A Philosopher, a Lawyer and a Farmer

By Ben Lonergan

Ramagli rides his tractor along the dirt roads that encircle his Junction City farm. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Cedar looks in awe as his mother threatens to take a bite of his lunch if he won't eat it. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Joe Ramagli disassembles a milking apparatus to clean it prior to a milking session at his Junction City, Ore. dairy farm, Just Earth Farm. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Ramagli walks his cow Rosalia in from the pasture for milking with the help of his dog Pepper. After weeks of milking twice a day, Ramagli has trained Rosalia to milk more consistently once a day. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

After a milking session in the parlor he built, Ramagli prepares to remove "the claw" from Rosalia. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Ramagli pours fresh milk into a cream separator to produce fresh cream for the family. The centrifugal cream separator spits out fresh cream and skimmed milk within a matter of minutes. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Aurelia, left, and Cedar, play on the front porch of the Ramagli's farmhouse in Junction City, Ore. The two spend hours running around the farm playing games when the weather is good. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

The Just Earth Farm Crew gather for a quiet moment to watch over their newly acquired goats following a group effort to remove stitches from the mother goat. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Ramagli and Stover work to remove stitches from a mother goat as a kid investigates what is going on. The stitches were the result of a Cesarian section done to birth the kids. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Sutures are removed from a mother goat by Stover following a Cesarian section birth a few weeks ago. The goats are a new addition to the farm that all members of the family are learning to work and interact with. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Stover transplants sweet pea starts in a bedroom inside the house. A late winter snow storm dumped 18 inches of snow at the farm making outdoor planting impossible until greenhouses are set up. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Farmhand Wes LaVassaur, who has a degree in video game design, lays out electric fence panels for a new chicken pen. The chickens and other animals are rotated around the farm to fertilize and maintain different sections of earth. Photo by, Ben Lonergan

Ramagli searches through his barn for an electric fence lead. "I spend most of my time just looking for the things I need to complete a task," Ramagli said. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

As Ramagli passes the cow pasture, the cows begin to follow him toward their feeder at the far end of the property. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Suzanne Stover holds one of the farm's newly acquired goats before going to work to remove stitches from the mother goat's cesarian section stitches. Photo by, Ben Lonergan, J466

Suzanne Stover takes a picture of her son Cedar and nanny Minette as they play with the baby goats in the barn. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Stover waters vegetable starts in a makeshift hoop house. The family is working to set up a larger hoop house to transfer seedlings to before they get much bigger. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

Cedar interacts with a chicken that Stover is drying following an Epsom Salt bath. The chicken is egg bound and could face serious consequences if it is unable to lay an egg within the following days. Photo by Ben Lonergan, J466

As Joe Ramagli’s green John Deer tractor thunders slowly down the hard dirt roads that encircle his Junction City farm, his cows lift their heads from grazing and begin to follow him across the muddy hillside to a lone feeding trough. Ramagli slides down from his tractor and greets each cow by name before depositing a fresh bale of hay beneath the tin roof of the feeder.

Despite a Master of Arts in philosophy and a Juris Doctor, Ramagli turned his back on academics to pursue a lifelong passion of working outdoors. Ramagli never felt as though he fit in with the East Coast lifestyle or politics that he was raised on and after losing his father to cancer in 2010, Ramagli and his wife, Susan Stover, began searching for a farm to purchase and call their own.

“We sat down and researched climate change models for the next 100 years and found that the Willamette Valley was the place to be in terms of steady change,” Ramagli said. “We want our children to have the opportunity to take on our farm and create a multigenerational business that they can benefit from.”

The two settled on the hillside, 35-acre, farm that they now call home in early 2013 and set about building their dream of living off of the land by opening their dairy, Just Earth Farm, shortly after. With little previous agricultural experience the two take each day at a time as they try to figure out how to make the farm profitable and grow their business.

“We take turns working off farm jobs to help make ends meet,” said Stover. “Between childcare, farm chores, and feed for four people, seven cows, 10 sheep and 70 chickens we have a lot on our plate to keep the place running.”

Due to strict regulations on the sale and production of unpasteurized milk, the farm’s main source of income, the family are looking to expand their business in an effort to increase the farm’s economic viability. One such expansion is through the burgeoning field of agritourism in the form of bed and breakfasts and farm stay programs. According to the 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture, agritourism accounts for $704 million of annual income across 33,000 farms nationwide.

“We see an opportunity to not only make our farm more viable, but also to give people the same experience we were seeking when we started here,” Ramagli said. “We have a beautiful piece of land that we want others to be able to enjoy and benefit from.”

In an effort to adjust their farm’s focus, Ramagli is renovating the three story Victorian farmhouse that stands as the centerpiece of the farm and a series of outbuildings to better serve guests and family as they come to stay at the farm.