OH! and we continue to grow our flock! The next generation!
The farm was started by my grandfather, Neal Catts and his wife Jennie (Vander Meulen) as a dairy in 1932.
Together, in an old school house that they moved onto the acreage they began raising a family and milking cows.
My dad was their son, Raymond. He grew up doing chores, helping with the milking and coincidentally selling beef as a young man. He eventually ventured out to become a truck driver, but his heart never left the farm.
When my grandfather passed and my grandmother moved to ‘town’, my father purchased the farm. He rented the farm to several young farmers in hopes of keeping it a working dairy.
In 1985, we were able to purchase the farm. Two of our children had already been born and two more would come along soon. As the children grew, so did the number of our animals. My Dad continued to help me with beef cattle, grazing them and selling them but sadly, in 1994, he passed away unexpectedly.
The farm continued sustaining our family’s needs but I missed the help and support my father provided. It was time to slowly begin changing the focus of where we wanted to be as a ‘farm’. In 2003 I received a call from a family friend, a shepherd, looking for a home for two orphan lambs. And with those two babes it all fell into place!
All of the kids participated in the 4H program, showing and selling lambs. In 2006 we had grown our flock enough to begin marketing lamb along with all the other animals we raised.
Today, Pierre, Adam and I work the farm. Adam and I are the caretakers~farm hands. We are dedicated to raising the animals with care. We take pride in our ‘hands on’ management of every group we grow. Whether it be chickens, turkeys, cattle, hogs, or lambs, we make sure they are naturally raised without the use of hormones, additives, antibiotics, and/or chemicals. Our winter feed is harvested off the same land that my grandfather worked all those years ago.
Pierre is our “Market Man!”. He travels with deliveries, does the Fulton Street Farmers Market 2 days a week (Fri and Sat) and is the ‘face’ you most often see that represents what we do. Along with our daughter Hannah, who also does the market, the rest of our family, both far and near, are constant supporters and pass along new ideas to us all the time.
We truly are a Family Farm!
Now, our grandchildren come and run, play, and get incredibly dirty here. The farm has always been a place of contentment for me. No matter what chores need to be finished, there is always time for a deep breath and a bit of laughter as we work.
There is not a day that goes by that we are not thankful for where we are, for what we have been given to do, and for the people who we have met along the way. Our life is full and it is our pleasure to serve you.
OH! and we continue to grow our flock! The next generation!