Ever since he was a student at Montgomery County High School in the early 1990s, Nathan Dunakey had a passion for welding.

“Jerry Whithouse was my ag teacher at Montgomery,” the Montgomery City resident said. “I had a welding class in vo-tech. I took a second-year class in my first year. I went to Linn Tech in 1991. I was tested out of the welding program. I went ahead and did some welding and it’s been my thing.”

On March 1, Dunakey shared his 30-plus years of experience in welding during a Young Farmers/Young Farm Wives meeting at Wellsville-Middletown High School. For more than an hour, he taught several people the proper way of welding, a process that joins materials by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool. Welding helmets and gloves were provided at the demonstration.

“The hardest part is to do it good the first time,” Dunakey said. “There are a lot of times when you get done, you’re like, ‘Man, that doesn’t look right.’ There are rules to it. You’ve got to have a 45-degree angle to the face. It’s got to be a certain width. It’s got to tie in right. It’s got to have a nice ripple formation just to make it look good.”

Weekly meetings of the Young Farmers/Young Farm Wives program began in January and will end on March 15. There were visits from Alex Kleinsorge, Charlie Ellis, Sonja Perry from the Bowling Green Vet Clinic and MU Extension agronomist Rusty Lee. On March 8, there was a demonstration on floral design.

In the final meeting on March 15, Kate Busch will make a visit to speak on estate planning and farm succession. The program starts at 6:30 p.m.

First-year W-M FFA advisors Emily Brune and Rylee Williamson were the coordinators of the program, which helps adults extend their agricultural knowledge beyond school.

“We set up 10 weeks of meetings, so each week, we have a different topic,” Williamson said. “It ranges from all sectors of agriculture. We try to get a little bit of everything for them to suit their needs or whatever they’re interested in.”

Williamson said she enjoyed hosting the meetings for the last two months.

“It has been very beneficial for me as well because as we bring in people to educate adults, I get to educate as well,” Williamson said. “So I’m learning stuff. I think it helps build connections being new to the community. It’s nice to build connections with some people who have been here for a while.”

The Missouri Young Farmers and Young Farm Wives organizations were formed in 1969. There are about 40 Young Farmers chapters in Missouri.

W-M started a Missouri Young Farmers Association charter in 1971. Dennis Lehnen, who was the charter’s vice-president, was in attendance at the March 1 meeting.