History of Our Family Homestead

So how did our family settle in the tiny town of Marshall, Oklahoma? Our story starts with eminent domain land seize from the government. My husband's original family homestead was taken during the development of Lake Hefner. The ranch sits somewhere at the bottom of the lake. Dan and Margaret searched all over Oklahoma looking for a new homestead. They resettled on this section of land in Marshall that we still call home today.

Dan senior with his sons Joe and Don.

The land came with a small 2 bedroom farmhouse and a large hay barn. Both built in the early 1900's. Amazingly, both of these structures still stand strong on this windy prairie!

When Dan and Margaret bought this section, it was very rough land. Over the years, he improved the ranch by adding more outbuildings, 4 ponds and one spring fed lake. He planted lots of beautiful Pecan trees and Sand plums that still stand today. He was a land conservationist before it was cool! I can't imagine how difficult and long the days were in the heat and cold wind of this dusty prairie land.

After Dan passed away, his son Joe continued the family business by focusing on farming. He primarily grew wheat and had a herd of Red Hereford cattle. He kept the family farm alive by staying out of debt and learning to do all his own repairs. He kept the farm on a small scale that allowed him to do everything himself or with the help of his son Dan. Joe's famous saying is "Being a farmer is feeding the world for just enough to starve your family."

The original early 1900's barn

The original farmhouse

Of course, this is a very shortened and quick version of a very interesting piece of Oklahoma history. The true struggles with hardships, love and loss are all a part of this beautiful ranch.

Fast forward to today. What's our story? My husband Dan who grew up here, did what lots of farm kids do, he went away to college to seek a different life. He reflects back on his "why" and says he felt there was no place for him when his dad was farming. Sadly, I have heard this from many young people on why they don't stay and continue on with the family farm.

So off to college he went and met me. We married and had children and did the corporate life together. Early in 2023 Dan's mom had a significant stroke. We knew his parents would never be able to leave the farm. It's all they have ever known. After a year of driving back and forth from Texas to Oklahomas, we knew things had to drastically change. So we sold our home. Dan quit his corporate job and we moved from the suburbs of Texas and into an RV out here on the farm to take care of his parents.

My New Home!

Life is crazy like that isn't it? One minute you are living one kind of life and the next minute, God changes everything and moves you into a completely new place.

Back to the eminent domain that changed our family's course forever back in the late 30's. I can't believe we may be dealing with government overreach again! So many people around here are unaware of what is happening in the Oklahoma government right now. I won't go into a political post here, but the farms in Logan county and other surrounding counties are at risk for eminent domain under the guise of "green" energy. I encourage anyone who reads this to please educate yourselves to the true dangers of signing the foreign owned wind turbine leases and how it opens up your land and your neighbors land to a government land grab. It's not green energy by any stretch of the imagination. It just takes one or two people to say no and stop the land grab. But that's for a whole other post.

Next post I'll fill you in how we decided to take the ranch into a new direction and what we plan to do with the old barn!

And don't forget, be a rebel and eat a steak!