When I was growing up, farm fresh meat wasn’t a normal thing like it was for my mom, but a rare occasion when Papa butchered a beef to send across the country. My mom grew up on the family farm in Leon, KS that had been passed down from generation to generation since Kansas became a state (probably longer than that if you ask my Papa). Farm fresh beef was something that she grew up on and never really knew differently until she married my dad and he joined the Army. I remember her always having Grandma and Papa send beef on dry ice to wherever we were stationed at the time. We loved it so much that the meat was gone faster than Papa could raise it.

My brothers and I loved going back to the farm in the summer and jumping on hay bales, harvesting wheat, and getting up before the sun to feed the cattle with Papa. At that young age I never even thought about farming, until Papa passed away. I was 13 years old at the time and our summers were never the same. No one was around to take over the farm and it slowly got sold away and nothing was left but the homestead where Grandma lives today.

9 years passed and Dad had retired so we all moved back to Kansas. I have a daughter of my own and I tell my wife and parents that I want to be a farmer like Papa. At this time the COVID-19 pandemic was just starting and I wanted to live a simple life out of the city raising healthy food for my family while wanting to carry on what my family has always done…Farm. I wanted the very best food for my daughter and wife at the time and now for our son as well.

The farming journey began with pastured chickens in a Joel Salatin chicken tractor and we never looked back. We then added grass-fed beef and pray that we continue to grow so that not only does our family have food but that the family will grow and we can provide the healthiest food to a much larger community looking to get away from the chemicals/GMOs/hormones/etc in commercialized food. Farming was something that I always loved doing and that passion continues to grow as I see my children smile with joy and learn lessons on the farm that you can’t learn anywhere else.