Introduction - Post #1

You may wonder why a middle-aged MBA with a "professional" life may want to have a farm.  The purpose of this introduction is to explain in general terms the reasons for this apparent insanity.  "Grandpa's Farm" is a concept that sprouted in rudimentary form in the mind of a wee lad of four years old, when I watched honeybees gather nectar from the neighbor's bush.  I wanted bees for the delicious honey they produced.  I wanted to know more.

Growing up, I was fascinated by the thought of growing food for my family.  I wanted to raise vegetables, especially tomatoes and corn.  I wanted to pick berries, eat some, and help my Mom make jam.  Raspberry jam was my favorite.  I wanted to pick apples, peaches, and pears.  I liked to eat them fresh, but I also liked to eat them in the Winter and Spring out of the jars my Mom canned for our family.  I wanted to raise chickens to lay eggs for our family.  First I got three White Leghorn chicks.  I soon decided three was not enough and I got ten more.  The eggs were fabulously fresh.  I wanted pigs to eat our leftover garden produce and leftovers from our table.  The bacon was amazing.  I wanted to raise beef for our family, so I cooperated with a friend and did so.  I wanted to be able to feed my family well.  I wanted to feed my family good food, better than store bought food.  I wanted to feed them adequately, nutritiously, deliciously, fantastically.  I had a dream, a dream that I imagined would be both rewarding and fulfilling.

Farming is hard work.  Why yes it is.  I speak from experience.  Why would anyone want to work that hard?  Because it is immensely fulfilling and rewarding.  Amazing things happen in the farming process, with amazing things being produced.  I have experience with farming, so I can approach this with my eyes wide open.  I started working on a dairy farm at age 10.  By the time I was 14, my average summer work week on Rawl's dairy farm was between 75 and 80 hours.  Many hours were hard work, but many hours included watching toads in the irrigation ditch and dragon flies as the flew by.  In college, I worked two more years at the Utah State University Dairy farm.  I fed calves, herded cattle, milked cows, fed cows, etc.  When I was milking, my shift started at 2:30 am.  I got done in time for 8:30 classes.  I am aware of the hard work of farming.  I am also aware of the tremendous satisfaction and reward that comes from farming.  Call me crazy, my kids do.

Through life, nutrition became more important to me as I learned that it started with the soil and impacted our plant foods,our animal foods, eventually our bodies and our physical and mental health.  I learned about soil science.  I learned about sustainability.  I learned about how to grow fantastic food efficiently.  I learned how to grow nutritionally dense food well and how nutritionally dense food could create the foundation of health in children, leading to healthier, happier lives for them.  I learned that nutritionally dense foods are hard to come by in the standard channels of distribution (grocery stores).  I learned that nutritionally dense food is scarce and therefore expensive.  I wanted to grow great food for my kids, grand kids, friends, and family.  I wanted my loved ones to have a place in the country to come and get away from suburbia and find both great food aplenty and peace and joy in nature.  That is why I want a farm, Grandpa's Farm.

This blog is about my journey from a wee lad through years of experience and learning and also dreaming and planning for the ways in which I would grown fantastic, nutritionally dense food on my very own farm.  I expect this blog to be roughly a ten year blog of the past, present, and future, with close up experience of buying, building, and reaping the harvest and the joy at Grandpa's Farm.