Tracing My Farming Roots

My family has been involved in agriculture for a long time. There have even been books written about my family in their small farming community of Burlington, Wyoming. This has set a great example for me in how agriculture affects my life today. My dad and my grandpa are both great examples of how to let agriculture into your life in different ways and they have both used both modern and historical ways of farming and ranching.

My grandpa is a rancher in Burlington, Wyoming. He only has about 100 head of cattle, but this was made possible by crops being developed to grow in less tolerable areas than before. In the 1850’s alfalfa started being grown on the west coast, and that made it so people in Wyoming were able to use those processes to grow it there.

Because of the example that my grandfather had on my dad he knew when he left home that he still wanted to have some connection to the land. So because commercial farms started growing bigger and smaller farms have become more rare, we were able to buy a small plot of land that is good for growing small amounts of food for us, and plenty of food for our horses.

Modern farming differs in many different ways than farming long ago, but the feeling behind it is just the same. Farmers are a breed of people that know how to work hard and how to get things done. Because of modern technology we are able to do that in a bigger setting, but the basic principles of relying on the land and being grateful for what we have will not go away, no matter how big the commercial farms become. I am grateful for the chance we have to look at the past and to appreciate the future.