Saving the Family Farm

We hear a lot about the disappearing family farm.  As I travel around our state, I see hundreds of wonderful old “Home Places” that are overgrown with weeds and seem to be forgotten. I wonder about the family that sacrificed to build a small family place only to, for whatever reason, move on to life without the farm.  Not so long ago, every little pasture you passed while driving had a couple of cows to sustain the family that operated the little farm.  Those places are now mostly empty.

One of our dreams is to, in some way, help save some of those places by keeping them productive. 

Cattle need hay. Lots of hay.  We currently cut our hay from several of the old “Homeplaces” in our community. It helps us by providing a good place to produce a hay crop, and I hope our neighbors find value in keeping these farms alive a little longer.

We believe the family farm doesn’t have to disappear. Life goes on, things change. But, I like to think there’s a group of old farmers looking down on us that appreciate our trying to make the farm last a little longer. 
--John