I may take you up on the tour offer. I’d love to get a feel for your operation and what it would take to get into part-time farming…

Do they actually have a youth soccer league in Mt. Pleasant? Really?

We are located in Mt. Pleasant, UT, about an hour south of Provo on Highway 89. We are very dependent on the winter snowfall and are plagued with drought conditions every summer. If it wasn’t for a very efficient irrigation system, we would not be able produce enough to continue on the ranch. We have a very short growing season. So we farm and garden very intensely for about 4 months of the year.

While growing up, I never had the chance to learn to play soccer. I was left to play football and basketball, but I was never big enough to excel in those sports. It was not until my mission to South America that I gained a love for the game. Our area is lacking in any kind of adult soccer league. So I play basketball and racquetball and make sure my kids learn and enjoy the game of soccer (or futbol, as I continue to call it).

If you are ever in the area, we’d enjoy showing you around.

Am I right?

And, do you forsee a time when you will quit your day job, once the big expenses of paying off any debt incurred on land or your home is paid for and then allow your bee sales to take care of any needs?

I think this is wonderful. Especially given the current END OF DAYS sort of world we live in where monstrous national debts may bring down our economy. You have a safety net of family, land, farm, garden, etc. Is that a comfort to you and your family?

I would bet that the stability that comes from owning your own land, farming it, being, to some degree, self sustaining, is a huge comfort in these days.

Lastly, your wife says you are a soccer coach. Well done! Me too. In fact, that is what I have done, professionally, for a good share of my life.

And another lastly, do you mind letting me know which region of the US you have your farm. Is it in a wintery setting or in an area that is warm year round? Is irrigation an issue or are you in a more humid/wet climate? How much does irrigation play a role in your crop raising and your gardens?

Thanks for answering all my questions. More than anything, it give me a little understanding and some hope that I could possibly pull something off like you. My only drawback? I don’t have ten siblings and brother’s in law to carry some of the load. Darn it!

My parents moved here in the early 70s from the city. They wanted to raise their 10 children on the ranch where they could teach them to work. They purchased 556 acres. Only about 150 is farmable, the rest is sagebrush and juniper trees. About 6 years ago Kate and I moved here with some of the same expectations in regard to raising our children. We purchased some land adjacent to the family ranch and built our house. We don’t distinguish the difference between our own acreage (about 6) and that of the family ranch (which is now 700 acres).

The ranch has never been truly self-sustaining. We raise cattle for commercial purposes. Recently we’ve begun selling beef directly to the consumer (www.pleasantvalleybeef.com). We raise alfalfa, barley, and other feed crops. We (my father, brothers, brothers-in-law, and I) have regular jobs and our families work together on the ranch during evening and weekends. So the ranch pays for it’s own expenses, but none of us will ever receive any financial benefit.

We have horses, chickens and a milk cow (no fish) on our personal acreage. (And pigs seasonally.)

But it is self-sustainging in that it gives a place for our children to learn to work and take responsibility for the successes of the ranch. We have a large vegetable garden and have just planted what is hoped to be a good orchard. Plus we have all the milk and eggs we need. The children have a place to run and play. They learn many valuable lessons of life from the constant birth, death and risk that is experienced living around animals.

How many acres?

What do you grow?

Any milking cows?

Chickens?

Do you produce any meat like beef or chicken or FISH? Ha. There are fish farms you know?

If I can ask, did you buy the land or did you inherit the land?

What was the cost per acre (you don’t have to answer that)?

Is the farm self-sustaining, meaning do you get OUT OF IT more than you PUT INTO IT…by that I mean financially is it worth the money it takes to operate the farm?

I am intrigued. I really want to buy a farm and grow my own stuff FOR SELF PREPAREDNESS reasons more than any other reason.

Just wondering…

The writing is going slowly. I’m a little over-involved in some community things at the moment.

Yes my children play soccer. It’s our one family obsession outside of the farm. Soccer season is insane around here.

One year when I had a four month old baby, I coached a team, my husband coached a team and we had three children on teams. We’ve never approached that level of chaos again. I don’t coach anymore.

Though we’re not as heavily involved and immersed in the soccer world as you, we still love it.

How’s the writing coming along? Well.

And…do your kids actually play soccer? I am A HUGE soccer person. If you only knew. Traveled the world with that silly game.