Meet Your Farmer/Instructor

My name is Kyle Young and I come from a family of farmers that goes back so far that the origins of our farming family are lost in time.  I do know that on my fathers side (and on some of my mothers side) we were “Volga (a major river in Russia) German” farmers before coming to the U.S.  “Volga German” farmers were farmers from Katherine the Great’s home country of Germany and we were invited by her to settle and farm the Volga river valley of Russia which had been largely depopulated by Kublai Khan.  After Katherines 50 year reign ended with her death, her generous offer of “land and no taxes forever” was thrown out by the next Czar, causing many Volga Germans to immigrate to the U.S. and settle on the high plains of western Kansas (in my case), Oklahoma, Nebraska, eastern Colorado and New Mexico and the panhandle of Texas.  I represent the fourth generation here in the U.S. to carry on this long line of farmers.  Although my Dad got out of farming when I was quite young (his father continued to farm and my Moms dad was an avid  gardener), the farming gene was apparently passed to me – my first garden was planted in my wagon and I used to pull it around the neighborhood and show it to the neighbors.  As a youngster I gladly took on the responsibility of the family garden and later spent teenage summers working on the farms of various uncles and family friends.
After operating a landscaping business in the big city, the desire to return to a more agrarian lifestyle took hold, so in 1984 I moved to Arivaca and began working the land and volunteering with projects that seemed to embody sustainable attributes.  The latter led me to found the Tierra Seca Chapter of the American Bamboo Society (southwest U.S./northwest Mexico) which led to working with Bill and Athena Steen of the Canelo Project and Fundacion Apoyo del Infantile (The Save the Children Foundation of Mexico) in Obregon, Sonora Mexico building low income straw bale homes.  This in turn opened the door for me to develop “The Obregon Project” to establish bamboo in southern Sonora as a sustainable crop for building materials (see Sustainable Living).  More recently, in the course of vocalizing my concern with a friend about the destabilizing effect of skyrocketing gas prices and the need to develop an awareness of local resources for our small, remote community, Arivaca Local was born (arivacalocal.com).

Farming has been my passion for as long as I can remember.  My family has a rich history in farming that goes back to German ancestors who farmed the Russian Volga River Valley at the request of Catherine the Great.  They eventually settled my hometown of Russell, Kansas where I grew up in an extended farming/ranching family.  Although my Dad stopped farming when I was quite young, the farming gene apparently passed to me; my first garden was planted in my wagon that I used to pull around the neighborhood to show the neighbors.  As with most farmers when things needed to be built or repaired, lack of funds made innovation with existing resources a way of life in our family.  I learned to salvage lumber and the nails it contained for re-use.  Tree houses and forts were my first buildings, followed by helping my Dad on various projects, then a job as a carpenter.

Below is a brief highlight of my life’s journey:

1975-84 Managed wholesale cactus and succulent nursery in Southern California while also operating Earth Repair Landscaping.  Spent a lot of time admiring the bamboo at Quail Botanical Gardens.

1984 – Gave up the landscaping business and moved to Arivaca, Arizona to farm.

1986 – Rediscovered bamboo as a building material.

1988-92 – Contracted for Rammed Earth Solar Homes in Tucson which led to a chance meeting with Matts Mhyrman (the godfather of straw bale construction) and an invitation to help raise the walls of the second straw bale house in the U.S. (in 1991).

1991 – Bill Steen purchased bamboo plants from me leading to an invitation from Bill and his wife Athena (authors of The Straw Bale House and numerous other books on natural plasters and straw bale construction) to work with them building low income straw bale houses and a straw bale office building for Fundacion Apoyo del Infantil (Save the Children of Mexico) in Obregon, Mexico.

1994-95 – Friendship with Catherine Wanack (now author of several books on natural construction) lead to an invitation to present on bamboo at the first and second Natural Building Colloquiums at her Black Range Lodge in Kingston, New Mexico.

1997 – Founded the Tierra Seca chapter of the American Bamboo Society to help promote the utilitarian aspects of bamboo.

1998 – Founded the “Obregon Project”, planting, growing and utilizing bamboo in Obregon, Sonora Mexico.  Project culminated with a two-week long workshop building of a “Quincha” structure (see “bamboo, mud and straw workshop in Obregon”).

2001 to the present -  After years of combating grasshoppers, gophers, javelina and numerous other forms of wildlife that continually marauded my crops, I noticed that the native vegetation did quite well without any human help.  After close observation of the interplay of native animals and their utilization of our native ecosystem, it became apparent that the judicious use of species of livestock selected for their compatibility with this ecosystem would utilize the native vegetation in the same sustainable way that native animals did.  Meanwhile, I was wildcrafting the seed pods of our native mesquite trees, the fruit of several species of Opuntia cactus and numerous native weeds and herbs as food and medicine.  After reading a historical fiction book set in the Middle Ages dealing with early farming communities of England and their use of crofts, I realized that what I thought I was conceiving was already an ancient practice long smothered by “modern” farming.    Thus began the development of “Krofting”. (see “On Krofting”)