew. We built in a huge buffer because getting thousands of families on and off Lackland is no small feat. We ended up with a little extra time, so we walked through the static airplane displays on the parade field with him and squeezed in a few more conversations before saying goodnight.
Then we went home and collapsed. Because the next morning… we had to do it all over again.
On the Parade Field. Jed is holding the Blue New Hampshire flag, on the outside row, right in front of the Ohio flag airman.
Graduation Day
Thursday was the formal graduation ceremony. This time we knew the drill. We knew where to park. We knew how to get onto base. And most importantly, Jed had told us exactly where to sit so we avoided the hot sun and got the best view.
His flight had been selected to carry the flags during the graduation parade. That meant Flight 609 would be easy to find among hundreds of Airmen, and we had an incredible view. Jed was carrying the blue New Hampshire flag, and as the flights marched around the parade grounds, we could watch him almost the entire time. Eventually, his group turned and began marching directly toward our corner of the field. There he was, right at the front. It was one of those proud-parent moments you just store away.
Jed carried the blue New Hampshire flag. He is located on the very left in the bottom corner of this photo. Do you see him?
And this time we had another special person with us: Grandpa Bench. Kurt’s dad, David, is also a veteran and actually trained at Lackland himself many years ago. He kept looking around and saying he didn’t remember anything nearly this elaborate when he graduated! This time, we let Grandpa tap Jed out. Three generations of Benches standing together at Lackland. Pretty special.
Grandpa Bench taps out Jed
One Last Day Together
After graduation, we visited the museum on base, which had the added benefit of AIR CONDITIONING, and then headed downtown because Jed wanted to see the Alamo. I’ve been to the Alamo so many times from living in San Antonio that I’ll admit I wasn’t particularly excited about going back. But wow. They have really upgraded the experience in the last 30 years, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected.
Of course we visited the Alamo!
As we were walking through downtown, we crossed over the River Walk. Jed looked down. “Wait… is THAT the River Walk?” Yep. We were all tired. It was hot. We’d already walked a ton, and we were trying to be mindful of Grandpa. But I could tell Jed really wanted to see it. So down we went. We gave him a quick taste of the River Walk before heading back to pack up and meet Grandpa at his hotel.
By that point, Jed had one major request: a shower and a nap. And we let him sleep a little TOO long. Suddenly we realized we had about an hour and fifteen minutes to get him all the way back to Lackland. Then we hit TWO accidents. The clock was ticking. When we finally reached the entrance to the base, he had 12 minutes to get back to his dorm. There was no way we were making it through the security line in time. So we said a very hurried goodbye in the car, and Jed jumped out.
And he ran.
We watched him disappear through the gate, then saw him running across the bridge over the road along with a few other Airmen who were also cutting it close. He told us later that he made it back to his dorm with five minutes to spare. Whew.
The official graduation photo. We chose to pose in front of the Texan plane.
The Hard Part
And then it was over. That goodbye was harder than I expected. We’d waited so long to see him. We’d had two wonderful days together. And then suddenly we had to give him back and say goodbye all over again. So our last day in Texas had a little bit of sad energy hanging over it. We’re incredibly proud of him and excited for what’s ahead. But we’re also his parents. And we miss him. That’s just the way it is.
Meanwhile, Back at the Farm…
While we were galavanting around Texas, Shared Legacy Farms was in very capable hands. Glenn was running the show, and Kurt checked in every day to see how things were going.
The big story while we were gone? WATERMELONS. Before leaving, we actually rented a refrigerated reefer truck because we knew the melon harvest was coming and there was no way our normal cooler space was going to handle it. Good thing we did. While we were gone, the crew harvested somewhere around 20 bins of watermelons! Keeping them in refrigerated storage will allow us to hold those melons and continue pulling from them over the next several weeks.
We harvested so many watermelons that we ran out of cooler space. We had to rent this refrigerated reefer truck for a month to keep them somewhere cold.
And when we drove back onto the farm, I noticed something else immediately: THE LEAF COMPOST PILES ARE GONE! If you’ve ever been to our farm, you know the giant piles I’m talking about. Every year, the Village of Elmore brings us leaves, which eventually become beautiful compost that we spread back onto our fields. The crew spread the finished compost while we were away.
This means I now get approximately one glorious month when there aren’t giant piles of leaves lining our driveway and everything looks nice and tidy. Then, in about four or five weeks, Elmore will start bringing us the next batch. And the cycle begins again.
So here we are. Vacation is over. The online store is back. CSA pickups are back. And somehow we have already reached Week 11 of our 18-week CSA season. We’re officially on the downhill side. Before long, winter squash will start showing up in your boxes, and we’ll begin seeing those little signs that summer is slowly handing the baton to fall. Kurt was already out doing a field walk this morning to see how everything fared while we were gone.
As for me? I think I need Sunday. You know how sometimes you come home from vacation and feel like you need a vacation to recover from your vacation? That’s where we’re at. But we’re grateful. Grateful for our crew who kept the farm running. Grateful for a week with old friends and family. Grateful for two days with our son. And very, very proud of our newest Airman.
We’ll rest up Sunday. And Monday morning… we’re back in the saddle.
-Farmer Corinna
Jed takes a photo with his “MTIs” — Military Training Instructors. These are the drill sergeants who turned him into an Airman.