Tag Archives: Base Vines and Cattle

On the Horizon–The Road Less Traveled

Family farms have been a tradition in America for years. From crops to livestock, farmers keep the grocery stores shelves stocked and the clothes racks full.

A trend that is emerging is the average age of farmers is increasing and less and less young farmers are coming up to take their place. With the global population nearing nine billion, a small amount of people are presented with the task of feeding and clothing more with less.

Despite this grim scenario, a young couple in Western Oklahoma are bucking the trends and have a farm and then some. I was able to spend a couple days with the Base family at their farm in Geary, Okla. It was easy to see their passion for agriculture and it was obvious to see how dedicated they are.

In today’s video blog, we take a look at the Base Vines and Cattle farm. Diversity doesn’t begin to describe what the Base family does. They seem to have their hands in all things agriculture. They have a little bit of traditional and a little bit of nontraditional. All in all they are definitely doing their part in feeding the world.

Andy Barth

On the Horizon: Variety on the Farm from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

The Dreams of Greenhorns

Vines & Cattle Schoolhouse – “Before”

The first official day of Spring Break was almost over, as was the rain that had been pouring down all day long.  So much had come from the clouds in so little time I almost called and cancelled dinner plans.  The plans, you see, included some navigation on an Oklahoma dirt road to reach my destination and I wasn’t sure my little white Jetta was up for the slide-and-react task left by gully washers.

But late that afternoon, the hostess for our evening sent out a message: “the roads drain well, so dinner is still on.”  The note was all the encouragement I needed.  I needed to de-stress from a busy semester, I already had a reservation for that night at Roman Nose, and I wanted to meet this particular group of young farmers who were coming together to see the completed Base Vines and Cattle Schoolhouse in Geary, OK.

To say Aaron and Jennifer Base have sweat equity in their newly restored eighty year-old, one-room Schoolhouse is an understatement.  They’ve infused every piece of lumber, all the nails, the foundation blocks and gallons of paint with love and hours of work.

Aaron working on the roof

Continue reading The Dreams of Greenhorns