From South Africa to "the Deep South" - Christiaan’s Story
Christiaan’s STORY
“There’s no place I’d rather be, and nothing else I would rather be doing”.
Growing up as a 4th generation farmer, farming is in my blood. We are traditional South African sheep farmers and have a deep-rooted love for nature and its cycles.
Christiaan welcoming new baby lambs to the farm.
Growing up, I remember sitting on my father’s shoulders or on his lap, watching and learning from him. I remember, as an 8-year-old, plowing and planting with the equipment on my own. I remember as a teenager observing how each year became tougher, and adaptions had to be made more frequently. The rain stayed away longer, the summers became warmer, and the winters became dryer. All the while, I kept thinking, “There’s no place I’d rather be, and nothing else I would rather be doing”.
After school, my parents encouraged me to find an occupation with “a better future” than farming. As you can imagine, that wasn’t enough.
Determined, my wife Jamie and I set out to be full-time farmers: but the reality was that farming had become so unsustainable, that our family farm in South Africa simply wouldn’t be able to support us.
Having to face this reality drove me to task the question: If I can’t farm, would I be happy doing anything else? The answer was simple: no, I could not imagine doing anything else for the rest of my life.
So, the question turned to: How do we make this work? There has to be a way to make agriculture sustainable. If there isn’t, what will the world do?
Jamie and I did some research and looked into alternative farming methods. There were many! As we read articles and watched videos a general theme started to appear: “If you don’t take care of the soil, it won’t take care of you”.
Intrigued, we began to realize that nature did not have to suffer at the hands of agriculture to ensure humanity’s survival, but rather, agriculture (my passion) could be the tool to ensure both nature and humanity (my wife’s passion) flourished!
We made phone calls to farmers, universities, anywhere we could to find someone who understood Regenerative Agriculture. It quickly became obvious that there weren’t many in South Africa we could learn from, so our search became an international one. The United States seemed to be one of the world’s leaders in Regenerative Ag, and I felt that if I could just get over there I would be able to find a farm where I could learn practically.
From student to expert: Christiaan teaching at Soil Health Academy in October 2020.
So, I quit my job, applied for an Agricultural Visa, and took the first available job posting I could find. Once in the US, I looked to see if I could find any of the known Regenerative Ag figures on social media. In my search I came across Ray Archuleta’s Facebook profile. I dialed him through the messenger app, and, miraculously, Ray answered! After introducing myself and sharing my story, he invited me to attend a Soil Health Academy being held nearby in a few weeks.
I was able to attend the Academy, and meet the team. Dr. Allen Williams told me of a Regenerative farm in Alabama that was starting a sheep program, and asked if I would be interested in being involved there. Jumping at the opportunity, I went to visit BDA, and knew immediately that this was where my future was.
Christiaan manages Bois d’Arc Farm. Jamie-Lee is the Operations Specialist. They reside on the farm together with their sheep, Frappuccino and their goat, Espresso.
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