From Bars To A Farm |
Dustin Coffey |
My name is Dustin Coffey, and I was incarcerated. I am 26 years old and spent my last birthday behind bars. I have had many opportunities, and I have messed the majority of them up. I have a wonderful mother, who raised me by herself with the help of my grandparents. This is not my sob story. We all have a story beyond us. No one's life is perfect or it wouldn't be life, because life is what you truly make it. It can be great as you want it or crappy as you make it. I have no brothers or sisters biologically, but I have a brother I got when I was 7 years old through the Big Brother's program. He and his wife and kids have been a huge part of my life now for over 20 years and will continue to be for the rest of it. Growing up I made a lot of bad choices, wanting to be one of the cool kids, and wanting to not act or be smart because that wasn't the cool thing to do in my eyes. Yes, I was a "hard head!" I have put my family through a lot of stress and distress over the years. I did 20 months in 2012 and got released in 2014, when a new life began for me. I have been an addict for many years and this was my fresh start to be who I always wanted to be! I moved away from the area I had been living to live with my brother in their house up north. He was in the process of fixing his house to sell it so he could move to another state. I helped fix the house and all that goes with it, such as painting, patching holes, even a little bit of tiling, and some needed yard-work. I was on probation for an indefinite period of time, so messing up was out of the question. My probation officer would not allow me to move to the new house they were moving to because it was in another state. My brother and I checked Craigslist and started looking for places for me to rent. It took many weeks of searching and searching, and we came across a room for rent for farm work. Me being a city boy I had no idea what this meant but I was looking forward to meeting these people. I emailed them and said I was interested and got a quick reply. So my brother, his wife, and the kids accompanied me to the farm. The driveway was like a mile long and on the way to their house on one side was a huge sheep farm, and wow the kids got so excited. Now at this point I am shaking, sweating, so nervous, and wondering what these people will think about me. I was shocked to see how young they were; not much older than me. We talked and talked, and went on a tour of the property. It was about 8 acres. I also discovered we attended the same church. There were chickens and ducks running everywhere, and goats and big hogs just staring at me. They even had a bunch of rabbits called meat rabbits. I had no clue about farming or anything to do with it. I told them about my previous convictions and they said that it would be no problem that they would be happy to have me live in their home and be there farm helper. I would work 20 hours a week for food and rent, which I felt was a really good deal. Later I filled in the paperwork and two weeks later I moved in and began my journey. My mother, brother, and grandfather were so excited for me and very helpful, as they are my support system. I had to be up at 5:30 in the morning and outside by 6:00 feeding all of the animals. On my first day, I was exhausted, but happy I was living on my own again. They had hogs, ducks, chickens, baby ducks, baby chicks, three dogs, and even two baby goats. The baby goats had to be bottle fed three times a day. I must say things were good, as I got a car. I was working hard, and life was good. We were even doing the farmers market where we would go set up and sell eggs, and meat we got from processing chickens, and a few of the hogs. At the farmers market, I met a guy who was opening a BBQ restaurant. I asked if he was hiring. He needed help in the afternoons putting the finishing touches on the restaurant before the grand opening in just a few weeks. At this point I was looking for another job is because the farm was slowing down for the winter, and I needed funds to still come in. Soon I was working at the restaurant 40 hours a week and on the farm still putting in 20 hours helping with feedings and building hutches and houses for the animals to live in. Then my most favorite time of being on the farm was a thing the county called farm day where local farms participate in setting up their farm for people to come out and see all your products and animals. This took a few months to prepare for and setup the property for people to come out and visit. We had the goats in the front yard and let the kids who came out feed them. Rabbits were placed in the hutches we had built. These were moveable houses and we moved them to fresh ground every morning as their poop is great fertilizer. The rabbits were the biggest hit on farm day, and the kids loved them. One little girl wanted to hold one of the baby rabbits, so I pulled it out of its pen and put it in her arms. As I did so its claws scratched her and she panicked. When she panicked she dropped the rabbit, and before I could grab it the rabbit took off. For the next half an hour I was chasing this rabbit all over the yard with tons of people watching. I was being helped by many little kids who actually made it harder to catch the rabbit. In the end of all the mayhem, it was a great day and an awesome experience. I look forward to the day I can own my own homestead, and have my own farm day. It turned this city kid in to a country boy forever and I hope one can see that sometimes we have to change our environment to see what all is out there. There are good people out there and just because of your past does not have to define who you can become. Get out there and see the opportunities that are in front of you!
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