In case you missed it, Part 1 can be found here:
Gary and I both have an entrepreneurial spirit. That desire to be a leader started when we were young and blossomed as we got older. Gary's professional experience has included banking, sales, real estate, and green energy consulting for new construction. I didn't go away to college but worked full time while putting myself through school, finally graduating with a business degree nine years later.
We grew up quick, but the resonating factor that kept us growing together was that we liked to run small businesses. We've been (and still are) property investors and landlords, Gary is a real estate broker, I have a nutrition certification and am still a holistic health coach, we've run a local foods co-op, I've managed an Oil & Gas Consulting firm for 21 years, and we've tossed many other business ideas around for years. But the business that brought us even closer together was the farm.
When Gary and I first began the process of starting our own farm, we made a list of desires and restrictions around that decision. We had to be able to commute to our off-the-farm jobs but we needed a place outside the city limits. We knew that country life could put some distance between our closest friends and family, but our hearts were calling us to more wide-open spaces.
We discussed would it would take to get started; comfort levels, property size, types of animals. We talked with numerous farmer friends we had made through the co-op and were so motivated to get started! We didn't have a family farm background to lean on for this endeavor, so we took it upon ourselves to absorb everything we could through books, audiobooks, online research, and phone calls with other farmers. It's incredible how many farmsteaders have shared information on Youtube for all of us first timers, so we like to joke and say we are Youtube farmers.
Then we started looking for a property. You know that phrase, you don't know what you don't know? In hindsight, there was so much we didn't know and didn't consider, but there were also a lot of valuable events that we lucked into. When we found our little piece of paradise in Waxahachie, Texas we knew she was the one.
Continued HERE