Community Press Release:

Running a farm is hard enough, but rapid city growth makes it even tougher. More than a decade ago, the late Verl Cook faced a series of staggering hurdles that threatened to wipe out his family’s livelihood.

First, the city decided to treat the Cook’s greenhouse — the most profitable part of the farm — like a big-box retail store. They demanded the family build a paved parking lot, a project that would cost $200,000.

Hall and Scheig found their land last June and broke ground just two months later, transforming what was essentially a blank canvas into a diversified market garden. This year marks their first full growing season, and they’re launching it with a community supported agriculture program, or CSA. CSAs allow people to support local growers by purchasing a season’s worth of produce upfront, giving farmers the financial stability they need during the most expensive part of the year.

Staycations in one’s own town always sounded to me like something old, feeble, and tired couples do. For younger people, adventure has always seemed to inhabit the other side of the fence, right alongside the greener grass.

But sometimes extreme situations call for extreme measures.

When was the last time you plucked a chicken? How about threshing wheat or milking a cow? For most people today, the answer is never. What used to be a daily survival skill has slipped into the history books, while farmers, ranchers, and a multitude of other hands continue to prepare, package, and produce the food we buy at the grocery store.