To review where we are after two blog posts about my farm journey. My early years growing up on the farm were good years filled with lots of outdoor space to run, play, explore and have fun. Once I was old enough to work on the farm, I worked my tail off! I learned a ton about farming, though some of the lessons I unlearned when I got old enough to think for myself and creatively come up with better ways to do thing (more about later).
Now I'm at college age. I attended Shippensburg University majoring in finance. At this point in my life, a career in farming was not in my vision. The farm continued to operate, but with me in college and my brother having graduated from college and starting his own career the farm was downsized a bit. My brother and I helped out when needed but neither of us was in the daily operation any more.
Between my freshman and sophomore year, I picked up a summer job at what was called at the time, Tressler Wilderness Center, working with at risk youth. I fell in love with the work and not long after the fall semester started, I transitioned into a full time weekend position. So, I went to school through the week and spent Friday,, Saturday and Sunday working. As you can imagine, I didn't have much time for the farm, and I was fine with that, but the skills I learned on the farm made me stand out in this working environment, particularly my work ethic. No one cold out work me. So, that's what I did for three years!
At some point during those three years, I took a trip to Montana to visit a friend. While there, I was introduced to cattle farms utilizing rotational grazing techniques. I was amazed and intrigued. I had no idea, cattle could be raised without having to take feed to them everyday and without having to constantly clean up after them. I remember thinking, "why did I spend most of my childhood doing all that work when the cattle could have been doing it?"
And so started my journey back to the farm, if not only in my head and imagination, at least for at first.
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