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[ Bird sounds ]
>> Bringing the people behind our food to life.
[Bird sounds]
>> I graduated from college in the early '70s
when people were thinking about the world needing
to go a different direction and people needing to get back
to the land and learn to live in harmony with nature
and to learning to live with ideals that were more
about humanity than about profit.
Somebody needed to farm.
That's the connection with the land and it's the connection
with what people need
and developing a human social order based
on that harmonious food production, was the only vision
that I could see that made sense.
The store that we use kind of as a house and a connection
to the community around us was built in 1913.
There were five families that made their living
by working through the store.
They bought and sold wool.
There were even stories about bootleg during prohibition,
but some deny and some say it's true.
They sold ice cream cones and hardware
and clothing and Red Wing shoes.
They had dances.
It was abandoned for five years before I found it.
And I was actually at that time looking for land
where I could build a wood shop, because I was making furniture,
and growing vegetables in the summer.
>> Earthen Path Organic Farm is named
because that's what it was for me.
It was an earthen path towards what I believed was important
to strive for for all humanity, an earthen path,
where we're connected to the earth and we live
within the circle of life, within the cycles of nature,
ecologically, sustainably.
So Earthen Path Organic Farm has been an attempt
to take the small piece of land that I have and raise a family
on them, on that, teaching them how to live from their labor,
from their creativity with the resources on that land.
Gus, can you come on over and help?
We're just going to clean up that front pen and put
down some fresh straw.
And
[ Background noises ]
>> Take a look.
So we're going to clean out this front pen.
All right.
>> Yeah, mom, out you go, right out of the box.
>> We have lots of animals.
I love animals.
And we have chickens.
We sell eggs, and eat chickens too.
In the fall we raise up a batch or two of broilers to sell,
turkeys, ducks, geeses, horses.
We have farmed horses for probably
about 27 or 28 years now.
I can't remember exactly what year it was I got my first team.
The reason I've been doing it has been to pass on,
not just the knowledge and the skills,
but to pass on what we build.
Most of the farms around --
the good, old farms with the real barns and everything,
were the work of several generations,
somebody homesteading the land, and each generation adding
to it and building to it.
And to me, you can't have a sustainable model
without thinking about the people on the land as well,
passing on the skills and the land
into the future generations.
So I'm really happy that after going out and managing a farm
in New York, my son, Joe and Rebecca are back, and I'm hoping
that eventually several of my other children will be here,
participating as well.
And all my life as I was raising kids, I've done it
with the intent of having something
for space for everybody.
We don't have enough land, so one of the thoughts
with the greenhouse was there's enough here,
enough greenhouse businesses, to support several families.
There's a space in this little piece of land
to support several generations.
I would love to rock the grandkids on the porch
and watch and consult.
[ Background noise ]