31 Houses to Here: The Winding Road to First-Generation Farming

“The road to farming didn’t begin with soil under my nails. It began with 31 houses before I was 18.” by Chad

Sharing my story used to be something I worried about. I worried people would think less of me if they knew how I grew up. A Tony Robbins event with Neighbor Josh solidified – we all have a story of what shaped us and how we’ve become who we are. It’s who we are and who we’re becoming people love.

No, I wasn’t in a military family – but yes, we did live in 31 houses before I was 18. I believe this plays a large part in how I got “here”. A career in agriculture, owning a small farm and winery – focused on agritourism, with my wife, who I met in FFA and our 3 boys.

I’m so grateful for how it shaped me – scrappy, resilient and an ability to connect with others. A vision to create a place people come and connect – to one another, to how their food and wine is grown.

My first memory as a child, I was standing out in the pasture of a house we were living at in the Orting Valley (Western, WA). It was there I envisioned someday having a big barn and growing things to feed and share with people. What I fell in love with in the memory was the image of a big open field – golden brown (maybe wheat), a giant barn stocked with hay for the animals and picturing growing things for people. Of course, at <4 years old wine wasn’t likely in the “vision”.

For me this is where the question: “Is life happening to you or for you?” began. From that young age I did all I could to be outdoors, around animals and farming. Maybe it was a safe place amid the chaos of moving all the time during a somewhat tumultuous childhood. Either way – the pull was strong.

My mom was a single mom. She did all she could to make sure we had fun and were taken care of. I can’t imagine the challenges of caring for a newborn, newly divorced and not in a career. I admire what she pulled off despite of it all. She let me have a lot of freedom in these places we lived. I loved walking home if it were possible and realized – with a few earthly possessions (like a familiar blanket for the bed) – each place could feel totally like home.

If you’re still with me you might be wondering a couple things.

1. Why is Chad sharing this?
2. Wait 31 houses, in 18 years – that’s more than 1 per year.

Let me answer 1 first. This is not a story to dwell on the past. This is a story of how a career in agriculture and becoming a 1st generation farmer came to be. That’s only possible with a belief that life is happening for us – not to us.

Forever I just wanted to “get into” farming. FFA was that pathway in the 8th grade. One of the bright spots about those 31 houses – even when we lived at the Salvation Army – my mom would still drive me to school.

Other than a brief window living on Vashon Island – 95% of my time in my school life I was able to attend the same school. I could digress into how FFA lead me to meeting my wife Jeana – or how FFA is literally the only reason I applied to WSU (I walked into the Ag classroom one day and all my friends were on the computers – turns out they were applying to WSU and showed me how). Moving around a lot was a bit chaotic. FFA and a desire to be in farming was a safe place to be.

My desire to be “in Ag” remained strong in college – I pursued an Ag degree, lived at FarmHouse fraternity, and was surrounded with kids who grew up on farms.

This is an origin story I’ve thought about sharing for a while. A story of a 1st generation farmer. Life happening “for us” not “to us”.

I know there are many of us in the Ag industry who didn’t grow up on farms. But does this make the passion we have for “farmers” really strong? If we’re geared to “help” and want to be on the “in” crowd of farming – maybe we had to work hard to learn about farming from scratch.

But … back to “2”. The 31 houses in 18 years. The reflection is really simple: resiliency wasn’t optional. Finding safe outlets – like FFA – were an incredible blessing. Standing here today, on Jeana’s and my farm and winery – working for Syngenta (the company I literally owe my life and livelihood to) – a 1st generation farmer.

Let me be clear – the odds do not favor 1st generation farmers, but I believe life has happened for us, not to us.

It wasn’t “in spite” of living in so many houses. It was because of moving all the time. It planted a passion in me – a passion to serve. A passion to become a farmer and help other farmers.

And it’s given me the gift of living in the same house for 7 years—with Jeana and the boys—right “here” at Chelan Valley Farms. The longest I’ve lived in one place – and I love it.

I hope you can find the optimism and energy from this. Thank you to everyone who’s been a part of my life along the way – you all know who you are – great friends, great mentors and great family.

Life is happening for us, not to us.

And if you’re reading this, I hope you find that same belief in your own journey.