And sons, of course -- they, your kids, are the ones who may be taking over the family farm once you've, uh, bought the farm. Or maybe it'll be some other sodbustin', cattle-cooin', sheep-shearin' member of the family. Or haven't you thought about that? Think you're going to live forever? Think things will all go smoothly once you're in that big pigpen in the sky (excuse me, corral; or maybe it'll be a nice sunny field; or maybe an apple orchard; or maybe Beverly Hills and none of this will matter!). Think there won't be hair-pulling and eye-poking and nasty scenes in court? OK, maybe there won't be.

Still, you might want to chew on it. So, the folks at California FarmLink and the U.C. Cooperative Extension are holding a two-part workshop to help you consider and negotiate the intricacies of transferring your farm or ranch to the next generation. It's called the "Sowing the Seeds of Farm Succession Conference," and takes place on two days -- the first all-day session is Thursday, Jan 15, the second is Feb. 19.

The news release has the details.