It seems like you can read all about us on the farm website, but there isn’t actually that much about US – the actual farmers. Who the heck are we? Some of you know exactly who we are (hi family!) but others of you either signed up for our newsletter at a farmers market and didn’t meet either one of us, or you’re reading this on our website and you don’t know us (and didn’t even know we had a newsletter! That’s okay, you can sign up.)
So hello there! We are Aimee and Jeremy McAdams. Jeremy is your farmer and Aimee is… your farmer’s wife, sounding board, baker, house cleaner, nagger, and general voice of reason (and the newsletter writer). We work pretty well together even though, because of this farm, we don’t get to be together very much at the moment.
I (Aimee) grew up in Oregon and I have a background in libraries. I do like to organize things! I have crazy office skillz and do well in cubicle-land (though, full disclosure, due to working in nonprofits mostly, I’ve never actually worked in a cubicle). Jeremy grew up moving all around the country and then he became an architect. After a few years of that, he became a disillusioned former-architect, but he still has a great desire (and skill) in planning and designing things. He’s the only farmer I know of who uses AutoCAD to plan out chicken coop design, calculate how many logs can fit in a high tunnel, and double-check the best log stack configuration and log moving route in a shade structure.
As skilled as we are and as dedicated as we are, farming just doesn’t pay that much. That has long been the case; many farms have someone working off-farm to make extra money. We are no different in that respect, but we are a bit different in that my job is in Minneapolis and the farm is in Wisconsin. I live in Minneapolis and head off to work every day for my full time job. Jeremy lives at the farm, farming from sun-up to sun-down. We get to visit a day or two each week when Jeremy comes in for his weekly delivery and occasionally I make it out the farm. (My visits to the farm are so infrequent because I don’t drive.) And that’s the way it has been since we bought the farm in the spring of 2016. It’s not ideal but it’s what our finances can afford at the moment.
We are hoping to change that situation in the near future with me moving out to the farm. We are both super excited about this and all that it means for the farm. Not just a cleaner kitchen and the laundry getting done – but the possibility of a big garden, help for Jeremy with all the record keeping, and hopefully opening a small farm store in the old milk house! We have tons of plans. But it’s a while yet so we’re biding our time and making everything work the best we can for now.
That’s us – in a tiny nutshell! We hope you can make it out to visit the farm someday (like at our upcoming Open House) and you can get to know us even more!
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