The stories behind the Farm
I've always liked to know the stories behind the people I do business with if you are the same you can read our stories here.
Let me show you around the farm!
I'm Hannah Usher and I am so glad you are here!
If you are here, it means you are looking for a source of healthy, nourishing, healing food, that tastes amazing. It means you are tired of eating health food that tastes like cardboard, tough meats with gamy flavor or supermarket food that more resembles waste than something you'd want to eat. You're looking for the best food on the planet! or maybe you are just looking for a little bit of luxury to bring to your dinner table., Either way, you have come to the right place!
I started Rocky Ridge Farm to save my life, I'll tell you more about my story, how it all started, and how the farm saved my life below.
I was considered a miracle child, born premature affected with Amniotic Banding syndrome, that took both ring and middle fingers on both my hands and my index finger on my left hand, all my toes except my pinky toe on my right foot and left my other leg with scaring around the ankle. The doctors said I may never walk. I was one of the lucky children and this condition often results in death or severe disfigurement and much more limb loss. Even as a small child i didn't let my condtion slow me down. Little did my parents know there were more issues lurking unseen.
surprisingly, I didn't grow up on a farm. I grew up about as far away from a farm as you could get!
We lived in a trailer park a few blocks from Baldinis Casino in downtown Sparks Nevada. Behind the trailer park was a meadow an irrigation ditch lined with giant old cottonwood trees. Cows grazed there occasionally, and deer would come and go. This was my sanctuary as a child. Exploring the ditch bank, sitting under the trees in the grass watching the wildlife, it was peace compared to the trailer park with the constant disputes and yelling from the neighbors.
I clearly remember the day all the fences were cut down, I saw the encroaching industrial development from all directions. I was heartbroken little girl when the bulldozers came and leveled my paradise and all of my wild friends were gone. That planted the seed in me for conversation and working with nature and animals.
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Through a twist of fate we ended up moving to Cortez, Colorado so my family could look after my grandmother. We ended up living in a little trailer house on a shared 3 acres and my mom got a job at the local feed store. In the spring the store would get shipments of chicks and ducks and sometimes there were weak ones. Usually, they would just let them die, but my mom offered to bring them home and it was my duty to nurse them back to health. The Result was a yard full of laying hens laying a rainbow of eggs that I started selling to neighbor as 11 yrs old. Little did I know this would become essential to provide for our family down the road!
My teenage years were tumultuous, my health was suffering and I had developed asthma and allergies. I missed more school than I attended and couldn't keep up in PE class. The local doctors didn't have many answers. They gave me the standard medications, plus painkillers for my growing pains. My mom found herself working 2 jobs and raising me and my sister on her own when my dad turned to drugs and alcohol. I feel mostly out of depression being unable to find a local job that paid him well enough to support our family.
At 17, I would finally get some answers. I had been going to Shriner's Children's hospital since I was born for my Amniotic banding syndrome. I was scheduled for a final check-up before I turned 18 and surgery to improve the function of my hands. During the appointment, the doctor asked several questions which led to them discovering I was experiencing unusual joint pain for my age. They ran some tests. and they diagnosed me with Juvenile onset Rheumatoid Arthritis. I finally had some answers.
Once I knew what was wrong I tried several medications & refused others due to possible life-threatening side effects. I went to doctor, after doctor, I tried supplement, after supplement. By the time I was 21 when I should have just been getting my life started, I couldn't get out of bed without a handful of Advil. I was always exhausted and had no energy to fight the pain. I was in a downhill spiral. It was all I could do to care for my home, pets, and beloved horses. It was a seemingly hopeless battle to fight this disease that would take my mobility and independence.
A friend mentioned I might try a Raw Milk fast to heal my immune system, That sent me down a rabbit hole of research. Where I learned that my diet of lots of whole grains, veggies a small amount of meat and fats and goodies might be causing a lot of my issues. ​
That decision turned my life around. Raw Milk was a turning point for my body, my pain was lesseing my asthma and allergies were improving. For a few years, I was able to source amazing raw milk locally. Unfortunately, when my raw milk provider's husband lost his job she could no longer afford to have milk cows and had to sell out. I tried several other Milk providers and the quality wasn't what I sought. Devastated my symptoms started to return without the milk I depended on. I had also started sourcing locally raised grass fed meats but was unable to get conisitant quality! Healthy food doesn't do any good with no one in the family wants to eat it!
I did the only thing I knew to do. I jumped in with both feet. I started with milk goats followed by a milk cow, then pigs and the farm has grown from there. Always dedicated to producing the best tasting most nutritious food possible.​
Blessed in the Mess!
Get to Know Us
I've been told that God will Bless you in your Mess if you just have faith.
I've known Jeremy since I was 15 years old, My mom rented a mobile home on his dad's property and we shared a small acerage. Where I could keep my horses. We said Hi to each other but we were forbidden from being friends because he was told not to talk to the renter's daughter.
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I had always admired how hard Jeremy worked on the property and took care of his animals, I admired his passion for bull riding he loved. I thought we would have been good friends but life took us in separate directions on different paths.
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Fast forward nearly 20 years and our paths crossed again. Jeremy ended up working across the street on my neighbor's farm. He had been divorced for a few years and was focused on raising his kids and just trying to make ends meet.
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I was in the middle of a divorce, my ex-husband decided he wanted a different life from the farm and I needed the farm to stay well. Faced with the daunting task of keeping the farm going and now paying all the bills on my own. I was focused on making the changes I needed to make to keep the farm. I had livestock to move, horses to sell, and I had to figure out how to make a regular income and cash flow instead of the once-year lump sum I was bringing in for the sale of meat animals.
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My life had been turned upside down! I felt I was drowning and no one knew it. Then I get a Hi. In my inbox. I wasn't looking for a relationship and neither was he. We hit it off as friends. He helped me move my horses to pastures, and get the young ones started in their training so I could find them new homes, he helped me haul livestock as I downsized in order to regroup.
Soon he was spending most of his time at the farm and our feelings grew and we decided this was meant to be.
Since then he has been my partner working tirelessly by my side to build the farm and share our passion for food with the world. These days I don't know what I'd do without him!
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