When I was growing up, the first job that I got paid for was working for a neighbor, Mr. Greear. 75 cents an hour plus an “all I could eat” lunch cooked by Mrs. Greear. Mr. Kermit Greear grew up on a farm during the Great Depression. Like many men from that era, including my Grandpa, he had to start working at a young age to help feed the family, so he only had the privilege of attending school through the 8th grade. However, these men including my Grandpa and Mr. Greear were among the most intelligent and wise men this country has ever known. Mr. Greear was also a WW II veteran. He knew well what hunger, need, devastation, sacrifice for family and country, and hard work were from experiencing all of them. He taught me how to work; digging fence posts, building fence, mowing, hauling hay, cleaning out the machine shed. You get the idea. Twice a year I would help Mr. Greear load a couple of calves and take them to the butcher. He would take them to a butcher 75 miles away from his farm instead of 20 miles because he “liked the way they cut the meat” and the “cleanliness of the meat cutting and packing room”. He knew them and they knew him. He trusted them. He knew how his calves were raised, fed and cared for, because he did it himself; and he knew how the beef was processed and cut. This was special, and a lot of people I knew growing up raised their own beef and had a beef butchered every year. The days of producing food for their own family are gone for most people today, but the opportunity to buy beef from ranchers who care for their land and cattle right, and who are willing to place their brand on every steak they produce and stand behind it is available to anyone who truly wants to know where their food comes from and who raised it and processed it.
~Mike and Shannon