How it all Started

It all started when I was around 12 years old. I told my Mom that when I grew up I wanted to live on a farm.

After High School I didn't even think about farming, because in my mind it wasn't even an option. I met Rachel at the Honor Academy in Texas and we got married 01-10-2010. But before that, Rachel and I went through a few semesters of college. We decided to drop out and pay off our student loans. I took a year to take a break from school, to really allow myself time to think about what I wanted to spend my life doing. I started to look into Agriculture Degrees. I knew deep down inside I wanted to be a farmer, but I knew there wasn't any money in it and I wouldn't know where to start anyway. I also didn't like some aspects of conventional farming (ex. sitting in a air conditioned tractor planting acres and acres of corn or soybean). So I decided to pursue a degree in Agronomy at the University of Florida.

Rachel and I moved to Florida and lived there for almost 2 years. During that time we had a small revelation that lead to something we never could even imagine. I prayed to God that He would direct me, show me something I could give my life to. I started looking into Sustainable Agriculture, I saw the truth and common sense it offered, improving the life of farmers, animals, and the land. It added and improved, it did not deplete and take away. But I had no idea how to even start in the direction of becoming a sustainable farmer or if it could support my family. When I thought of sustainable farmers I thought of bare-foot hippies. Just when I was ready to give up and just fall back on pursuing a degree in Agronomy, Rachel and I subscribed to Netflix and stumbled upon the documentary "Fresh".

The movie "Fresh" was our first exposure to our faulty agricultural system and another relevant sustainable system that existed. This started Rachel and I on our frantic search. It encouraged us when we saw smart, modern farmers making a good living with the sustainable pasture-based agriculture model. One of the key people in the documentary was Joel Salatin.

 He was the flame that ignited my smoldering farming fire. Joel is a smart, relevant sustainable beyond organic farmer whose passion for healing the land through this type of farming got me hooked from the very moment I heard him speak. I knew then and there that this is what I was meant to do, become a sustainable pasture-based farmer. Rachel started to do some research and found out that Joel Salatin's farm, Polyface, offered a summer internship. To make sure that this was something I wanted to get myself into I read Joel Salatin's book You Can Farm. There was a disclaimer saying to make sure to read the book before you started to see if sustainable farming was something for you. If you wanted to still farm by the end of the book, great! If you didn't then it was the best $30 you ever spent because it saved a lot of headache and money from learning the hard way. Not only did I want to still farm after reading this book, it made me want to farm even more!

Let me just take a moment to say that this journey would not even have begun if it was not for Rachel being 100% supportive of this dream. I thank God often for the fact that I have a wife who is not only supportive but whose dream is also to become a farmer. To have a spouse who is zeroed in on the same goal as you, is absolutely priceless. 

Finally there was a clear path to where I wanted to be, the beginning of that path was an internship at a sustainable farm. This would be equivalent to a 4 year college degree. Hands on training and learning and everything I needed to someday start my own farming enterprise. I knew there were many steps from internship to having my own farm, but it was good to know how to finally get there. So I stopped all of my University of Florida plans and took a risky dive, I applied to Polyface Farm. I knew if I was to become a farmer I had to fully commit myself to this goal, there was no turning back. It was a very fun experience talking to people and telling them I decided not to go back to college, but decided to become a farmer instead. After an application questionnaire, patience, and much preparation I found out that I was accepted (out of 220 people) to the 2 day check out period for Polyface. It was an awesome experience working at Polyface for 2 days, getting to meet Joel and the other intern-hopefuls. I found out 1 month later that I was not accepted to Polyface. They said it did not say anything against my character it was just the fact that there were 40 check-outs and only 8 were chosen for the summer internship. I was devastated. I trusted in God even though I didn't understand why this was happening and the next day I found out about J&L Green Farm. Jordan and Laura Green own this farm, it is based on Joel Salatin's models. I applied and within 48 hours of the bad news, I found out I was accepted to J&L Green Farm.

God opened another door right away. Rachel had previously said she wished she could intern with me at Polyface, but it turned out that would be impossible. When I got accepted to J&L Green Farm, Jordan (the farm owner) asked if the apprenticeship would be something my wife would be interested in as well, because I put in my application that it was OUR dream not only my dream. Rachel obviously said yes and also applied. She got accepted. We could barely sleep the night we found out. Now we will be living in Basye, Virginia working at J&L Green Farm for about a year as apprentices. I hope this is encouraging to you because this shows that God is always faithful. We need to trust in God even if something doesn't go quite as planned, all we can see is the here and now, God knows every molecule in our bodies he knows what is best for us. This farm ended up being a better fit and a better experience. We are excited for this new page in our lives and I hope you enjoy following our journey. We can't wait to see where God takes us and we are in hopeful expectation of what will come. Thank you all for your support!