I grew up with an interest in agriculture but little experience until I went to college.  I studied animal science and met my farmer husband.  We have worked on several university research farms most of our married life as well as operating our own farrow-wean/limited finish hog farm for ten years.  I have been involved in dairy and swine research, but with the closing of the dairy last year, I have taken on new responsibilities in horticulture.  I oversee blackberry and blueberry trials, participate in equine research including horse composting to reclaim skeletons to be used for educational purposes, and am safety officer for 2 research farms.  My husband is an agronomy research associate, overseeing forage and field crop production plots.  We live on the research farm with our daughter and son, and we have chickens, horses, a garden, and buy dairy steers to raise for beef.  We also hunt for wild game.  I preserve our food, and we work toward being as self-sufficient as we can without owning our own property.