Hello, Nice to Meet You

Hi, I’m Deanne.

Many of you have met me through my work in the community, Saturday meat pick up mornings, or the occasional event on my farm. Some thing has drawn you to our farm whether it is our unconventional, sustainable farming practices or our excellent meats. I write a lot about our farm, the doings and goings, the animals, the people. But you don’t often see me front and center, because I am not a front and center kind of person. But for once, I’m going to tell you a little about me, which in the end, is a story about the farm.

I am a third generation farmer. My grandfather purchased my farm in the 50s and it has been passed down through my family since then, first to my dad and then to me. I grew up here. Most of my life has been spent on these 75 acres, watching it shift and change and grow over the years, and paying close attention to it. I made mud pies in the creek. Traipsed through the fields with my dog at my heels. Climbed trees. And let my mind dream. Not much has changed.

I’ve always wanted to live on the farm and loved working with animals, but growing up, our farm was in a conventional crop rotation system, so it was hard to see the possibilities for how I could incorporate my passions into farming. So, I went to college to become a librarian because I am an avid reader of books. I spent several years working professionally in medical and public libraries, but the gravitational pull was always to the outdoors and the farm.

In 2016, my dad spoke with NRCS (the Natural Resources Conservation Service) about programs that would help us to put more of our acreage into pastureland and I got hooked. Fast forward 9 years, and here we are, 75 acres of pasture, fences, waterlines, riparian buffers and silvopasture. Each of those steps were a part of the puzzle that makes our farm what it is today.

When I drove home from my part time job as a librarian in 2017, I remember seeing the first line of fences going in and thinking “I did this” with a little bit of terror and thrill in my heart. I still walk out and think that sometimes when I look at our trees growing bigger, but after 9 years, I’m a bit more impressed that my younger self took the plunge to try something new. That a dream that felt unreachable could be something beautiful.

People often ask me, how did you get into farming? Well, it took a tablespoon of family history, a cup of love for animals, three tablespoons of loving to be outdoors, 16 ounces of stubbornness, and 5 fl. ou. of love for nature and the environment. I think you’ll find that most of those things drive what we do on the farm.

For those of you who have been with us since the beginning, thanks for being great neighbors and support. We’ll see where the next 9 years takes us.