By Mike Orso
As seasons turn from one to the other so too does the responsibility of caring for some McHenry County farms that have been in the same family for several generations. This spring for example, Chad and Michele Bauer, both 48, will help take on the task of fully running their family’s Ringwood-area farm that previous generations have owned and operated for nearly a century.
“I am glad last year is in the rearview mirror and we’re on to good things now,” said Chad, who lost his father, Kevin Bauer, 74, to cancer, and his grandmother Georgia Bauer, 94, to natural causes, in 2025. “So yeah, excited for ’26 and getting the season started.”
Both Kevin and his mother Georgia Bauer held operations and ownership responsibilities of the farm that has been in the same family since 1935. Transitioning an estate can be a challenge for any family, but with land, homes, barns, other buildings, animals and equipment, it can be especially complex for farm families.
“The guy in charge doesn’t want to talk about when he’s gone or whose taking it over,” said Chad, who also farms with his brother, Steven, 50. “It seems like the guy who runs it currently, it takes them a long time to feel like they are starting to make money and kind of putting their thumbprint on the farm in the way they want to do it. There’s a lot of debt to pay down and recoup. It’s very personal to them too.”
Edward and Olivia Bauer, Chad and Steven’s great-grandparents, milked cows on the farm during the Great Depression. Roland Bauer and his wife Georgia, their grandparents, eventually took over, expanding it to include several hundred acres in northern McHenry County. Their father, Kevin, helped milk cows, and with growing corn, soybeans and hay. Milking cows ended in the mid-1980s when the family took part in a USDA herd buyout program designed at the time to try to reduce surplus milk and boost prices for dairy farmers that remained.
“Growing up with my grandpa I literally just looked at him like he was a superhero. I was kind of in awe of him,” said Chad. “With my dad, it was more about teamwork. My dad was really good at putting together people. He always had a big group of people that could come and give us a hand.”
Kevin Bauer, a 1969 graduate of McHenry High School, wanted to work on the family farm full-time. Similar to many others, the farm did not generate enough revenue to sustain him and his wife Lynn’s growing family along with his parents. So, like many farmers, he also held an off-farm job, working 36 years for ComEd.
“He was always involved with the farm, always wanted to keep it going, and always was very active in it,” said Chad, who also holds a job off the farm. “My grandpa couldn’t have farmed as long as he did without my dad.”
Kevin Bauer also served on the Ringwood Board of Trustees for more than two decades and helped organize several antique farm tractor treks and end-of-growing-season celebrations, both still held annually with support from the McHenry County Farm Bureau. Chad Bauer credits his late father for providing the guidance and motivation, especially at the start of each new growing season like the one that will begin soon.
“Some days I’m just like struggling with the mental giddy up,” said Chad. “This year, there definitely is going to be a hole in our heart out there, and I guess, will kind of be there forever.”
Still, Chad, a graduate of Johnsburg High School, and his wife Michele, a native of Chicago and graduate of Lane Tech High School there, look forward to carrying on the family’s farming legacy. The two met while on athletic scholarships at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) in Chicago. They transferred to and graduated from Eastern Illinois University when NEIU eliminated its athletic programs. They’re involved in the local community, with Chad serving on the McHenry County Fair Board for over a decade and Michele active with the local chapter of Cycling Without Age. They’re renovating the farmhouse and, with his brother and mother, working toward fully transitioning the family farm.
“How fortunate I feel to be in the position to be a 4th generation farmer on the same farm, said Chad. “I am still working with family, my brother is a partner, and my wife, daughter, mom and my brother’s wife Elisa and family are all supporting us.”
Chad and Michele Bauer in front of the family’s home farm near Ringwood. “My great grandpa settled here. My grandpa built it. My dad perfected it. My brother and I are going to preserve it,” said Chad.
Kevin Bauer and his mother Georgia, on the family farm near Ringwood in northern McHenry County. Both passed away in 2025. “Legacy and our place in the community is important,” said son/grandson Chad Bauer. (Bauer family photo)
Chad, Michele and daughter Ellie Bauer in front of the home farm’s barn. Chad and Michele enjoy bicycling in their spare time. Ellie, 20, attends Western Illinois University. (Bauer family photo)
Ringwood farmers Kevin and Lynn Bauer’s family that includes son Steven and his wife Elisa, son Chad and his wife Michele along with their families in Bauer Farms swag at a family event on the farm. (Bauer family photo)