Both Jeremy and I dreamed of farming and living on a farm from a young age. I played with tractors and loved all animals as a young child. My family moved to a small farm when I was in elementary school. I have always referred to it as a 4-H farm. We had sheep, a horse, dogs, chickens, rabbits, apple trees and a huge garden.
Jeremy was an avid reader of anything outdoors related and was also a 4-H member. In 1986 his family bought a farm to grow Christmas trees and hunt and fish, but they rented the house out. He worked at a local agriculture machine shop and began producing hay on the family farm when he was in high school.
We met at at Purdue University while pursuing Agriculture degrees. Jeremy was able to complete his masters by research that was completed at his family's farm. After we received our degrees in 2003 we moved to his family's farm. Now we are living both of our dreams of farming. We would both admit it has been much more difficult than we expected. I taught our first year on the farm and was able to help Jeremy in the summers. He raises cash crop hay and a few row crops when a field needs rotated. He also mows hay with his 2 self-propelled swathers for local farmers. Paul joined us in May of 2006, Ruth in December of 2008. We began raising the dairy heifers in 2008. We also sell fencing supplies and forage crop seed. In the winters Jeremy has hired himself out as everything from a mechanic, to truck driver, to a log skidder. Making ends meet seems to be more and more difficult but we are determined to stick out these hard times, and continue living our childhood dreams until God directs us elsewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment