KELLY HENSING WANTED TO FEED HER FAMILY.
SO THE SUBURBAN GIRL STARTED A FARM.
INTERVIEW BY Martha Thomas PORTRAIT BY Mary C. Gardella
JUNE/JULY 2016
Kelly Hensing, 41, runs a farm on 3.5 acres in Dayton, leasing another 80 acres in Fulton and Woodbine. She and her husband, Rob, a computer programmer for Microsoft, have three sons, ages 10, 12 and 16. Kelly, 
who worked in a veterinary office for 15 years, bought a cow in 2010 so her family could have raw milk to drink. Now she husbands five Jersey cows, a flock of Katahdin sheep, chickens for laying and meat, beef steers and pigs, as well as ducks, geese and guinea hens. She recently had her raw milk certified as “pet milk” so she can sell it from the farm and at local markets.
Q What possessed you to start a farm?
As a mom, I was really concerned about what my kids were eating, where our food was coming from and how it was being raised. In South Carolina, we were drinking raw milk. I got to know the farmers; I’d visit the farm every week. Raw milk wasn’t legal in Maryland, so when we decided to move here the farmers sold me a cow. We moved to Maryland and had to go back two weeks later to pick up our cow. We had too much milk for our family, so we got some pigs to feed the milk to. It just kind of mushroomed. We couldn’t sell raw milk, but we could sell milk-fed pork.
Q Had you intended to get into farming as a business?
I think in my mind it was a dream, but I didn’t quite know how I was going to do it with just three and a half acres of land. In the beginning, the idea was to do it for ourselves. Our next-door neighbor didn’t mind if our pigs were in her woods. We’d bring her pork and eggs, she was so happy about that.
Q Wow, most people would be freaked out to have pigs roaming around on their property.
Oh my god, we have the best neighbors. We have a livestock guard dog who barks sometimes and nobody complains. They understand she’s just doing her job. Everyone is really supportive.
Q Did you have any background in farming?
I grew up in Dayton, Ohio, in a suburb. Now we live in Dayton, Maryland, which is kind of funny. It was a typical suburban community; I don’t think my parents even took me to a county fair. I did want to be a veterinarian and worked in the veterinary business for 15 years. Then I became a mom and started learning things about the food industry, factory farming, things like that. I didn’t want to support that. We started buying grass fed beef and raw milk from farmers, changing the way we ate. We began to see health benefits. I read some books, but as far as running a farm, I’m flying by the seat of my pants.
Q If you knew what you were getting into, would you have done it?
There are frustrating days, days when an animal dies; but there are days when an animal is born. It’s wonderfully rewarding. To see how healthy my family is, my kids barely ever get colds. And I love sharing it – when people come back and say the meat was so delicious, it tastes the way it did at my grandmother’s house.
The client part and running the business isn’t my favorite part, but raising the animals is.
Q Can you even take a vacation?
Dairy cows really tie you down. It was a long time before we took a vacation. My kids were in 4-H, so we found another family to take care of our dairy cow. Chickens and pigs are easy, but dairy cow is twice a day everyday. Even if you are dying with the flu you have to get out of bed.
Q Do the other members of your family help out?
I wanted to do this for the boys’ health. They don’t typically have farm chores. I don’t want them to resent the farm. I’ve heard of too many farm kids who can’t wait to get away. But if I ask my kids to do something, if I need one to go collect eggs, I don’t get any back talk. They have house chores just like other kids. They have to take the trash out, do laundry and dishes; one kid, vacuuming is his thing.
Q And your husband?
Rob loves it. He wants me to make enough money so he can quit his job. I bought the first dairy cow without asking him. He came home and said ‘What did you do today?’ and I said, ‘I went to the farm, bought some milk, and I bought a cow.’
Q Do you see a day when he can quit his job?
Nobody tells you how expensive it is to be a farmer. My husband calls it my expensive hobby. I hope in 2016 we’ll make a profit. We’re at Howard County farmers markets at Miller Library and Maple Lawn.
Q Tell me about the raw milk.
It’s unpasteurized cows’ milk, labeled for sale through the Maryland Department of Agriculture as a feed for dogs and cats.
Q Do you think people are really feeding it to their pets?
I don’t ask any questions. It says on the label that it is not for human consumption. What they do with it once they buy it is up to them. When people ask, I tell them that our family drinks it; most people who want access to raw milk can read between the lines. I was on the phone with the state chemist on Thursday. He doesn’t see any reason it shouldn’t be sold as pet milk. They have no plan to change the rules.
Q I grew up on raw milk.
So did the new state chemist!
Q How has your eating changed?
We don’t eat any processed foods. I used to think if I got a Stouffer’s lasagna, a bag of salad and a bottle of salad dressing and a frozen garlic bread I was Mom of the Year. Then we started seeing health problems. The kids had allergy issues; our youngest was starting to have autoimmune issues and was prediabetic. It was shocking to me. That has completely resolved itself. My husband’s cholesterol dropped over 80 points and his triglycerides went down over 100. Part of my theory is, if you’re cooking with Crisco that wasn’t around 100 years ago, your body doesn’t know what to do with it. Your body knows how to get the nutrients out of natural products.
Q How do your suburban parents feel about your new vocation?
My parents were a little mortified. I don’t think they dreamed of their daughter becoming a farmer. When I bought a cow, my mother said, ‘Oh my gosh, are you going to turn into a hippy and start reading “Mother Earth News”?’ After a couple of years, they saw what we were doing, when they tasted our pork, they said now we see why you’re doing this. The truth is, real food spans so many different types. People who buy our food come from so many socioeconomic, ethnic and political groups. Hippies, nonhippies, bikers. An amazing array of people are in tune with getting good food and are concerned about how it’s raised. *
