Here we go!
/If you had told me when I was 16 that I was going to return to the family ranch, I would have said, "You ARE crazy!" What happened some 25 years later? Several things...
Living on the East Coast for almost 20 years made me miss sunsets, small talk, wide open spaces, quiet, (insert many many more items). While I enjoyed my corporate career and the successes I had achieved, I loved being home more than anything. Not only did I miss the prairie, but I got a knot in the pit of my stomach every time I thought about our family's ranch "dying" or being bought by someone outside of the family. I have had such a huge sense of pride in the hard work that went into making this ranch a home and a business for three generations. My grandparents successfully battled the depression and Dirty 30's; and my parents stayed afloat during the farm crisis of the 80s when many others weren't so lucky. Not only did the ranch survive, they made it better than ever. I want that all to continue to mean something.
So that explains moving back - what about our business?
Well, I will never forget the first time I went to buy meat in a grocery store on the East Coast It looked nothing like I had grown accustomed to when we had one of our critters butchered. I always wondered where it came from. I had no idea if it was even from the US. More importantly, how many critters were in my two pounds of ground beef? What did it eat? Was it treated humanely? What drugs was it given? All this made my head swirl. I started noticing how many people wanted answers to the same questions I had. Many were going to markets with huge mark-ups hoping that would provide t peace of mind. I sampled - but the quality just wasn't what I was used to having.
Fast forward to 2010. My mom passed away, I had another child and the gears really start to churn. We just have to move back. But "what will we do?" seems to be an obvious question and then the answer: sell food direct from our prairie to your plate.
Here we are in 2014 - it took a few years to get our plans in place but we made it. I am thrilled that everything is coming to fruition (a bit nervous too) and I am hopeful you will give us a chance to provide your family with high quality, safe, confinement free, hormone free beef - fresh from God's country.