This week’s blog is all about me, aren’t you excited? It’s so weird talking about myself but I feel like it’s important to know where I come from and where I (we) are headed.
I got into the ag industry in college when I chose to study in Agriculture Science and Business and Animal Science. It’s one of those things that baffles a lot of people since I’m a beach-loving cheerleader from southern California, but I had such an appreciation for growing my own food. We always had a large garden growing up and my great grandfather farmed in Oklahoma and southern Kansas. I’ve always loved his stories about farming and was wide-eyed and excited each time he’d talk about it. When I decided to make it my major, it was largely because I didn’t know where my food came from, so I knew others probably didn’t know either.
After graduating and obtaining my credentials, I became a high school ag teacher and taught for ten years. I taught everything from ag biology, soil chemistry, veterinary science, ag mechanics and my favorite, floral design. Looking back on those years I hope I made an impact on those kids because they are truly the future in the ag industry.
Coming back to Kansas was a big moment for us, we left our well-paying jobs in California for a better life here. Coming back to a family farm and not really knowing where your place is was harder than expected but I knew I wanted this life for my girls and for my family. I knew I wanted to create a brand and break into the Direct-to-Consumer business. We have an amazing product, truly some of the best beef you will ever have, and I knew our friends and family loved it each time we came home. We got really good at taking beef back as our ‘luggage’ on flights, but that’s an entirely different story. I knew we needed a better way to get our beef to more people.
I pride myself in the fact that everything we provide is 100% homegrown. We have 100% traceability. Our beef is born and raised on our family farm, on our piece of dirt that we call home. We don’t buy any other animals to come into our beef feeding program. Everything that our animals eat is homegrown as well, everything from the hay we farm to the milo sorghum grain. It’s all made, farmed and taken care of here, at our farm, on our dirt. The same dirt that my girls are being raised. The same dirt that has seen a million sunsets and a million sunrises. The same dirt that will (hopefully) feel my grandchildren’s footsteps. The same dirt that has seen and felt our tears, but also our laughs and celebrations as a family.
The goal was to get more time together, to slow down, to enjoy this piece of earth we were given. Our hope is to grow this into something everyone knows and enjoys, and to keep living this midwestern life on our farm with our girls; working together as a family. Thanks for being a big piece of our business, our family and our farm.