I've learned since jumping into this venture to gauge most interactions with a wily grin. Usually, the conversation goes something like this:
"What do you do for a living?" "I raise bison."
*insert wily grin
"Oh. Wait. You do what?"
So, here's our story.
Growing up, I was an only girl in a family of rough and rowdy boys. Boys that were old enough when I came along that being close wasn't really in the cards. By the time I was six I was spending my days riding horses alone through the hills of West Virginia. We didn't have neighbors, my brothers were too "big to be bothered" and I was more than happy to spend daylight hours in the woods with the dogs, cat, a racoon, and my horse.
My dad had raised me on old westerns and old country music, mostly cowboy songs. So, I filled many of my days with imaginary situations of riding my pony through the draw, hunting "buffalo" and catching Jesse James.
Then I grew up, put away all those childhood dreams and games and married the love of my life. In our late 30's he was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and told he'd probably be in a wheelchair within 3-5 years. Only thing to do was take a butt-load of pills and a monthly injection to slow down the progression of inflammation and deterioration of his joints.
This. Was. Devastating!
My husband has never known any speed but wide-open, and other than a couple of pit stops to refuel, he didn't slow down for anything till the work was done.
Soon after his diagnosis, a lifelong friend of ours became terminally ill. He had been diagnosed with RA about 10-years before Dave, and had been on the same regimen of meds since his DX. It turned out his liver was eat up with cancer, and the culprit was suspected to be the cocktail of RA meds. He was still a fairly young man, a young son and a beautiful wife that made the sweetest little family. But, within a year of the cancer being found he was gone.
The day after his funeral I started researching any possibilities that might not lead us down a similar path. By happenstance, I came across an article of a young lady in California that had RA also. She had changed her diet, started eating "Paleo" and found the results to be nearly miraculous.
I had my doubts. But, what could eating healthy hurt?
We went at it like we do anything in life...110%. Within a few weeks my husband was feeling different. Not better, but he felt he didn't need to take the meds as prescribed. He readjusted the dosing (do not do this without a Dr's oversight...unless you're like my husband, stubborn and won't listen to me). Within a month he was skipping all meds except his Wednesday pills. His monthly injection was also skipped. And, within the first six months he stopped the meds entirely. Everything!!
Now, I can't say that clean eating cured him. He still has RA, and on occasion he still has a bad day. But, we aren't as strict about our diet these days either. And, we aren't in our mid-30's anymore!
However, the years we spent eating strictly clean led us to good foods that we fell in love with -- like bison meat.
So, when we bought a place in Florida so he could work the southeastern US for his new job in 2014, I couldn't learn to love the hot weather, flat lands, and gobs of people everywhere. I spent at least half the time back in West Virginia at my homeplace. Finally, in 2018 I sat down to Thanksgiving Dinner with the family in Florida and announced I was going "home" -- and I was joined almost instantly by my daughter and mother-in-law. My husband was shocked that we were all missing the four-seasons, mountainous terrain, and elbow room! He asked if we could meet in the middle.
Eastern Tennessee was as close to 'middle ground' as I could imagine! I started looking for land immediately and through a lot of faith, we took the leap to buy our farm. And, what would we do with a farm?
Well, raise bison of course!
I'll go into that more in another post. But, that is how we came to be bison people.
Welcome to our crazy life on the funny farm!
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