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I was born and raised in the 'country' about 15 miles north of Jefferson City, MO. From the time I was two years old until I left home for college I lived in a passive solar house (designed by my mom). We rarely used the electric heater or the A/C. In the winter we heated with our wood stove and in the summer we turned on the fans and wore shorts and tank tops. We had gobs of fruit trees and berry bushes and grape vines in our yard, and most of our veggies were grown in my mom's garden. We kept chickens off and on during my childhood, some were raised for eggs, others we had for the meat. My dad also liked to hunt deer and would usually kill one each year. Growing up I had lots of experience helping to harvest and preserve the fruit and vegetables and helping to butcher animals for our meat. All in all, I would say that I was more connected to my food growing up than almost anyone else I have known; though for me it was normal, and I took much of it for granted.
As a child I spent much of my free time either reading books or playing outside. I loved to take bike rides with my older sister and to explore the woods behind our house. I have always loved animals, especially kitties and cows. I went to a private catholic school and my mom was very active in our church. After high school, I decided to enroll at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO (located about 40 miles from here). I ended up studying accounting and spanish and had lots of awesome experiences and met a ton of cool people. That was also when I changed my diet to vegetarian. I decided that when I graduated I wanted to get out of Missouri. So, in June of 2002 I moved to San Antonio, TX to get away for awhile. I lived for a couple of months in a house with three catholic nuns (three very amazing ladies) until I got a job and saved up enough money for an apartment. I worked as a staff accountant in a small CPA firm. My boss and the people I worked with were all incredibly wonderful people. I felt so lucky to be working with them (and I think they felt the same way about me, which is cool). Living in a huge sprawling city of over a million people made me realize how much I really do not like living in the city. There are of course some good points (like the amazing Thai Restaurant down the street from our apartment) but overall, I am a country girl at heart, and Missouri is my homeland. In August 2004 I started traveling with my then partner, Corey, in a search to find a place to call home, and also just for fun. We made a stop at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, where we met Chad and Alyson who were living there at the time. We then went to Costa Rica for not quite four months and then came back to MO. During our travels we began to realize what we were searching for. We felt ready to find a piece of land and work to live as sustainably and as gently as we could on our little corner of the Earth. It just so happens that our ideals and philosophy for living off the land are quite closely aligned with those of Chad and Alyson. So when they invited us to join them in founding a community based on these ideals we jumped at the chance. We moved to Rutledge in March 2005 and Red Earth Farms was born. With the financial aid of an investor who cared a lot about helping our little community get started, we purchased 76 acres of land. I really love it here, now more than ever. We are now living out on the land, and we have some basic structures built, with more planned for the future. My days here are busy in a really good way. I am excited about community and about growing and processing much of my own food. The life that I live at Red Earth Farms feels right to me on so many levels. There is so much I love about being here and I look forward to meeting the challenges that lie ahead. |