This is us, our family’s 6th generation to farm on this place.
I’ve been asked before how do I think our family got to this point?
My first thought was luck. We were born lucky with the opportunity.
Followed swiftly by sacrifice, grit, determination, hard work, tenacity, grace, and another shot of luck.
There have been discussions around how easy it must be for Colten and me to get started on a generational farm versus the go that first-gen farmers and ranchers have…
We’ve been working for this long before we had our own grain to show for it. Our family’s lifestyle revolved around the needs of the farm on the farm’s time.
In the summer when the other kids hung around in town and at the pool, we weren’t there.
On weekend mornings when the other kids were taking advantage of sleeping in late on their warm beds, we weren’t there.
After school when the kids drove around together we weren’t there.
When we played basketball and other kids had their parents cheering
in the stands, ours weren’t there.
We’ve all had our own hard. Generational farms are possible because
time, commitment, and hard work have all been invested.
Challenges face us all. There is no contest for who has it harder in life. The opportunity for us to be here wasn’t handed to us. We have been a part of getting the farm to this point and have every intention of contributing to forward progress.
Just the same as the grass isn’t always greener on the other side — the challenges on the other side of the fence aren’t always easier.
