March 8, 2012.
The day we learned to juggle.
Loan signing. Shipping rights. Farm lease signing. Cow purchasing. Key acquiring. All within a matter of hours. None of which could happen without any of the others.
Signature here, phone call there and, BAM! We are officially dairy farmers.
Okay let’s back up a bit.
Because this is NOT originally what either of us signed up for!
Haylee grew up in the central valley of California. Granted, she could have been pegged as eventually becoming a soccer mom… she loved the beach and her dependable 9-5 job and serving with her church and non profits. Although dairy life was all around her, she knew nothing of what that “fragrant aroma” entailed! But she met this man with a different story, fell in love, and God had a sense of humor…
Ryan DID grow up on a dairy farm! A well-run, productive, family farm. One of four boys, they spent their winter, spring, and summer breaks from school working on the dairy. While it was a life he treasures, he spent his time at WSU looking for ANYTHING other than agriculture related careers. Landing on Marketing, he was excited for a new future, but always coming home and working on the farm to pay his way through school. With tears in his eyes, he graduated from WSU with a Communication degree and lo and behold, his experience landed him a job in….you guessed it… Agriculture. He worked for a large dairy feed company in California for several years – and found himself a nice Cali girl.
After we were married, we moved to Mount Vernon, WA where Ryan took a job as a dairy nutrition consultant and fell in love with the industry all over again.
We spent years there starting our family, and over many sleepless nights (not just because of the babies…) we felt a call to move. We knew we were being called to more – Ryan’s passion for farming grew stronger and God was making it abundantly clear that He had bigger plans for us.
We took a deep breath and decided to make this leap of faith. The farm that we now own became available from a great family that allowed us to lease it. But first we had to jump through the hoops! Do you know what it takes to open an organic dairy farm? We can get into the certifications and regulation picnic another time, but dotting all of our I’s and crossing our T’s took us a good 9 months of paperwork.
That brings us back up to that fateful day in 2012. We were able to work out all the details and suddenly Haylee is holding the hands of two little boys watching 140 huge animals file out of a truck and start pooping everywhere. Nevermind her attitude, she eventually learned to adjust, but Ryan’s face that day was one of hope and peace that he had finally found his purpose and could see a little glimpse of what that future could be for his family. Providence Farms was born and appropriately named.
Since then our sons have DOUBLED in number (fun fact: the first owners of this farm had 4 boys too! It was always meant to be!) and our boys are a HUGE part of our decisions here. We want to provide a life for them where they grow to walk with the Lord, learn what hard work looks like, , what being a good steward is, and ABSOLUTELY how to feed bottle calves on their own ASAP!
We have seen some ups and downs in the industry. There has definitely been a learning curve as we began here. Haylee has learned how to run the office of the business. (Quickbooks and Taxes and Licenses, Oh My!) Ryan has developed about 15 different hats and manages all of them well! He has become a mechanic, a vet, a nutritionist, an HR manager, master negotiator, and an agronomist to name a few. Needless to say, we don’t have trouble falling asleep at night. But we can’t go any further without mentioning how much help we have had along the way from some amazing supporters – many of whom we will give a shout out to in the future. We wouldn’t have made it without them!
God’s providence has led us to a place where He is opening new doors for us and we are discovering new and exciting passions that we can’t wait to share! Educating our community, sharing what we learn about being good stewards, and creating DELICIOUS products from our farm! Of course we’re gonna have to add our brand of sass to the project – so brace yourselves!
We want to teach people about real food – that starts at home with family. We want to show people what a farm REALLY is, the good and the bad – that might bust a few myths. We want to reach out to our community and give back – because God will use us to bless others.
We would love for you to walk alongside us as we move forward with this new passion. Learn a thing or two about cows and farming in general. And maybe be inspired to get up and pursue something that might seem big and hard, but full of SO much good!
