You Are What You Eat

If I could tell my younger self that I’d become a farmer one day, young Ryan would have probably laughed (and spit out some junk food). After graduating from the University of Florida in 2011, I found myself six years into an unfulfilling career in a cubicle. I was nearly 100 pounds overweight, had an autoimmune disease that required frequent procedures, and took a handful of costly prescriptions every day. Not fun.

In 2018, my wife and I moved to Oregon’s Willamette Valley looking for a change. I began working outside, and took a job as a school garden teacher. Here I began using organic methods to manage the school’s farm, orchard, and rose garden. I taught schoolchildren about our natural world and where our food comes from. Much of what we grew together wound up in their lunches, and the rest for sale to the public.

Working outside and eating real, fresh foods helped to transform my life. My autoimmune disease vanished, I am healthy, and don’t need any prescriptions. You are what you eat, quite literally. Now it’s my passion to deliver the healthiest, cleanest foods to my family and community.

I love organic farming because it does no harm. I can feel good about what I am doing with my time; for the soil, my community, and my own body. I use no tractors or heavy machinery. I use mostly stone age hand tools because I believe far too much technology has been applied to our modern food cycle. There is nothing sustainable about what you see at the grocery store. The average grocery item has traveled 2,000+ miles before hitting the shelf and has been repeatedly sprayed with chemicals you should never ingest.

Although I am not certified organic (yet!) I pledge to never use any synthetic chemicals or fertilizers, and I invite anyone to come by the house anytime to check out how I’m doing things; mostly just a lot of sweat and compost. Just email or call me!

See you at the market,

- Ryan