About us
Our grandaughters, three years of age at the time, lovely twins, began calling my wife Mary and me, "Greenpaw and Greenmaw."
We loved these designations because we're grandparents nineteen times over (soon to be 20, God-willing) and because 3-year olds can speak serendipitously: We are green farmers (but not green at being grandparents)!
I had the good fortune to grow up green, more or less, in the 1940's when things agricultural on a Minnesota dairy farm were nearing the end of the horse era but fast closing on the era of tiling the prairie to speed water away from the sloughs and ponds. Synthetic fertilizers were being talked about by the land grant universities but not yet in widespread use. And what do you know, rotational grazing was discussed by some leading ag periodicals! It was an option considered by my father and to some extent he practiced grazing of this sort, little knowing that his youngest son, the one who became Greenpaw Jim, half a century later, would become a passionate believer in the practice. My heart was set on becoming a farmer and to this day, I've not been able to say with certainty that I would not have adopted the non green route which was even then being recommended by the land grant universities and county agents. They of course also pushed "get bigger or get out" so that farmers felt they could not be content with 120 or 240 acres, even though their lifestyle and farming style were sustainable. I loved the prairie pretty much as it was then and I loved farm animals and grew to where I could work well and easily with them. And I'm thankful I came to learn a sustainable type of agriculture in time.
Animal agriculture became my passion. It's perhaps not strange. Our family milked cows, showed dairy cattle, raised hogs and sheep and chickens. As I write this in May, 2009, we are doing things closely related, namely, raising beef cattle and sheep and broilers. Care for these make up Greenpaw and Greenmaw's life on the farm second in importance only to the Lord Jesus, our children and grandchildren.
About 40 years intervened between those prairie days of youth and the present when Greenmaw and I were missionaries in South America, Peru and Chile and when I served a number of parishes of the Lutheran Church in the U.S.. In South America we learned first hand of sustainable ag practices that had been proven over several centuries in the high Andes among the people we worked with for several years.
We finally settled in the Coulee Region of southwest Wisconsin in 1996 after retirement from the career of a clergyman, directed largely by six cardiac bypasses. The 80 acre farm we bought was a gift from heaven.
In the late 90's we raised grassfed dairy cattle for a time, dropped the dairy and turned instead to grassfed beef, and for about 10 years we've also produced broilers and lambs.
The carbon impression we hope to leave on the land is a green one, a "green paw print," if you will, as our grassland sequesters carbon week in and week out. Stewardship of this land and of human health is our passion. You will find meat from the earth and sun on our tiny spot on the planet that is high in omega 3's and tasty as all get-out; it is humanely raised ( I can talk a cow into going into the barn or shed in sunshine or storm without stressing her); no synthetic fertilizers are used on our all grass farm; and no antiobiotics or artificial stimulants are ever used on the animals.
We'd like nothing more than to have you accept our invitation to spend some time at our farm! Come to Nordic Hills Farm, Greenpaw and Greenmaw's place for a visit!
Kind greetings,
Greenpaw (the Cow Whisperer)
Greenmaw speaking now:
I always wished I had grown up on a farm! Instead, I was born in New York City and grew up in Milwaukee.
I developed a love for the farm by osmosis, however. I was fortunate that while I was 3-6 years old, my father was a pastor in rural upstate New York , where I used to love to accompany him when he visited his farmer parishioners. While he was in the house with the farmers, I'd roam through the barn and around the chicken house and the pigpen to commune with the animals. A friendly pig once ate a brand new apron right off from around my waist. And a nice little calf pooped all over me when I petted it from behind. A naughty rooster tried to peck my legs, so I had to walk backwards to keep him at bay.
When my youngest brother was born, I was literally farmed out for a week. I learned to milk a cow, squirting the creamy, warm milk right into my mouth, I discovered that you can pick apart a clover blossom and suck out the sweet nectar, I enjoyed riding high on top of a pile of hay (no bales in those days!) on the horse-drawn wagon and I had my first (and only) ride on a cow. What a great week that was!
I so much enjoyed my early encounters with farm life that I aspired to marry a farmer. But, alas, my father's profession took him to the city, where farmers were as scarce as hen's teeth. I did find a husband, though, and one who was raised on a farm, to boot. However, he had become a pastor, but he was just too good to pass up. So, together we raised 6 wonderful children, some of the time in rural areas, where we could raise a few sheep and chickens and horses, to keep our children happily and gainfully occupied, and to satisfy Jim's and my yearnings for the farm.
And, wouldn't you know, when we "retired", we moved to a lovely 8O acre farm in the rolling hills of western Wisconsin, where the only logical thing to do was to grass farm! So, here we are, overseeing cattle and sheep on our lovely hills, taking advantage of all that grass to raise wholesome organic grass-fed beef and lamb (and chicken and eggs and grapes and a bountiful garden filled with vegetables). And our children and grandchildren love to spend time with us here!
And you're welcome to come, too!
Greenmaw Mary
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