Over twenty years ago Jim and Joan moved to a hundred-acre farm in Franklin County, Kansas thus radically altering our lifestyle forever.  We left behind a predictable suburban life complete with the appropriate cars, clothes, home, and beliefs.  We thought we were “simplifying” our lives and in many ways we did but what we discovered were challenges far beyond our expectations and our base of knowledge at the time.

   Through the years we learned to grow food, capture stray sheep, eat vegetarian, raise chickens from an egg, mend fences, repair tractors, and generally became somewhat self-reliant and far happier than our lives in the consumer culture.  This is not to say we don’t “consume”, we do and will continue to do so but not without awareness and forethought.  And, we have watched society dig themselves deeper and deeper into a financial hole out of which they cannot climb. 

   The current world-wide financial disaster is partly the result of an economy based on what people buy instead of what they produce.  We have watched this phenomenon since the early 80’s.  Our purchase of the farm in 1988 sprang partly from the belief that we would see a day when any of our seven children might need a place to live due to economic crisis and this has already proven true.

   In the belief that people have finally come to the realization that they need to step up and reclaim the responsibilities that were given away with the notion that we gained time/money/prestige by not taking care of our own needs, we are here to teach some of those skills that may have been forgotten or never learned.

   In May of 2010 Chris, Amy, and Salem (age 2 - 1/2) moved to the farm bringing with them baby chicks, ducks, and three goats.  They immediately began growing food, building chicken and duck tractors, milking one of the goats, and generally becoming part of the farm.  With them they brought a great enthusiasm for food growing, animals, and Amy’s extensive knowledge of herbs and remedies.  Plus Salem is a daily reminder for why we are doing all of this and why it is so important.