Hello from Minnesota, COLD one today!

Hello, I’m Mike, located almost in the dead center of Minnesota and damned cold today. Woke up this morning to -30 degrees F but everything was still working, don’t know if it’s a testament to good planning or just luck.

I’m a combat veteran of OIF 3, not someone who sat behind the wire on a base but one that is considered a road warrior. I had to sell off my farm, most of my animals and machinery in 2004 along with moving my family closer to town; we lived 20 miles from any appreciable town. I kept my saddle horses and 1 team of Belgians for the animals, my horse machinery and a tractor. I moved the family to my current location 2 weeks before I left with my cohoards for a year and a half deployment.

That being said will lead to the current foundation and status of rebuilding. 98% of my time over there I was involved with either planning or executing missions of varying importance in an area north and east of Baghdad. I won’t get into that stuff but I’ll let you in on how I made it to now, the other 2%. At various times I had to stare and do nothing so I dreamt up how I would lay out this new place. What would I do and how would I do it? Diagrams, approximate measurements, dimensions, numbers and types of animals, certifications, crop rotations and so on. Enough to fill a hard cover bound note book including time tables.

I have accomplished 5 years of work, according to my time estimations, in the 3 that I’ve been home. Including organic certification for small grains and hay, the grain I sell to a local co-op that my wife and I belong to, the hay we feed to our growing herd of 40 cows,15 sheep and 16 horses, 4 of which are Belgian. The numbers of cows are a shadow of what we sold before I left but I didn’t feel right to leave my wife and 2 children with the chore list and a “See ya when I get home” (maybe). My unit left with 154 souls and returned with all 154, some of us left pieces behind but we’re home with 8 Purple Hearts received, including mine.

I’ll be starting a thread in the “Sustainable Farming” section as I have a situation that outside help could be useful. So put your thinking caps on because I’ll need some advice. I’ve been around horses of all sizes my entire life and feel I’m capable of accomplishing most anything I want to. I’m the current president of Mid-Minnesota Draft Horse Association, Vice President of Cass County Farm Bureau, member of Crow Wing River Basin Forage Council Board of Directors, retired from the military in 2007 with 23 years time between active and guard, vested in the Operators Union Local 49 and a member of a college faculty.