Today we’d like to introduce you to Karyn Medders.
Karyn, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Growing up in an incredibly conservative religious home with a male-dominated mindset, I couldn’t be further from those beginnings now. I have done everything from being a hairdresser to accounting clerk, CrossFit coach to now a farmer.
My journey of enlightenment and self-confidence started, funny enough, with roller derby, which took me way out of my comfort zone. Then Calvin and I started running with the Houston Hash House Harriers, a running group that lays trails with flour, then ends the run with a keg of beer, irreverent songs, and shenanigans. This led to CrossFit, which gave me so much confidence. Throughout all of these experiences, I became friends with strong women of all backgrounds who were examples to me that the only limits we have in life are the limits we put on ourselves.
In 2013, after much study about healthy foods and our current food system, we decided that we needed to grow our own food. So we found a beautiful piece of raw land in the piney woods of Texas, and the work began. We didn’t have a business plan. We didn’t know how our farm would look five years later, but we are incredibly happy with what we’ve built so far.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road has been rough at times. We transitioned to the raw land in a 21-foot travel trailer so we could save money and pay cash for finishing the interior of the house ourselves, which we did. During that time, I was experiencing severe back pain and had to quit CrossFit, which was a knock to my pride as a former coach. Despite my pain, I was pulling wire, up on the scaffolding staining and painting, doing what I needed to do to get us into the barndominium so we could actually start farming.
Fast forward five years, I’ve had major back surgery and two hand surgeries, I have deforming arthritis in my hands which affects my grip strength, and I’m a little chubbier than when we started the journey. So I have had to have some serious gut checks with myself… some Stuart Smalley daily affirmations, if you will. Farming is rough on the body, and I am also coming to terms with aging. But I am a strong woman, and I am doing honest work with a pure heart. That is all I can ask of myself.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou.
I think this applies to everyone, no matter what field of work or walk of life. I’m learning every day… things I cannot unlearn. Don’t beat yourself up for not being an expert. Once we learn, we become better. It’s a journey.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Chubby Dog Farm story. Tell us more about the business.
At Chubby Dog Farm, we specialize in charcuterie quality artisan pork. The pigs are raised in wooded paddocks where they can roam and forage for roots and tubers and brush. We feed them a custom, non-GMO, and non-soy blend, plus whey and spent grain when we can acquire it, and we don’t treat with antibiotics or give hormones ever. We are proud of the quality of our pork, as we say “happy meat tastes better.” We believe that the pigs’ low-stress lifestyle shows in that quality.
We are a small, two-person farm, so our days are extremely hands on. I run the daily operations of the farm while Calvin works his engineering job, and we do evening and weekend projects together. I manage all social media and most email communications, and Calvin mans the phone for sales and inquiries. I deliver pigs to the processor, but we try to deliver pork to the customer together. We support our customers by dining at their restaurants because, one… we love good food, and two, we believe in the slow food movement. We’re self-proclaimed “farmer foodies.”
It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others.
It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways by Dallas Hartwig & Melissa Hartwig, The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
The above three books all led us to the farm. Like I stated earlier, once we learned about healthy foods and a broken food system, we could not unlearn it.
The Accidental Farmers: An urban couple, a rural calling and a dream of farming in harmony with Nature by Tim Young
Tim Young’s book horrified me when he wrote of not interfering when his sows were terrible mothers. After farming pigs for a few years now, I understand how he could do (or not do) what he did. Natural mothers have been bred out of commercial animals. With heritage pigs, we’re trying to bring that mothering instinct back.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver showed us the importance of eating seasonal, local foods. We do our best to live that now.
Idiot’s Guides: Foraging by Mark Vorderbruggen
We have attended Mark’s foraging class, better known as @merriwetherforager on Instagram. We have 69 acres that we forage on a regular basis, and we look to him for guidance, as well as many of our foraging chef friends.
My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares… my favorite book that opened my mind to the possibility of past lives and afterlives.
And my all time favorite series is the Harry Potter series, which I just read last year for the first time. So many lessons to learn about being brave, about being a leader, about friendship and loyalty, etc.
- Whole pigs $4.75/#
Contact Info:
- Address: 3539 CR 1620
Grapeland, TX 75844 - Website: chubbydogfarm.com
- Phone: 361-205-7472
- Email: medderskc@sbcglobal.net
- Instagram: @chubbydogfarm
- Facebook: Chubby Dog Farm
- Twitter: Chubby Dog Farm
Image Credit:
Karyn Medders
Houston County Farms
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