Adaugeo Farms

"Travis James!" Papa Boots likely swore under his breath in the dim light early one Sunday morning as he attempted farm chores. Shooting barn swallows and mud daubers had gotten boring for 10-year-old Travis and his younger brother, Derick. They thought the explosion of light bulbs was much more exciting. They shot out every last bulb in the barn. Milking the cow was very difficult for Papa Boots that morning. 

Travis spent lots of time at Nanny and Papa Boots' farm during his childhood. The aroma of cows, pigs, chickens, corn, soy beans, and milo bring a motion picture of memories to mind for him. It was a way of life. It was down home. It has a special place in Travis' heart. 

That's how Travis got interested in buying a farm. He's always had a passion for the country and he's loved the idea of raising our children in that environment.

I, on the other hand, have absolutely no experience farming. I have successfully kept three houseplants alive to date, but even those have had a few close calls. Although farming seemed like a worthy lifestyle I could only imagine the work it would take to keep a farm. You could say I was in the "no way, no how, never gonna happen" camp. 

Then I got interested in health.  In 2008, I started a business called MonaVie.  When our family started drinking MonaVie I was amazed to see so many ailments be alleviated.  I'd like to say MonaVie is a miracle juice (some prefer to say snake oil), but it is simply concentrated nutrition.  MonaVie was the catapult to start us on a journey toward better health.   

As a former pharmaceutical sales rep I had learned all about how drugs can take care of problems - or symptoms. I remember being at a national sales meeting for my pharmaceutical company one year and the president of the company was sharing with us why the structure of the sales force was changing. Our company no longer would put money behind the antibiotic division because it was a product patients took for a week to 10 days and then the disease state was gone. We would all be moving to the heart division.  Blood pressure and cholesterol medications were much more profitable since patients would be on them for a lifetime. I understand, from a profitability perspective, why they would do that.  But to me it was unsettling. 

In all my research I found the food industry to not be much different from the pharmaceutical industry. Whatever is going to bring in the biggest profit is where companies and farmers invest their time and money. Totally understandable. But that, in turn, means it is rare that the people who raise and sell our food pay much attention to the nutritional quality of it. For a long time I didn't think that was a big deal.  “Organic Shmorganic,” I would say.  As the life expectancy in our country gets shorter, people I know and love getting sicker, the fact that 2 in 5 people get cancer right now and rates are rising, the fact that our children’s life expectancy is shorter than ours, and data linking carcinogens in our food to diseases has caused me to change my attitude about organic, whole foods versus processed, conventional foods. 

One night I read another article to Travis about the dangers of our food. I was so frustrated!  “Lord, do something!” I pleaded.  Just like Matthew West’s song, we felt like God was saying to us, “I did.  I created you.”  There was a small tug at our hearts to raise food ourselves. Farming freaked me out. Travis and I started praying about it. We definitely felt the call to farm organically.  The journey began.

Travis tills

Do we have any experience with farming?  Shooting out barn lights is our collective experience.  Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Have we sold our home?  No.  And we won’t.  We had it on the market to prove to ourselves and God that we weren’t holding on to it as an idol – something we place at a higher level of importance than God’s will.  If God wanted us to move, we would.  We had it on the market while we traveled this winter.  It didn’t sell.  We’re staying.

So who will be at the farm?  Meet the Backlund’s from Shakopee, Minnesota.  

Nick and Sheila Backlund

Coen is 7, just finishing the 1st grade.  (Same as Calla.)

Berlin just turned 5.  She and Parker are months apart in age and great buddies.

Ben is 3.  He exhibits all qualities of a third child and then some.  This is a perfect picture of him.

Charlie is their lab/German shepherd mixed puppy.  He's 9 months now and as big as KC.  He is more than excited to be at the farm.

We know the Backlund's through our church and they have been with us since the beginning of this journey.  (Talk about God providing for us!)  Over a year ago they declared they would live at the farm – wherever it was located.  Sheila is a savvy gardener – much better than either Travis or myself – and is interested in learning how to raise animals for food.  Nick is trained in landscaping and is a guy who can build and fix anything.  Perfect for an old farm.  They have a passion for healthy food like us.  Providence. 

Where is the farm?  While our mailing address remains the same, the address of the farm (and the Backlund’s new home address) is 6552 250^th St. W, Belle Plaine, Minnesota 56011.  It’s in Belle Plaine Township and the New Prague school district.  Now that you have the address, meet us there for a visit!  Bring a tent and stay the night.  There is space.  ;-)

Is this where we wanted to buy?  Because most counties in the area require 10 acres or more to have anything more than chickens on them, ten acres became our minimum.  Over the course of a year, we placed offers on six or seven different places, mostly in Scott and Rice counties.  Personally, we grew immensely over the year.  I prayed that God would keep us close to my mom since she had moved to Prior Lake (a bike ride from our house) to be near her grandbabies.  In March, we saw a property on the MLS that had previously been posted, removed, and had just gone back on the market. One Monday our real estate agent and friend Dan Thompson met us in Belle Plaine at this cute little 15-acre place.  It was cute, quaint, and had everything we needed and lots of potential.  We made an offer, and within eight days we had signed a purchase agreement.  It’s a perfect location.

A cute 1900's farm house

When did we close on the farm?  We’ve been farmers for almost two weeks now.  And we have no idea what we are doing.  ;-) Knowing we had a project on our hands, both Travis and I cleared our schedules for the week.  We closed Monday, May 19, 2014.  We immediately drove to Prior Lake, got the RV and kids, and drove 21 miles southwest to the farm.  It rained all day that day so we spent most of the day walking around in the mud.  There was tons of mud and standing water!  Only three of us had galoshes.  We were a mess!  And we had no idea where to start.  We seriously walked around in circles for most of that day. 

Taite rakes the firepit

What have we done so far?  The Backlund’s met us at the farm Monday evening and we made a plan.  Now it’s been two weeks and we’ve torn out carpet, painted the old wood floors, rented a sod cutter and large tiller, planted a garden, built a compost bin, met with our edible landscaper, initiated construction of a bunk house, planned our fire pit/burn pile (and had a few evening fires), bought a white 2002 Ford F150 FX4 Lariat with a Triton V8 engine (insert Tim the Toolman Taylor’s masculine bark) and named it ‘Manly,’ bought a large flatbed trailer, got the decrepit

Making this into a bunk house

white 1995 Chevy 1500 truck (newly named ‘The Beast’) – that came with the house – running and prepared with a snowplow on the front, got the Bobcat that came with the house running, made a plan to remove the sealed windows trimmed with lead paint, secured some rotting beams, fixed the lead paint problem around the front door, and hired an electrician.  We did all of that (with the help of my wonderful sister and extraordinary mom) while managing anywhere from four to 10 children at all times.  Only by the grace of God…seriously.

Morels found on the land

What came with the farm?  We acquired the house, heated detached garage, pole barn, silo, shell of a bunk house, two horse stalls, the Chevy truck, a Bobcat, three walnut trees, some morel mushrooms, rhubarb, a couple of apple trees (varieties TBD), a natural spring creek, lots of day lilies and dandelions, 15 acres (about 12 of it in pasture), and lots more to discover. 

Have we met the neighbors?  Of course.  On Memorial Day we took our kids to meet the neighbors we found at home.  Love that country hospitality!

How old is the house?  The county records say the house was built in 1900.  One of the neighbors grew up in the house across the street from ours.  He said it was the house at the old creamery.  In the 1940’s they moved the house from the creamery (about a mile away) to this plot of land.  He recalled 11 children (in one family) being raised in this small 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom home!!!! 

12+ acres of pasture

What animals will we raise?  We’re thinking we’ll start with chickens.  We’ve talked about cows, pigs, and sheep eventually.  Anything you can eat.  Joel Salatin style.  There are 12 acres of pasture to work with.

What other food will you have on the farm? This year we hope to raise fruit, nuts, vegetables, herbs, and meat for our two families...and of course, mushrooms.  ;-)  We pray God leads us in how to provide all that for others in the summers to come.

The pole barn is really big inside

Do we have space for your stuff in the pole barn?  Sorry.  No.  Although there is enough room for eight RV’s (if you take out the horse stalls), we’ve already had lots of requests and have filled the barn to maximum capacity with with promises of space for trucks, boats, ice houses, trailers, 4 wheelers and more.  The space is spoken for.

Berlin and Parker solve the world's problems

Are we ready to be farmers now?  We are slowly making our way into farm-hood.  We’ve only had a couple injuries (no more than we would have in Prior Lake) and everyone still has all their extremeties. Travis was a head-to-toe mud ball this week with dirt in every crease and crevice.  He now has rough hands and won't let me put lotion on them.  Sounds farmer-ish, doesn't it?  Taite gets the prize for being the biggest helper and has earned a healthy commission for his efforts.  The rest of the kids thoroughly enjoyed pretending to be horses, horse owners, horse trainers, and farmers – which is funny because Travis has made it clear we will never have horses.  I’ve vacuumed my car out twice already.  Clearly I’m not quite settled into farm life yet.   Ben, the youngest Backlund, got 3 baths Friday.  Sheila might not be out of the suburbs yet either.  We’ll get over the dirt thing eventually.  The dirt, however, is a great trade-off for the beauty and peacefulness the place offers. 

What is the name of the farm?  Adaugeo Farms.  Pronounced [a - dodge - ee - o].  Why ‘Farms’ - with an s?  We feel like there might be more than one someday.  ‘Adaugeo’ is a Latin word meaning to make greater by adding to; to increase; to magnify.  (Different than the musical term 'adagio.')  We intend to use it to serve God by serving others as faithful stewards of God’s grace.  (1 Peter 4:10)  We’ve prayed that we can be a part of increasing God’s healthy army and His kingdom.  We want to magnify Him in everything.  The goal of the farm is to raise healthy food to make healthy warriors for God (treating our bodies as temples of God (1 Corinthians 6:19)) so we can serve Him and others as we are part of the body of Christ.

We know we aren’t the first or only family to farm organically.  As we get involved we have found tons of healthy eating and farming organizations.  We aren't alone and it's a growing movement. 

The more we learn, the more we see how God made everything to work together perfectly.  We’ll have you out sometime and show you what we mean.  Until then, we praise God for this new adventure and we pray we get to share the adventure with you.

The Wilson’s

Adaugeo Farms

Belle Plaine, Minnesota