Community

November 11, 2025

Fred and I are rather new at this.  We've raised beef cattle for many years  but we're new to selling our beef retail at our farm.  I have lots of take aways.  I now know all my neighbors by first names, I know their childrens' names, I know what most of them do for a living, I know what many of their hobbies are, I know their spouses and I know that I very much enjoy their company.  Prior to the store opening, Fred and I pretty much kept to ourselves because we were so darn busy! Folks would drive by and we would politely wave but with little or no curiosity.  We never thought we would meet any of neighbors and never thought they would ever be interested in anything we did here on the farm.   When the store opened and neighbors ( I use the word neighbors - I guess they are neighbors - they live on the same road but not very close) would drop in I would learn a lot about them. I would tell them stories about Fred and I and about the farm and our farming practices.  I've walked several people out into the fields to see the cows and to check out the health of our pastures. We have made friends, we have created a small community.

Kirk is a bus driver, widowed, with two boys at home and a lovely daughter, married with her own family, Dave and his wife have a whole passle of kids and I can't always figure out which ones are theirs' and which ones are the cousins and Glenn comes by and brings his little granddaughter, who many times, has fallen asleep in the truck. Our fellow farmers, Dana, Mark and Frank stop by for a bit of chit chat, Wayne stops for eggs every week and likes to pick up short ribs or some burger now and then, John picks up a few weeks worth of beef at a time - he has a whole bunch of racing pigeons, Cam stops here all the way from Gales Ferry and picks up a month's worth of beef at a time, Janet used to board her horse at my farm in Lebanon - she and her husband stopped and picked up a shopping bag full of beef......I could go on and on.  We've built a community and we know each other well enough now to care for one another and help each other out. Yes, we're in the cattle business and I take my animals' care very seriously, as I do the health of the soil here on the farm, but I've learned that fulfilling a need for people and doing so conscientiously and ethically fills my soul - completes me.