I’m not sure when exactly I decided to be a farmer. Maybe it was the first time I placed a pumpkin seed inside a small film capsule with a wet cotton ball and watched it turn into a plant. Maybe it was from so many hours spent bouncing around in cabs learning from and farming […]

If you’re from a small town, you know what it’s like when something BIG happens in your community. I remember when I was in 6th grade and the Pendleton County boys’ basketball team won Regionals and went to state. The whole town was celebrating! There was a parade, a coloring book made with pictures of […]

Writing about gender is hard. Growing up, I was exposed to successful females of almost every occupation. Very few people ever told me “You can’t do that because you’re a girl.” If someone did say those things, I usually just did it anyway. I was allowed to develop my own sense of empowerment and independence. […]

After an incredible Christmas break with my friends, family, and Taco Bell, I am back in Ghana. My school looks the same as I left it. My classroom looks the same as I left it. But my entrance into the class for the new term was different.  In Ghana, the term “I have missed you” […]

We’ve all heard the quote “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. I’ve found these words to ring true time and time again. In college there was always a huge emphasis on networking and how those skills and connections can carry over to your professional career. I’m really not sure why I thought […]

A congregation of 4-H members were eagerly leading and following me through the small dirt trails of my new village, when I asked them to stop for a second. I stepped toward a group of small children about twenty feet away happily playing under a tree, just to say hello and acknowledge them. As soon […]

On a “cold” 65°F morning of the harmattan season in northern Ghana, the windows and doors are closed to the classroom of the shivering agriculture students. Still, as I pass by the class, I am spotted through the window cracks and the students shout, “Mr. Matthew, teach us!” Upon entering the class, I find half […]

At the end of most days, I take a short walk up the slightly inclined path from the teachers bungalow where I live to the main road and community. I pass through the bush and by a couple small farms before I make it to where the majority of the people live in the small […]

It’s more than a job, it’s a lifestyle. It’s more than a family business, it’s a family passion. Dairy farming is a way of life. While I was growing up in the little Canadian town of Lacombe, our dairy barn was literally in our backyard. I knew exactly where I could locate my dad at midnight, 8 […]