“Why did we buy the farm if we aren’t going to do anything with it and be part of the solution.” our eleven-year-old son said when we sat down with the family and explained the proposition. We technically could sit okay on a very tight shoestring and not use the land as a source of income. That would also mean we could not afford to do any improvements on the land either. 

The kids knew how much work expanding the garden would be, they knew how to process chickens, they already knew how to raise and harvest hogs….they knew the work load, the time load, and the stress it would mean. 

They also knew it was an opportunity to do something more. To be part of the adventure of saving the farm, redeeming the land, and bringing agriculture back to these smaller lots of land that used to be part of something much more grand. 

Our farm used to be the center of a 240 acre dairy farm, like many of the old farms in McHenry county. It sits on some of the very best soils in the world, capable of producing some of the very most nutrient dense foods. We had the choice to steward it towards something more, or letting it be, falling slowing into the hands of invasive species while failing to produce to it’s created potential. The choice to coax it into something more was also ours. And it was the kids who had the final say, and the truly inspiring word, about whether we would move forward or not. 

We are grateful it was them that made that choice because the farm truly is theirs. They will surely outlive me and it is their future children that will depend on this soil and soil like it to nourish their own children. Ten acres might not seem like much, but it is ten acres enough to make a difference for our community and for the future.