Hello Friends and Family-
I am now full time on the farm! If you have the time, I’ll explain a little of how this wonderful change came to be. Some of you know my recent story of life and others of you are newer to me. Since this is my first post, this might be longer than those to come in the future. I’ll say sorry now 🙂
A little bit of my background and then what is new with us. As many of you know I had been selling pharmaceuticals for the last fifteen years. It had a been a perfect fit for me for much of that time. The science involved, the patient relationships, the provider interactions were all things that I loved. But over the past several years a few major events led us/me to make a career change in June. My Dad had a life changing lawn mower accident, the devastating tornado in Joplin, my partner at work died suddenly, and I became really sick over a period of a couple years. As some of you know, I can be somewhat hard headed. And had those have been just one single event, it might not have stood out. But I felt like God was talking to me, and I was actively listening, I just didn’t know what to do with the message I was hearing. The main theme I kept picking up on, was that life was fleeting, and I was supposed to be “doing” something else.
Fast forward to the end of 2013 and my Grandpa Smith passed away, and the family farm was going to be put up for sale. I knew immediately that I needed to keep the farm in the family. Why?, maybe it was just me being sentimental. But my gut said I needed to figure out a way to buy it. To say I knew nothing about farming was an understatement! I was greener than grass as they say. But we did buy the farm. (Oh, so many puns, so little time…) My dad had always wanted to have a small farm, and with retirement on the horizon….. Now we had two new partners in this deal with Sarah and I, my Mom and Dad. The purchase became official in January 2014. That is the time when the farm’s name came about as well. The Red Fern Farm. It was an homage to my Grandpa who grew up on a poor farm in Arkansas and loved to coon hunt. Much like the two red bone coon hounds who were so loyal to each other, my Grandpa was a tireless worker who continued to work the land into his nineties. He cared for his family deeply, and the name to us seemed perfect from the start.
We bought cows, changed the fencing and made several improvements to the farm. But the part that was the most fulfilling to me was getting to watch my kids be on the farm that I played at as a kid. It also let them start to see the picture that our food doesn’t come from a box or just at the grocery store. Our next adventure was with pigs. We put two pigs on the farm in 2016. Because of the markings of the pigs, the kids named them Double-stuff and Oreo. Yes, after the cookies. Because you know what you do with cookies…… you eat them! The girls never really struggled with the butchering of the pigs because the love of bacon was strong with them. Brooks on the other hand,who asked me multiple times “why we had to murder the pigs?”, became a vegetarian for a few months. Which was awesome! That was reason we were raising the animals to begin with, we wanted the kids to understand what was involved in the care of the food they ate. And then, make their own choice.
But with a full time job that required travel I was really just an early morning/late-evening/weekend farmer. I wanted to be on the farm full time, but really couldn’t make myself take the leap. But after making it through the 8th layoff in 15 years in January I really had had enough. I enjoyed the patient’s stories, I loved the interactions with providers but my heart was at the farm. So I left. June 1st was my last day in the medicine field, and my first day with my new career.
So now I have gone from Pharmer to Farmer if you are following closely…. All of that brings this story to today. I am now full time farming. Is it scary? Terrifying! Do I enjoy how much harder the work is? 100 percent! Now, this doesn’t mean that when I was changing water for the chickens and I got a giant handful of chicken poop or when I fell face first into the pigs mud pit that I didn’t question whether this was truly where God was wanting me at in this particular moment. I even thought I could hear God laughing…(Turns out it was my dad laughing, he had seen the whole debacle.) But it was crystal clear to me when speaking with an old boss and mentor of mine. She asked if I “missed it?” I stumbled over the question and it surprised me. I hadn’t even thought about my old career and I had been gone for four months.
If you have made it through to this point, odds are you are my mom (love you) or you are waiting to see if this is an late April fools joke. It’s not, I really am talking to the animals everyday and I am looking forward to seeing if we can make a go at this. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am very aware of how important all of our time is, and the fact that you chose to spend some of that time on me means a lot. If you ever want to see how we raise our chickens, cows, or pigs, give me a shout. I’d be happy to show you how we raise the meat we sell and the amount of care that is involved. Also, if you see our booth at a farmer’s market come by and say hi. I still like talking to people just as much as the animals. But be-warned, I just might try to sell you a package of our forest raised bacon or pastured chicken!
Spence
The Red Fern Farm