Characters: Farmer John

Full Name: John Phillip Walter

Species: Human

Gender Identification: Male (He/Him)

Birthday: February 18, 1948 (74 years old)

Height: 5 feet 1 inches

Weight: 170 pounds

Unique Traits: Prosthetic Wooden Leg, PTSD, Arthritis

Personality: Strong-minded, caring, stubborn, temperamental (when PTSD gets triggered), introverted but acts extroverted when talking to other characters

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Food: Peach cobbler

Favorite Sports: Running (before losing his leg in an accident), long-distance walking

Favorite Hobbies: Routine maintenance on his Super Comet tractor "Old Blue" to keep it running, fixing the surviving Walter Farm buildings on his property, woodworking, tinkering with antiques to fix them

Favorite Movie Characters: (coming soon)

Dream Job: Cognitive Behavioral Therapist for children

Superpowers: (to be revealed soon)

Fun Facts

The character Farmer John is inspired by a real-life relative of mine who was a farmer that passed away when I was a kid. He had a beard, used a wooden cane to help him walk, and often wore a "John Deere" hat.
The idea of giving Farmer John a false leg was primarily to make his character more interesting and unique. It was also partially inspired by a long-deceased relative of mine in real-life who lost sight in one of his eyes from an accident.
If you look closely at Farmer John's hat in comic #1 or on this page, you might be able to make out the words "Green Moose Tractors." This is a spoof on real-life "John Deere" hats that farmers like to wear.

Character Bio

Farmer John owns and manages a hilly100-acre dairy farm in southern Illinois. While his full name is John Phillip Walter, he prefers to be called Farmer John by his volunteers and Piggy Oink's friends. When he talks with his employees, he likes to be called Mr. Walter. Ever since he discovered Piggy Oink as a piglet who wandered onto his property 22 years ago, he is frequently called Dad or Father by Piggy Oink.

Before the 1980s farm crisis, his dairy farm used to be a 300-acre family farm called Walter Farm that was managed by his father Frank Walter, and his mother Evelyn Grace. John grew up with three older siblings, two brothers, and one sister who helped on the farm.

In the early 1980s, his family farm struggled to earn enough money to pay off their bills due to the farm crisis. When debt began to accumulate, John's parents had to get a loan from the bank to pay off their debts. Unfortunately, due to the high-interest rates from the farm crisis, they couldn't pay back the money they owed to the bank which led to the foreclosure of their farm. The farm eventually got sold to Susan who turned it into a summer camp for children and John did odd jobs in town for the next few years in a desperate attempt to earn enough money to buy back his family farm.

In the early1990s when he thought he earned enough money to buy back his farm, he discovered that he didn't have enough. After pleading with Susan to give back his family farm, she felt sympathetic and decided to strike a deal with John. If she gives back 100 of the 300 acres of land that used to be his farm, John must allow campers who are curious about his farm next door to be allowed to volunteer at it. Susan will pay John a small fee for every camper that wants to explore his farm. Since he couldn't afford to pay the full price of the 100 acres, he will have to owe Susan money every six months until he pays off his debt to her, even if it means he has to work for her at times. John reluctantly agreed with her deal and got to work rebuilding his farm.

Since he only has 100 acres of land and earning money from harvesting crops wasn't as profitable as it used to be in the past, he decided to get a loan from a bank to start a dairy farm. After his business ran for a few years, John was finally making a profit from the amazing milk he was selling by the late 1990s. This allowed him to begin the long process of paying back the money he owes the bank including the rest of the money he owes Susan for the land she sold him.

John refuses to talk about how he lost his leg to anyone due to PTSD from his accident. Whenever a curious camper asks him why he has a wooden leg, he tells them a story he made up that he was born with just one leg and eventually got his first wooden leg as a child to be able to walk like his peers.