Why North Dakota?

Why Did George Pick North Dakota?

In a time in the very recent past, a farmstead was the American Dream of middle America.  Today, the many abandoned farms across middle America are symbols of that shattered dream.  I have always been a dreamer. 

The farm is located 15 miles southeast of Ashley, North Dakota and only 3 miles from South Dakota, right in the middle of North Dakota's banana belt, haha.  Perhaps you are asking yourself, what was George thinking when he decided on North Dakota? 

I was thinking about raising beef on grass.  I was also ready to retreat from California for periods of time.  I was looking for a place where the people still say good morning to strangers. I was looking for a place where people wave at you driving down the road smiling.  I was looking for a place where the sky is blue and big, the neighbors few and far between and neighborly nonetheless. 

I was also thinking about value, as in return on investment and personal values too. I was spending hard earned money and it needed to work hard for me in return, fair enough.  Land was reasonably priced in North Dakota, funny thing, Farmland in North Dakota is market priced almost directly relative to its agricultural potential and not to supposed development or recreational value.

On the prairie God had long ago placed bovines and grass together. I sort of figured He knew what He was doing, so I would just follow His lead. The south central part of North Dakota, where the farm is located, is a region of fertile soils, good rainfall history, good aquifers and very good prairie grass growth potential.  I can grow grass here on the prairie and I can convert that grass into healthy food. 

So value I explained.  But what about personal values?   Some American values are being  forgotten today.   God, Family, Country, Friends, family farms, red barns, silos, animals, crops, seasons, baseball and hunting in the fall, straight gravel roads, off the grid living before the grid and maybe just living your life to higher cause for a higher good and not more goods. Many of these American values are being replaced by consumerism run amok.   What once was convenience is now convention.

In my visits to North Dakota  I found personal values I value still alive. I liked that.  People helped me without my asking for help.  Drivers waved at me, like they used to do in Baja.  Good mornings form strangers were a normal part of life. And so it went.  Towns had more churches than bars.  Hunting is a season, farming a way of life. Add in the fact that I do not have to live there through the winter and it seemed like a good idea to me.

        Ye Old Milking  Barn & Silo      Prairie Picture worth a 1000 words

The prairie was once a thriving community.  Land ownership was based on a section.  A section, one square mile of land, 640 acres of dirt, the American dream, was supposed to be enough land to support a family.  So many sections supported a township and so many townships supported a town or city.  After WWII things begin to change.  What was essentially an animal based, biodynamic farming region was introduced to chemical farming.  The lure was cast and the fish took the bait.  In the end the little fish were caught and filleted and only the big fish were left in the pond.  The prairie, once home to thriving farmsteads and towns, was now home to only a few big farmers.  Most folks couldn't interest their children into sticking around to loose more money and time.   Farmsteads that weren't sold were rented out to big time farmers and the farmstead on a section and a way of life dried up in the prairie winds and winters.

I am going to see if I can become part of a community and do my best to introduce a new paradigm  which is growing across the country.  The new paradigm will hopefully  be able to support a family on section of land.  The new paradigm will allow a family to produce enough income in a sustainable manner, providing both for the health of the earth we farm, the people we feed and the community in which we live.