Paul Greive '07 was working a desk job and struggling with health issues when he decided to make a change. 追求更有意义、更有品质的生活方式, 他和他的家人开始饲养牧草喂养的鸡供当地消费. 在短短三年内, 格里夫的家庭农场, 原始的牧场, 涨到了350美元,年销售额达1000万美元.
“它发展得非常快，”格里夫说 商科专业 在肯考迪娅.“需求很大，但问题是供应. 它不像一家科技公司，我们可以投入更多的小部件. 我们需要更多的土壤，更多的草，更多的动物.”
原始的牧场 出售牧场饲养的鸡, 羊肉, 猪肉, 牛肉, 火鸡, 鸡蛋和生蜂蜜直接卖给南加州地区的消费者. It is one of just a handful of farms in the area that raises animals for consumption in a rotational grazing method, 让动物在接近自然的环境中吃饭和生活.
They get fresh air, sunlight and fresh clean water, and are not trampling all over each other.
原始牧场有1个,500 customers and limits its market to Southern California by design because they believe consumers should be able to see where their food is raised. 格里夫与他的岳父汤姆和姐夫杰夫·麦克丹尼尔一起工作, MEd ’07 (and wife Bethany Loesch ’11) and Rob McDaniel who attended 欧文康考迪亚大学 for a year. 格里夫在欧文的康考迪亚大学遇到了他的妻子林赛·麦克丹尼尔.
格里夫说:“我们谁也没想到我们会把务农作为一种职业。. “我们以前从未种地，也不知道自己在做什么. But one of the most important calls we have as Christians is to be open to God’s Word and obedient to his lead when he calls us to certain things. 我觉得我们很幸运，非常幸运.”
It all started with fifty chicks and an idea to raise them the natural way—letting them eat bugs and worms in an open field.
Health problems had prompted Greive and his family members to seek solutions in their diet.
“我一直在与关节炎作斗争，”格里夫说. “不同的饮食方式完全治愈了它. That caused me to study the food system and look for locally-grown organic food.”
但是他找不到外面养的鸡, 吃虫子和蠕虫，没有喂食转基因饲料. “让我震惊的是，没有人在任何地方这样做，”他说. “所以我们说，‘为什么不自己养呢? 我们有几英亩地.’”
It was a half-serious idea until Paul’s brother-in-law announced, “I just ordered fifty chicks. 他们两周后到达. 我们需要做好准备.”
The men devoured books on chicken-raising, put the new chicks in a brooder and then onto the lawn. 他们在脸谱网上发帖说:“我们饲养的是牧场饲养的、不含大豆的鸟类. 如果你想要，请告诉我们. 我们会想办法给你的.”
“我们打算自己吃掉大部分的鸟，”格里夫说. “我们怀疑会不会有人付钱，但五十只鸟都卖出去了. 这让我们大开眼界.”
屠宰这些鸟是一个挑战，因为之前没有人杀过动物.
“我们一只手拿着一只鸟，另一只手拿着YouTube手机, 我们完全按照YouTube上的步骤来做,格里夫说.
顾客们很高兴，等候名单上的家庭增加到1000个. People also asked where they could get pasture-raised 牛肉, 猪肉, 羊肉 and 火鸡. So 原始的牧场 was born and began partnering with local farms that used the same raising and grazing techniques.
我们热衷于将我们的信仰与我们的耕作方式联系起来. 我们在整件事上都是倚靠上帝的旨意.
“对我们来说，最重要的是上帝，”格里夫说. 我们的身体是耶和华的殿. 我们热衷于将我们的信仰与我们的耕作方式联系起来. 我们在整件事上都是倚靠上帝的旨意.”
Greive, 有天赋的运动员, grew up in downtown Seattle and was “super involved on campus” 在欧文的康考迪亚大学.
他说:“我喜欢小班授课，喜欢这种氛围。. “与我在大型公立学校的朋友相比，我的朋友是他们的十倍. 我爱康科迪亚的每一分钟，我认为那是最好的地方.”
He came to play baseball but burned out on the sport and was recruited instead to throw the javelin.
“Track很棒，因为团队非常多样化，”他说. “我的室友来自世界各地:非洲、墨西哥、亚洲. 那是一群很酷的人. Blutreich教练将永远是大学生的终极导师. He shared his faith in a way that was so unique and compelling to a college athlete. 他是我大学生活的重要组成部分. 我还是想像他一样.”
格里夫也加入了手铃合唱团，起初只是开玩笑.
他说:“我们中的一些运动员认为这会很搞笑。. “但有趣的是，我们有一位很棒的老师, 有趣的人, 太酷了，我们都被他迷住了. 我们喜欢玩手铃.”
格里夫甚至因此获得了奖学金. 他说:“这让我接触到了一个与田径运动完全不同的团队。. “这是一种祝福. 去认识一些很棒的人 音乐系 让我看到了校园的另一面. The relationships and memories of going on tour with all my friends was really cool.”
格里夫还帮助成立了中文俱乐部. And when a national race-walking coach visited campus, another surprise awaited.
“The whole track team was laughing about how funny it would be to do race-walking, 所以我说, ‘I will put on the shortest shorts I can find and do this race-walking thing if you guys will,’”格里夫回忆道.
But afterward the visiting coach told Greive he had textbook form and urged him to pursue the sport. 五周后, 格里夫获得了参加全国比赛的资格，并在锦标赛中获得了第六名, 使他成为全美竞走和标枪运动员.
“我比比赛中的任何人都重100磅, 但是我可能走得和跑得一样快,他说. “关于弯曲的腿如何配合臀部运动. 我有过短暂但疯狂的竞走生涯.”
Team USA invited him to try out, but Greive was already heading in another direction. While he was job-seeking, three friends separately suggested he consider joining the military.
“我想，‘也许上帝想说些什么，’”他说. “我为此祈祷了很多次.”
Those prayers led him to serve four years in the Marine Corps as an intelligence officer. 他说，他在伊拉克的一年是一次了不起的文化体验. “我学到了很多关于中东的知识，学会了阿拉伯语会话. 每个人都安然无恙地回家了. 我们觉得我们真的有了更好的影响.”
然后，格里夫回到了文职工作, 他获得了注册会计师执照，并在一家不错的会计师事务所找到了一份工作. 但他说:“我对自己所做的事情没有热情。. “我一直都知道自己想要创业.”
与此同时，关节炎折磨着他，无奈之下他改变了饮食习惯. 回归旧时代——肉类饮食, 鱼, 水果, vegetables and healthy fats—made him and his family feel healthier and they began searching for pasture-raised chicken to eat. 这是迈向新生活方式和新事业的第一步.
I had no plan ever to go into farming but God opens certain doors for you and if you’re willing to walk through those, 神奇的事情会发生.
“I had no plan ever to go into farming but God opens certain doors for you and if you’re willing to walk through those, 神奇的事情会发生,格里夫说.
在饲养了第一批50只鸡并在脸谱网上出售后, 格里夫和他的家人意识到他们的生意是可行的. Greive began plowing money into the operation and farming before and after work. 他们很快赢得了15美元的奖金,加州大学洛杉矶分校的创业奖, 这使得全职务农成为现实.
“It’s not all fun and games,格里夫说, recalling how difficult it was to leave a regular salary. “我们一度只剩下10美元. 对我们来说，它一直处于最低点.”
一个主要的推动力来自于 2013年Kickstarter活动 引起了全国的关注，并在MSNBC上做了专题报道， L.A. 每周 和美国在线.com. 这项名为“让我们一起建设一个农场”的活动筹集了6万美元.
原始的牧场 arranges leases or mutual benefit agreements with land-owners and smaller satellite farms, allowing them to graze animals on land they do not own and avoid large capital investments. In less than three years their home-based farm and seven partner farms operate on four thousand acres, 有几千只鸡做肉和蛋, 一百头羊, 一千头猪和五百头牛.
They learned the hard way that keeping chickens outdoors without protection is a recipe for disaster. 90%的鸡群在早期就被郊狼吃掉了, 邻居的狗, 山猫, 鹰派人士, 猫头鹰和黄鼠狼. So they began using a “chicken tractor,” a large upside down box that shields birds as they graze. 他们每天把拖拉机拉到草地上的一个新位置. 鸡吃东西时给草坪施肥，使土壤再生.
他们还买了九只看门狗, 安纳托利亚牧羊犬和大比利牛斯的杂交品种, 哪些是我们整个农场的保护者,格里夫说. “日落时分，他们就开始巡逻, 把自己安置在一个可以看到正在发生的事情的地方.”
今天, Greive still slaughters every chicken himself and every part gets used—feathers go to the compost pile, entrails feed the guard dogs and the rest is sold to consumers and food businesses.
格里夫，谁是 在加州大学洛杉矶分校读完MBA, is planning to expand the rotational grazing ethic of 原始的牧场 to a national scale. 他的想法, 叫做牧场鸟, involves a proprietary technique to graze chickens in much greater numbers on grass, 吃虫子和蠕虫.
“If we want to change the world we need to bring prices down close to what they sell for in the store,他说. “牧场鸟将扩大这个想法, producing pasture poultry close to a conventional price using methods that are healthy for the land, 动物和消费者. 这是件大事. We are taking lessons we learned three years doing 原始的牧场 and putting it on a hyper-scale system. Think of the impact you can have on the land with thousands and thousands of acres every year.”
“牧场鸟”的创意已经赢得了25美元,来自美国农业局的一万美元, 还有30多美元,000美元的奖金.
格里夫说，他很感激“依靠自己的激情来谋生”. The ultimate blessing is waking up every morning knowing you’re making a difference. 通过这次冒险，我觉得我对重要的事情产生了影响.”
了解更多关于原始牧场的信息 primalpastures.com.