Jesse and I were both raised on farms - I spent all my growing up years on my family's small, diverse farm, the kind of farm that is not very common anymore in today's world, where we had some pigs, some cattle, a milk cow, chickens etc.
Jesse spent his years from 7-12 on his grandpa's/dad's farm and he says many of the things he knows about farming, he learned in those five years trailing behind his grandpa on the farm. Such an awesome legacy!
Though they moved off that farm, they continued to have some animals and Jesse dabbled in different ones over the years.
However, when we met and started dating, he was not interested in farming at all. I, at the time, figured my dream of marrying a farmer would need to be shelved and possibly forgotten. (I used to think I wanted to marry a dairy farmer and I love God's sense of humour in the kind of farmer I've gotten; so thankful to not be married to a dairy farmer!)
Jesse would help me do chores on my family's farm but I think he only did it to score brownie points with me:) He didn't just love it, anyway!
We got married and moved onto a quarter acre lot in the outskirts of Elmira. The property backed onto a farmer's field and one summer day, Jesse and my brother built a chicken coop and we became the owner of some chickens and later, meat chickens. The purpose of the chickens was to 'roam' the garden in their little shelter and provide fertilizer.
We got into farming for two reasons: we wanted the lifestyle for our children and Jesse became passionate about the value animals add to soil and health.
Interestingly, I am the stronger animal lover (and let's be honest, a milk cow becomes an addiction:)) but Jesse is the one who will spend long minutes watching his cattle after he's done chores and he's the one who understands soil health.
Together we make a beautiful match:)