Connor McWilliams

Fran Rinaldo (00:00)
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the season finale of Marketing for What Matters Season Two. I am your host Fran, and I’m thrilled to welcome our guest today, Connor McWilliams of Highland Farms. Highland Farms is a working farm in Oregon situated between Mount Hood and Portland, Oregon.

It also serves as an event space, a farm stay, a place to learn about regenerative agriculture and their namesake, the Scottish Highland cows. And also, as you so beautifully put on your website, Connor, it’s a place for man, a place for nature, a place for everything and everything in its place. I love that. So.

Welcome Connor. So, so excited to have you. I’m so interested personally in what you are doing at Highland Farms. I know that we as a team are as well. And so I want to just jump right into grilling you, to questioning you, ⁓ and ask you to take us all the way back to the beginning. What inspired you to start a place like Highland Farms and what was your journey through learning?

the skills that you now have and need in order to make a place like this possible.

Connor McWilliams (01:24)
I’m glad to be on your show. ⁓ It all began when I was a kid and I grew up with a farm in Salinas, California. And my family was very big on being connected with the land, ⁓ getting to experience the outdoors, getting to be a boy, being dirty, getting hurt, learning, you know, the outdoors and the life lessons that come with it. You grow up really quickly that way, but you also as a kid cherish a lot of memories.

Fran Rinaldo (01:41)
Thank

Connor McWilliams (01:53)
that a lot people inside the urban communities and buildings don’t have. Those memories with animals, those memories of getting hurt, those memories of growing through that pain. ⁓ Those memories of learning how to take care of things, having responsibilities, chores. You know, you can have a horse, but you have to shovel the manure and take care of it. And that’s not just a couple times a week thing. That’s a daily responsibility that a young child would take on. ⁓

And so as I grew up and went to college and graduated, ⁓ I met a friend at college who became my business partner and we set out to build boutique hotels and Airbnb’s in Portland, Oregon. ⁓ and I was a general contractor and we built them and we built it to scale. ⁓ but somewhere along the way, it was still missing the experience part for me, the educational part, the part that you got to share.

with someone, also in their memories. and so once saving up a little money from building boutique hotels and being a general contractor in Portland, ⁓ I set out to find a farm out in the mountains, out in the country somewhere where I could have the dream of having open land. there is something when you are on open land.

and in the forest and just nature and there’s no neighbors above you or to the side. It’s just all BLM land that your soul and heart and brain really feel free, which is why that slogan, I chose that slogan and wrote that slogan because there is a place for all and all in its place here at Highland Farms. When you stand at the pond and you hear the water and you hear the birds chirping and you know there’s no neighbors above you and there’s deer coming down and animals.

There’s just a sense of freedom of thought and soul that is unmatched. so when I found this beautiful property, my brain knew that I wanted to create something out of it, but also that I wanted to share it. And so I created a business around the Highland cows. My business model was completely around them. And when you are creating a farm and a business around a farm, what avenues do you want to make money in?

What avenues are you a farm in? And so when we were really exploring this, my focus, one of the avenues was education. And my focus was to share this place and to educate people and young children about the process of having a farm, having animals, ⁓ giving back to the land, doing regenerative farming to the land. Because if we don’t, ⁓ this planet, when it comes to the topsoil and the land and growing of crops and land.

It is scary in the direction at which corporate America would like your crops and farms to come from. ⁓ So educating people on where their food comes from, educating people on the process of taking care of it, and then giving them a really high-end, tailored experience in the woods ⁓ to be at peace with nature and themselves, to reset and to have a fully encompassing experience where everything they experience comes from the land ⁓ and

It’s all focused around the land.

Fran Rinaldo (05:16)
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I feel like what you’re trying to do or what you’re offering to people sort of speaks to this, this innate human need that we have. That’s really what made us human, right? I mean, I know there’s lots of arguments about why we have civilization, but I believe our…

beginning to farm our connection to the land. You that’s what’s really turned us into this massive civilization. And then, you know, a lot of us have lost that connection though, and we suffer because of it. And it’s interesting that, you know, we now kind of have to not manufacture, but like, you know, we have to create the old ways again, because that’s what we really need. Like we think we need progress, we think we need more, but we really need…

need less and I think it’s, or not less, but to go back to like principles, to go back to simplicity, to go back to our origins, our roots literally. And yeah, I think that’s really amazing that you are wanting to share that. It almost feels like a, it’s like a crusade in these times almost. It feels very, very against what modernity calls on us to do often.

Connor McWilliams (06:34)
it’s just an education and tie to it. Like most people, I grew up in Salinas California, which is one of the largest farming communities for produce in the world. It provides a majority of the world’s green leaf produce. And most people outside of that town or outside of central California, where it’s all grown, don’t understand where it all comes from. I tell people all the time from this small little town.

we grow all the crops when it comes to green leaf produce. And people don’t understand that. I mean, I think for the first time you saw it during COVID, but if those farmers don’t produce and those farms don’t produce, it would take three days to under a week for you as a population to see that ripple effect on your shelves. ⁓ It is a daily thing to say that, you know, if it was a stop and three days later, the entire world’s affected is a big statement.

So it’s just being connected, understanding the process and how it all comes from and where it comes from. And having nourishing produce that’s from land that you know how it’s taken care of.

Fran Rinaldo (07:42)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, you know, I know you’re talking about growing up on a farm. Was that the the Church Ranch? I know you’d mentioned you’d spent time there, or is that a different experience? And so could you tell us more about that and how that sort of bolstered your interest in regenerative agriculture?

Connor McWilliams (07:53)
You’re over the f-

Yeah, I grew up with a family ranch called the Church Ranch It’s on my mother’s side. It was my great-grandfather’s. ⁓ And it was a piece of land that was staked out way back when. And it’s vast. It’s open. When I was growing up, I didn’t grow up on it. I grew up across town of it.

grew up with the silver spoon version of having a ranch. So there was always a ranch hand who took care of it. You showed up to ride and get to experience and get the freedom of it. But ⁓ you didn’t totally have to work and understand it. I did get a taste of what it took when ⁓ I learned to ride and grew up riding that I wanted horses out at my grandma’s house down the street from me. ⁓ And that is when the responsibilities kicked in of, know, if you would like a horse that you can learn to ride then

You have to learn to take care of it and responsibilities and clean its hooves and make appointments and ride it every day. Cause it’s an animal that needs that. And so, ⁓ that was when the taste really set in. ⁓ and. We went to this, we had this family ranch that was big and open and you could, my parents would give me the freedom because I knew how to ride just to go riding on my own. ⁓ and I can go riding with my brother and you could ride up to the top of the ridges and.

see the ocean and there was just a lot of time for thought and dreaming. And there was that sense and feeling of, you know, as I grew up and I went to college and I went to Arizona state and I moved to San Francisco and I lived in the Marina, which is arguably the most gorgeous part of San Francisco. There was still something missing of being inside the urban city. and so I knew as a kid, my favorite memories are riding dirt bikes on the ranch, getting hurt on the ranch, ⁓ playing in the dirt.

you know, riding animals, getting kicked, learning, breaking horses, you know, all those sorts of things. ⁓ cutting parties, ⁓ branding parties, things like that. And so you, those memories are, there’s a lot of adult and real life lessons that kids and even adults, you know, that you learn in participating in all those. ⁓ so that’s where it all began. ⁓ but it more roots in.

Fran Rinaldo (10:02)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (10:29)
I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and nature and the mountains and animals and the, let’s call it therapeutic feeling you receive when you spend time with your animals. My parents always joke that, you know, I won’t get married because I date my animals at night. There is something very reassuring and calm and it’s why my animals are as friendly and nice and petable and as they are. So.

Fran Rinaldo (10:49)
Ha

Connor McWilliams (10:59)
But there is something very therapeutic about just hanging out with animals and they are far more intelligent than most people understand. So it’s really cool.

Fran Rinaldo (11:08)
Yeah, yeah,

and you know what you’re saying, kind of, it reminds me of, you know, the point we are in time where I feel like so much of our lives are pursuing instant gratification and, you know, all the things you’re talking about, like there’s suffering that you experienced along the way. Like you’re saying you got kicked, you got hurt, and yet it is, you know, this work that you do, tending to the land, being connected to the land creates this deep sense of purpose and…

Connor McWilliams (11:13)
.

Fran Rinaldo (11:38)
gratification, I think that by nature, by virtue, we can’t get instantly. And that’s what makes it so rewarding is that you can’t just, what you’re doing is not the same as going to Walmart and grabbing a steak and cooking it eating it. Maybe that’s enjoyable, but we’ve…

Connor McWilliams (11:58)
No.

Fran Rinaldo (12:02)
we’ve lost so much about why that is enjoyable or like why, you know, even I feel like eating in a way used to be this triumphant experience because it meant you’re gonna keep living, you know, like it’s like we have food to eat so we will live and that’s amazing and now we just, you know, it’s so available to us. We do it so rote-ly almost, but I’m curious why, you know, specifically, ⁓

you chose Highland cows and what what drew you to them? I mean obviously they’re so cute and I mean probably the cutest cow breed I’ve ever seen, ⁓ but yeah what what about Highland cows made you or what made you want to surround your business model around this particular breed?

Connor McWilliams (12:49)
Um, I really didn’t, I really didn’t want you to ask that question on here. Um, my, my background, no, no, we’re good. And my back, you can leave it. My background and focus, um, was building boutique hotels in Portland for Airbnb. Um, and so it was about, you know, experiences of people coming in and having the experience. Um, and so during COVID.

Fran Rinaldo (12:49)
I like how you’re laughing already.

Oh no! You can, well you can tell me and we can cut it.

Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (13:17)
our brain started thinking outside of the urban boundary and mine started to think to, know, people will pay, families want to get out right now. ⁓ They will pay to have these experiences. And whereas it’s always been a thing for family reunions and certain families that grow up with ranches and horses and backgrounds like that, that like their vacation center around those things, it wasn’t the urban common thing or as popular until I think before COVID when everyone wanted to get out, people started buying.

Fran Rinaldo (13:44)
Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (13:46)
you know, houses and going camping and camping lots in Oregon where a couple of years booked out. And, and so my brain just thought in Portland, I don’t, they come for the things around. come for the walkability. they come to visit Portland and the most successful Airbnb is on the most walkable locations. So how am I going to get somebody, ⁓ out to Mount Hood an hour away from the airport? that

is really a tourist town, but not really. It’s a very small mountain town. ⁓ It’s more of a retired community and cabin and vacation destination than it is, ⁓ tourist buses and so forth. ⁓ and so I was on Instagram scrolling, ⁓ and I saw somebody who, ⁓ is very famous on Instagram and has a lot of followers and gets paid a lot of money for their

Fran Rinaldo (14:19)
Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (14:44)
you know, way their Instagram looks and for their photos and you know, some people don’t realize, but some of those Instagram people are up to a million dollars a picture ⁓ for ads. And so when I saw someone at that level, ⁓ obsessed went to a farm for a family trip in Connecticut and she was obsessed with these Highland cows and she started posting and was willing to throw her entire Instagram algorithm for it. ⁓

It really to me stood out in, wow, you are obsessed and you get paid a lot of money for this algorithm. ⁓ and to that level, someone can be that connected to an animal and care. Like it was like the first time on Instagram, I noticed that the vanity and the care of what the look of your Instagram and the aesthetic went out the window and like the real human came out and the algorithm went out the door.

⁓ the money went out the door and it was this pure joy and infatuation and love with an animal, which I knew from a child. but when I saw it in someone else, I was like, okay, this is very real because I know this person gets paid a lot of money and they’re not getting paid for this. ⁓ and so as I started researching into things, I lived in Mount Hood. were the, Scottish Highland cows are from the islands of Scotland. ⁓

Fran Rinaldo (16:12)
Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (16:13)
They’re the only breed of cow that can turn any greenery into protein. So they will eat more than most breeds of cows. ⁓ They will eat more greenery, more forgery. They’ll eat your blackberry bushes. They’ll eat the trees. ⁓ They’re not just eating hay grass. ⁓ They’re a hardier cattle. So I knew that they could withstand my elements. Something very cool about them actually is when it snows, people always ask me, you get snow up here? Yeah, we do. And when it snows, they hunker down like bison. ⁓

Fran Rinaldo (16:26)
you

Connor McWilliams (16:43)
and the snow will stay hard on the outside of them. And then my guests will always call me and be like, I think your cows are cold. They’re not moving. There’s snow all over them. You know, I think they might be dead. And I always say, no, if the snow is staying hard packed on top, then the fur is working. The fur is keeping the cold out in the heat in. And in the summer it does the opposite. They shed most of their fur and then it keeps them cool. The rays off their skin and it keeps their body temperature down.

Fran Rinaldo (16:52)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (17:13)
So the fur is ⁓ a snow protector a heat blanket and a dust and wind visor a snow visor from storms and so forth so There my elements are perfect on about 1200 feet here ⁓ and so when I knew that when I saw through that Instagram post that This was an animal that somebody could really connect with ⁓ Because the cute aspect of it

I do understand they are adorable and also their personalities. ⁓ If you, when all of you come visit, if you, when you spend time with them, you’ll notice they’re like dogs. I have Mr. Finley right now, who you will see on my Instagram at Highland Farms, Oregon. ⁓ And he was bottle fed and raised in my laundry room. ⁓ He knows his name. We’re training him and teaching him not to rub his head up against us because he will have horns one day.

Fran Rinaldo (18:11)
Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (18:12)
so you can tell them, no, like knock it off. ⁓ and he walks around and follows us like a dog. ⁓ he is a dog. We always joke that we’re walking our dog. and so they, a lot of it, once you build that trust and relationship with them and that connection with them, their trust with you is extremely high. ⁓ and they can do it in a quick amount of time with guests, visiting. do tours. ⁓ and.

Fran Rinaldo (18:23)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (18:41)
guests can feel connected with them very quickly because it comes down to just a feeling or, you know, as modern society would call a vibe check, ⁓ which is, know, are you scared? you nervous or are you comfortable and are you loving? And if you have that gentle loving, you know, feel then, and you’re not scared, ⁓ then these animals are totally receptive to being pet loved on and they love to be like brushed and scratched and I mean, laid into.

Fran Rinaldo (18:49)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (19:09)
Um, nothing like, um, and the minute you stop rushing, they’ll not, they’ll kind of rub their horns against you. Like, Hey, you’re going to brush me again. Like don’t stop. And so with this breed and the ability to, you know, really build relationships with them and allow people to connect to them and allow people to feel the therapy through them and then a connection with them. And then, you know, be comfortable enough to talk and stand around them. Um, you know, I people in my pens with my cows. Um,

Fran Rinaldo (19:17)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (19:39)
And I do photo shoots and everything. My cows are lovers. And so when the fear goes out of the way and you’re able to connect with this gentle giant, there’s really a cool sort of feeling because you do realize how large this animal is. You do realize the capability and power of this animal. ⁓ But there’s something so sweet and so loving. mean, anytime someone comes and pets Belle, who’s our white cow.

Fran Rinaldo (19:44)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (20:06)
Everyone’s like, my gosh, she’s so sweet. And you almost feel like she’s a human, loving on you. ⁓ and they all have their own little different characteristic and their own little ways in which they’re like humans and ways you feel loved by them, the way they like the attention. ⁓ so all that wrapped into one, I went and bought my first Scottish Highland pair. I bought a bull on a couple of mamas, ⁓ black one or red one, Queen Elizabeth Midnight and Sir Henry.

Fran Rinaldo (20:11)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (20:37)
Um, and then I had little Walter, um, and it took off and at first it was just my hobby. Um, to be honest, it was all just because this young boy had a dream and wanted to be back on a farm. And, quickly you realize how expensive all this is. And when you ask me why I do this, to be honest with you, two of the largest aspects are, understand how expensive it is to have it all. So most people don’t get it.

And then to the education and the experience of the children. ⁓ I think those are two valuable things that, and it’s sometimes, you know, impossible to obtain because of the entry price or the land price. ⁓ And so to give people a place that they can come understand, connect. And for example, like you can rent our place out for a full farm stay, which is a private farm. It comes with me or our farm hand to be your private farm.

Fran Rinaldo (21:08)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (21:34)
hands to give your family that experience of having this is our farm with a farm hand. He’s at our disposal and we can experience what it would be like to live on and have a farm. ⁓ That is one of our biggest avenues and I will keep that open because it allows families and kids to have bonfires and go fishing and do all these things where, you know, kids really, it fuels their dreams and stuff. mean, some of the best vacations I went on a kid was

Fran Rinaldo (21:45)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (22:04)
dude ranches in Wyoming, Montana, ⁓ and getting to stay in the cabin and then the ranch hen, you know, coming out and being like, hey, you want me to take you fishing and then build a bonfire and cook the fish and, you know, go horseback riding in the morning. so ⁓ that, that with the combination of having it and, know, we’re seeing that this was an animal that people could really connect to. And the cuteness was overwhelming. I knew that, you know, I could build a business model around it.

Fran Rinaldo (22:13)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and it’s so amazing to hear you talk because I obviously hear your deep passion for the work that you’ve done. You’re saying it’s your childhood dream that you’re living out, but also your shrewd business eye and the way that you’re able to marry those two things of saying, have this dream, this thing I wanna do, but also I have to be able to…

Connor McWilliams (23:03)
May you may you much.

Fran Rinaldo (23:03)
afford

it, you know, it has to be able to pay for itself. ⁓ And I find myself sometimes, you know, sometimes I feel I am almost jaded by that in a way, like that makes me ineffective. And maybe we all are saying like, well, things shouldn’t have to be this way or, you know, it should just be able to be what it is and we don’t have to cater to

Society at large or like what is motivating and guiding people right now? but I think ultimately that that stagnates us in in bringing people into a space and in making them change their mind and making them You know have a moment of like wait. What am I missing here? ⁓ what? What is this teaching me about life and and you know humanity and and our environment and it kind of reminds me to of You know like the World Wildlife Fund. I don’t remember the word they use for it, but it’s

like the polar bear is like the poster child of ⁓ endangered species and sustainability because everybody loves it and it’s cute and it’s an animal that we are emotionally attached to. And by having that, yes, you could say, well, why do we have to be emotionally attached to somebody to care about it or think it’s cute? But by doing that, by creating that entryway for people, it makes them…

care about something that they maybe didn’t care about before and I feel like that is you know where the most impactful change happens is not bringing someone in who already loves it and it’s already you know like yeah I love farming I believe in regenerative agriculture I’ve been doing it my whole life I know this back to front but someone who’s like I’ve never been in a place like this before I’ve never thought

about living with the land like this. I’ve never been exposed to this before. And so I think it’s really amazing how you’ve, you know, saw the Highland cows as kind of that, like, that entryway for people to, you know, be exposed to this whole new world. But I…

Connor McWilliams (25:00)
Well, and that

brings, and you bring up a good point there because when getting started in this and opening up my farm for tours, you know, I was selling public tours of public. You can’t control who buys those. And sometimes you have families who grew up with farms and they understand. And sometimes you have people that are coming just because they’ve seen this cute cow on Instagram and they want to pet it and they want a cute photo with it. And so one of the hardest hurdles are

Fran Rinaldo (25:24)
Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (25:28)
things that I had to learn when doing this was opening up to the public and building in public was the educational part. You know, cause I was giving, I gave a tour and someone who came here just for the cute picture and didn’t understand animals and how keeping animals healthy in the process of having a small farm and being regenerative and keeping your livestock healthy and clean and everything, you know, to them it was, he murders animals.

to a farm family who comes here and understands that there’s a process and there is, you know, we have healthy and safe practices to, you know, keep our farm small and to keep our population of animals in rotation and so forth to provide food and to provide the best life for that animal thinks of it completely differently. And so it was, okay, now I need to educate you. And if I just kept all of my animals, you know, I have a bowl and I have heifers.

I have females, if I just keep everything, then I’m going to have animals going to the bathroom and standing on top of each other. And then we’re not healthy and there’s not enough acreage and land per cow. And then we have diseases and everything else that comes from that. And then our runoff and everything and nothing here is safe. The land isn’t and so forth. so I, in the learning curve, I learned how to present this to people of, yes, we do butcher our animals.

to provide food, but how and educating on the process of why. And once people understood, learned, they were like, okay, I can tell that you love your animals. You just told me everything that goes into your animal. You just told me the process. You know every ingredient that goes inside of that cow from the day you get it until the day it goes. I can tell you they’ll love it. And so it is the education of, we pray over these animals, we love these animals. They are everything to us.

when you were talking earlier about, you know, not just going to the grocery store and eating. It’s fun to raise it and to surround with your friends and family and people that do it as well. And to talk about, you know, I’ve, raised it doing this and this was my process and this is how I finished off and this is, you know, what it, what it tastes like. And we’re all very appreciative of it. I mean, before my animals get out of the trailer, you know, I pray over them and bless all of them and thank you for, you know, what they are providing. And

the life they had and you know, it isn’t this mind frame of, you’re gonna kill that animal. It’s the mind frame of, I’m going to give this animal the best life that there possibly is. I’m gonna raise it to the best of my ability and I care to a higher level ⁓ so that it does provide nutrients and goodness and protein and clean meat for other families and people. And there’s passion and heart and I go into that and I

feel like you can tell that when you buy meat ⁓ So, those just tie back into your points there.

Fran Rinaldo (28:35)
Yeah, yeah, and I mean, you know, in that education piece, do you feel like that’s really the missing, you know, for lack of word, in, know, because I’ve noticed that a lot, that people when confronted with the true source of their food, when confronted with, you know, I mean, let alone what you’re doing, like industrial agriculture, how we…

make the sausage in America, they’re like horrified by it and and you know yeah sort of have this like get it away from me I just don’t want to know about this but then maybe they still continue to go and buy that meat at the grocery store and you know what do you feel like is that is that is it like a a softening of us all like we just can’t face the reality of things and

And so now it’s this trickle down effect where we’re so removed from it. And do you feel like education is that piece that could maybe not only make us realize that it’s not what you’re doing is a very natural and ancient way that we as humans have evolved to live with animals versus like what someone’s doing in a, I don’t know, industrial.

Connor McWilliams (29:54)
Yeah, well.

Fran Rinaldo (29:55)
farm where all the cows are in a house all day and like you said shitting on top of each other and you know standing in urine and and it’s like how it’s I guess it’s funny to me how sometimes you who is being more upfront about it maybe actually gets more ridicule or they’re like how could you care for them and then go and kill them you know it’s better to just put them in a closet and pretend they don’t exist and then kill them or

Connor McWilliams (30:21)
And I have names for all my animals. I don’t think that makes me a psychopath. I think that makes me human because I develop a relationship with this animal. And I understood when I bought its mom and dad and I raised its mom and dad and bred its mom and dad. That, you know, I was raised in bringing an animal to life to provide for other people. And so that is its purpose. ⁓ and so my brain can name the animal and have relationship. mean,

Fran Rinaldo (30:25)
Yeah. Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (30:51)
I love on them, love on them, love on them. ⁓ You can tell when you come here, can tell through my videos and stuff. ⁓ But that is that love that gives that animal the best life it absolutely can while it is here. ⁓ And so I think the biggest problem we’re going to face in America and what you were just talking about is that it is the big corporations that run most of it. And then the media focuses on them. have organizations that are funded by

millions and millions and millions of dollars to oppose them and advertise against them. ⁓ You know, it’s just a political battle. ⁓ So I, and you’re starting to see that big corporations, people like Apple’s, Microsoft, Nike, Intel, you know, large corporations and CEOs Warren Buffett are buying massive

plots of farmland and taking them all up. And a lot of farmland is coming up for sale because of the boomers dying off. And this generation for the most, the following generations for the most part don’t have a lot of interest for the most part in blue collar work or that are origins, you know, rooted raw material, hardworking, not sexy.

job and career. ⁓ And I think what you’re going to see is that these large corporations and CEOs will buy up all this land and try to force Americans into buying fake meat. You’re already seeing Bill Gates try to do it. ⁓ So it is, I think it’s, let’s take a step back and understand that we were, all these things were put on this earth for us to enjoy. ⁓

And I agree that the big, you know, the large, large conglomerate that you see and the way they handle it, ⁓ does it at too large of a scale for it to be the best for the animals. ⁓ and so why are people not, you know,

Finding ways to get connected with local farmers to get connected with local food sources to know where their food comes from I mean you can reach out to me and I’ll sell you a half cow That’ll last your family for for about half a year I can tell you everything that goes into that cow all the ingredients same with your pork your chicken your eggs I can tell you everything about that For example a lot of people don’t know this eggs can sit on the counter for a hundred and twenty days if they are never refrigerated or

touched with water. America doesn’t tell you that. They put a stamp of two weeks on your eggs because they’re refrigerated. But if you go to another country, they sit on the shelf. ⁓ Eggs have a plume around them that keeps them ⁓ safe. And as long as that plume isn’t, you know, broken by water or refrigeration or moisture, then those eggs will sit for 120 days outside at room temperature on your counter. ⁓ And so

Fran Rinaldo (33:42)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (34:07)
If you get connected to local farmers and know all this, I tell my customers, you can buy in bulk from me. don’t have to, you know, whatever, you don’t have to have the spirit. Those are going to go bad. I haven’t washed them. They come a little dirty so that you can wash them when you’re ready to use them and you know that they’re real and where they’re from. ⁓ And so I think if people reached out and found local places, there’s places out there where you can invest in a cow and they raise it for you and you get the meat. ⁓ And so there’s…

Fran Rinaldo (34:21)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (34:36)
There’s a lot, I think of initiatives in my direction and in my field that are starting to make these opportunities for people. And I would love to have a whole community that reaches out and says, this is who I get my meat from. I go visit his farm and I can go walk his property. can call him. You know, I can go when I go buy my meat, he’ll let me walk the property and I can see how it’s all done. ⁓ I can see, you know, he’s doing regenerative practices in the ground, focusing on, ⁓ putting carbon in the background and.

his soil and, you know, putting all that nutrients back into the ground ⁓ through heavy animal moving and grazing and crop rotation, ⁓ you know, allowing it to get grazed and eaten down, and allowing the cows to graze it, but not completely destroy it and then moving them, ⁓ which is a lot of work and big corporations, you know, don’t actually want to do that. For example, if you’re going to healthily move your cows on open range and

side of electric portal fences. You know, it’s you’re moving your cows a couple of times a week or so they don’t completely destroy that grass and that ground and they just put the nutrients into it from what they’re eating and their manure and then they move on. So ⁓ these are all just things that I think that America will, I’m hoping starts to wake up to.

before all the farmland is bought and that they start to support their local farmers so their local farmers can grow. ⁓ That’s my focus ⁓ right now across the street. I’m working on 100 acres, making it 100 % off the grid, 100 % regenerative. ⁓ So we’re focusing on what we’re feeding our cows, how they’re grazing, rotating them, ⁓ feeding them different sorts of hay to put different nutrients in the ground, different grains, so that there’s different varieties.

In the end, I’d like to have four different types of grass growing on my land so that, know, there’s different grazing patterns and there’s different grass coming up at different times. And so there’s really a stable ground and a healthy ground and a bountiful ground for my cows, with all different mixture, four different mixtures of different nutrients and proteins that I know they need, ⁓ to relate. And so when you learn that, and I talk to you like that about how this meat is raised and how these cows are raised,

I have seen in people who I just had a vegan wedding and I said, ⁓ sorry, I, you know, I gave them a sample of my pork and the bride was like, I’ll take it. And the husband’s like, we’re a vegan wedding. And she goes, there’s someone in our group that I know will really appreciate this. ⁓ and so they brought it to the wedding and I saw them cook it and I could see some of them like interested and they asked me about it. brought up questions.

Fran Rinaldo (37:06)
you

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (37:25)
You know, I think it started to push the envelope of, I know where this comes from. I just met the man who cares about it. I can tell when he walks out as animals, how he cares about them. and so I do think, you know, getting more connected and educated and connected to a local farmer, ⁓ and getting your sources from them really would make people much more comfortable. ⁓ you know, cause like my animals don’t have antibiotics. My animals don’t have.

Vaccines and everything shot up in them. No, you know hormone boosters. There’s none of that ⁓ so Takes a lot of extra work takes extra money takes extra cleanliness ⁓ but I Want my meat and people to know that by my meat that all my main meat is, you no, no soy no corn Clean no antibiotics, you know It’s healthy for them and people who have I even hear from you know my

local friends and farmers of people that buy from them because they have certain diseases or conditions and their bodies react to eating red meat from other commercial farms, but then they buy from me from them and they’re totally fine. ⁓ and so scary.

Fran Rinaldo (38:38)
Wow.

Yeah, creepy. But, but I mean, such a testament to, to what you’re saying. And I mean, really just makes me reflect on like how, unfortunately, I feel like what we get in a modern grocery store now isn’t, isn’t really food in the way that that you know, what you’re producing is. I mean, it’s just it’s so it’s so disparate. And it’s it

makes me sad that that’s the case. I feel like talking to you and hearing what you’re saying about education and even what I’m learning about in this conversation with you, I do feel like and felt that way personally as well that that is the linchpin that we need is just showing people a different way of life. ⁓ But you

On that note, I wanted to ask you because you’re doing this thing that I think is kind of radical in a way in this modern time and trying to say…

like let’s do things differently, let’s do things how they used to be done, let’s do things in concert with the land. ⁓ But you also are running a business in this modern era and like you said, you have to be aware of Instagram trends, you have to know how to speak to people who maybe don’t.

think the way that you do or don’t have the experiences and perspective that you do. And so how do you balance those two needs of doing something that’s sort of like radical? I mean, maybe you don’t think it’s radical. To me, radical, I mean that in a good way, like a radical departure from what…

Connor McWilliams (40:25)
Yeah.

Fran Rinaldo (40:29)
is mainstream from what’s mostly done while also being like I have to cater to the mainstream, I have to speak the internet language, I have to have a social media, you know, I have to be a working business and do you ever feel any tension between those two goals that you have?

barking?

Connor McWilliams (40:51)
So I think that’s the hard part on the other side of the conversation. We just talked about, you know, society being connected to the farmer, but also on the flip side of that, there is the farmer making himself available and connecting himself to society. So even in developing boutique hotels for Airbnb in Portland and being a business mind, when I started building Highland Farms, there’s so much to do all the time, every day.

all day that if you just don’t work, work, work from sunup to sundown, you will never make it anywhere. And so I think it’s, I was just dove in and I was just focused on building and building and building and becoming one track mind of I do this, I did this. And then right when you’re in the middle of a project, you have an animal issue and then that takes half your day and then you have to focus back on your project. And so in my brain, it was like, well, I have to build all of this before I can even think about.

social media presence. I can’t just let people on here. And a man named Mike, who’s now my partner, reached out to one of my Airbnbs that has Airstreams up in Mount Hood ⁓ and was like, hey, let me, man, my girlfriend and I come stay and we’ll give you a list of feedback on, you know, your Airstream, how to make it better. We’ve been studying glamping experiences for the last three years. We have a property up at the Skagit Mountains, Olympic National Park, that’s a glamping on, know,

Fran Rinaldo (41:50)
Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (42:18)
in the forest and so let us go. And he gave us back this feedback. And to be honest, it was so many pages. I think I opened it and I was like, my goodness, this is about an airstream. I’m getting back to work. ⁓ and then my business partner, or then I said, you know, come out to the farm. And he came out and I showed him the farm for an hour. and he was like, wow, I want to be a part of this. I.

Fran Rinaldo (42:26)
You

Yeah, you’re like, he’s serious.

Connor McWilliams (42:47)
You know, we just clicked right away and I said, jump on in, but I don’t have any money to pay you. ⁓ All my money’s going into building when I’m building. So if you believe in equity, then grab a hammer and let’s build this chicken coop. ⁓ And we were building to the summer and it was like a weekend and he just kind of looks at me and goes, have you thought about sharing this with anybody? In my brain, I was a perfectionist. I’m all about, you know, I’m a general contractor and designer and in my brain.

I didn’t think it was at a level to share with people. said, I want all my photos to look professional. I want my page to look at a certain level. You know, I want to create a certain storytelling element. And he said, you need to get out of your own head and out of own way. People just want to watch you build and be a part of the experience. And I said, but I’m not a tech person. Like the video I’m going to take on my iPhone isn’t going to have music and words and be blended nicely and all this. Like it’s going to look like a kid made it.

And he said, I don’t care, dude, you just have to post it. So we made a deal that my story would be all live videos and photos off of my phone. And then I would not care about how edited or how seamless the story videos looked. And those come off my phone, raw videos. And that the page so that when people looked at it would be professional. And we just started sharing stuff. And to me, wasn’t, these projects weren’t that fascinating or that

cool at first because they were just basic necessities. got to build this bridge to get over this. And these are things you just have to do on a farm. And he’s like, people want to see that. People want to watch that. Let people be a part and be involved in building. And it’s very hard because when I’m on Instagram and I see another general contractor who has all these followers and makes all these videos about them building, the first thought that comes to my mind is you don’t actually work.

How much time did you spend taking that video, doing all the cuts, doing all the edits? I could have framed in a whole room in the time that you took three cuts. I mean, are you actually working? Or who’s doing it, or who’s the team behind you, or can you show reality? And I had a hard time with that at first, and he’s like, just set up a camera and build. ⁓ But also the posts and things that have…

Fran Rinaldo (44:50)
Right. Or who’s editing that?

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (45:08)
The marketing and posts on social media that have been the most effective for us and have gotten the most engagement are ⁓ the raw real life stuff. ⁓ Some of our largest ones are a post when we had to put down a calf because it was born without sucking, throat sucking muscles. And so it was very hard because I had already posted pictures and videos of this calf. He was adorable. He was white.

And he had made it through two days due to adrenaline and being born. And he was born without the muscles and the road out was in the vets where it’s too difficult and the chances were too low. ⁓ And the probability of this calf, I mean, it was fading very fast. And so, you you type of the humane things and how you do this.

about on a farm and growing up quickly. You know, I tried to reason with this vet. I tried to fight this vet and this vet finally looks at me and he goes, I need to have a logical rundown with you because this is a very serious discussion. And is this right now about the emotions or is it about the money into the animal? And you know, he said, I’m going to tell you that this animal has, I can go ahead and put the whole vaccine chest in this animal.

It’s got a 20 % chance to 30 % chance to make it to the market.

If I can get it hydrated enough and adrenaline enough and we can then tube feed this animal every single day until four months is over. The probability that the animal makes it through that is 20%. The probability that the animal has a healthy and good life through being tube fed with no sucking muscles, with no ability to drink water, with no ability to drink milk, food, any of that is extremely, extremely low in our

Fran Rinaldo (46:52)
Mm-hmm.

Connor McWilliams (47:08)
Is this your full-time job? Do you have anything else to do besides sit here, right here, and not move for the next four months? Because if you want that 30 % chance, that’s what it’s going to take. Or else we better start talking about a 5 % chance, or a 2 % chance. And, you know, it’s, I fought this vet left and right, and he looked at me and he’s like,

Sir, this is how it goes. What’s the cost of animal? And I don’t even like telling you this. And I said, the animals were $5,000. He said, no, sir, today. We’re not talking about this animal is healthy and lives and grows to be a full size because I’m giving you less than probable for that to happen. And he said, in farming world, if the cost of the animal is less than I cost.

Fran Rinaldo (47:45)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (48:07)
then that’s the money reasoning. Now, if this is an emotional decision, then you need to understand that this calf is not going to have a good life and we just went over that. And that this is, you’re going to make this calf suffer. And so I said, okay, and he goes, I’ve answered the logical money issue and the emotional issue. They both lead to the same answer. And I mean, it was…

And he got to the point where he’s, oh, but it was good because I could not. I even made him, I said, let’s go out to my other animals and check my other animals before I give you a decision. Because I just kept wrestling with it. He just watched me and he was like, you are struggling. So can I help you get through this? And when you break it down logically and emotionally. And they both lead to the same thing. And we’re talking about the betterment of this animal and the life of this animal, then we have one answer. And, you know, he tells you.

Fran Rinaldo (48:34)
Brutal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (49:04)
This can go one of two ways. I can euthanize this animal and it will take a minute and a half to two minutes. Or you can go get a gun.

Okay, which one’s more humane? If you can stomach it, the gun. Happens in under a second. The other one takes a minute and half. When you have to have that reality and you’ve shared this with the public and this is now a learning experience, a unfortunate situation of an animal we were given with, I mean, I struggled for a while of I posted pictures, people are asking about this animal, but how do I tell them the truth?

Fran Rinaldo (49:18)
you

Connor McWilliams (49:48)
And I was on the phone with my mom and I was like, she’s like, why are you so scared to tell everybody? I said, because that calf died on my supervision.

And she said, and it was born without throat sucking muscles. And I said, yeah, that’s still on my property. I still am the owner and the father of it. It’s still my responsibility. And she said, do you realize it’s a gift? I’m coming from your mother and a woman. It is a gift for a human woman to get to walk home with her baby from the hospital with all the devices, with all the medicine and all the doctors that we have today. It’s a gift.

And there’s a lot of women out there that don’t get to. And that’s a blessing. And so I think you were just raw and real with it and just tell them, hey, this is how the baby was born. We were born with some defects, you know. I had the vets out. We were all doctors on staff, you know, even past a lot of, you know, farming of what I called the vet as much as I did a lot of vets, you know, he makes the comment of if I cost more than the animal costs, then you know how this goes.

and those are all experiences that you have to go through to understand this whole process of the betterment of this animal. I could not save this animal and I even only walked outside to go talk about the other animals I came back I noticed it dropped significantly in like 10 minutes and so yeah, it’s not I shared with the public and actually the that post and then the one thanking people for 10,000 followers, which is me

writing, you know, just a heartfelt thank you. ⁓ Emotionally, thank you for helping me, helping a young man’s dreams come true. Those two posts have gotten the most engagement. So marketing that really is the realest for us and gets people involved the most is the raw real stuff. ⁓ And on that post about me having to put the baby down, I got the most comments. mean, I comments that were, thank you for showing us that farming isn’t all roses and dandelions and rainbows.

Um, thank you for being real about it and showing our kids and people that there’s realities and hard truths and hard work and responsibilities and outside factors and everything that go into this. Um, thank you for giving us a real life glimpse into it. Thank you for opening our eyes to this isn’t just a cute furry fuzzy cow farm, and this is a real life operating farm. Um, but so I’ve continued to be a little gutsy with sharing.

⁓ babies and stuff that’s happening just because I actually feel like you getting that real life experience with me is what most people engage with.

Fran Rinaldo (52:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I feel like it’s interesting to see how, you know, social media almost seems to have swung back around where at first it was just a place where people, like you said, just posted authentically what was happening in their lives or just were sharing things, were throwing things out there and seeing what people connected with and then, you know, ended up turning into this hyper curated, completely artificial, you know, departure from reality. And I think it’s

really interesting to see how that time period people have gotten sick of it and they really, you I think we all are craving, like knowing that the people behind the screen are a real person who makes mistakes or not that you made a mistake in that situation, but you know, is just a real person who’s going through real things and doesn’t always have the right answer, have a perfect life or even in this, you know, ideal like.

Connor McWilliams (53:23)
through.

Fran Rinaldo (53:33)
setting this this idyllic, know, peaceful, perfect world that you’ve created, there’s great hardship and sadness and and yeah, I think like you said that, you know, is really speaking to people right now in a way that like look at my perfect life and my perfect farm just doesn’t just doesn’t hit anymore.

Connor McWilliams (53:53)
No, it doesn’t.

Fran Rinaldo (53:58)
Yeah, so, you know, I know we’ve been talking for a long time, but I do have a few more questions I want to ask you at all. Okay, so, you know, I mean, obviously you’re someone who, like, this has been…

Connor McWilliams (54:06)
Go ahead, I can talk for a while.

Fran Rinaldo (54:16)
your whole life in a way or this this world this understanding and talking to you it kind of makes me feel like i’m like we need to have a mandatory program where all kids in america go and work on a farm for you know five summers or something i’m like if i have kids they got to be raised on a farm because you know like you’re saying you’re you’re confronting these really brutal realities inescapable but brutal realities of life that we’ve shielded ourselves from and i think has made us lose

our understanding and connection with what really matters. But on that note,

What is there anything that’s happening right now in regenerative agriculture or in ecotourism in general that you feel like is inspiring you or giving you hope or suggesting to you that maybe we’re on the cusp of a greater change or you know that maybe that work that you’re doing, ⁓ that education piece is creating some ripple effects?

Connor McWilliams (55:22)
Yes, ⁓ two avenues. ⁓ One is that we’ve been recently getting approached by schools. A lot of it’s actually homeschools, which shows I’m, I always don’t get hit up by that many people. So I can’t say, you know, one way or the other. ⁓ But when the homeschool families reach out to us, it’s very much focused on our kids understand. ⁓ You know, we talk about how

Younger your children, how far do you want the education to go on breeding and so forth? And a lot of times they’re like, please be full educational, know, keep it, you know, speak educationally and unleash all of it. And that kind of shocked me at first with how young some of these kids are. And they were like, our kid, we want our kids and our kids have grown up in farming communities and we want them to know about the realities. It’s funny because there’s this.

Fran Rinaldo (55:54)
you

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (56:19)
I saw this Instagram video out there other day, and this old farming guy. And he says, I don’t, and he’s talking to this white color, you know, New York interviewer. And he’s like, I don’t mean to offend you, but kids don’t need school. He goes, give me your boy for a couple of years. Let him work on this ranch with me. I’ll have a man back to you.

Fran Rinaldo (56:41)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (56:41)
He goes, he’s going to learn how to build relationships. He’s going to learn how to sell cattle, work with the neighbor. He’s going to learn how his dogs are going to escape and he’s going to have to work with the neighbor. He’s going be pissed off and want to kill his dogs. It’s going to be a relationship. He’s going to go through a heartbreak. He’s going to lose an animal. He’s going to have to raise it. He’s going to have responsibilities. And he names all these things that growing up to be a woman and a man, you have to go through and understand that school as a byproduct takes you.

teaches you, but it’s through getting bullied or trying to make friends and fit into clips and so forth where, you know, you’re building a relationship with other families and people because it’s business and things that you do and you help your dad out and your farm out and you’re responsible for animals and it’s not your dad who’s going to go get your dog back. You know, it’s you and so forth.

Fran Rinaldo (57:33)
No, ⁓ well, just sort of…

Connor McWilliams (57:35)
⁓ yeah,

And then second. Secondly, the other thing that gives me hope ⁓ is right now we’re seeing a push from counties, ⁓ districts and tourism reaching out to promote us to get involved. So Clackamas County ⁓ owns Mount Hood territories.

⁓ Instagram handle and they’ve sent people out. They’ve had a corporate retreat out here. ⁓ They just brought us cookies. They do a fantastic job of reaching out and saying, how can we help you? ⁓ They get grants from the government and money to, you know, promote tourism in their county. And so how can we help you? And they’re a part of the county and they’re in the county. And so I think, you know, when you dive into farm,

experiential hospitality. I think it can also be tricky because when you do this, like I said in the beginning, your farm has to have so many avenues of income through what they classify as farm activities in order to be classified as a farm and to get all the taxes and stuff. And having a farm is very expensive, there’s very little money in it. So you need every advantage you can get or else you do not make it. ⁓ And so

when working with these county people and talking about zoning and what can I do and, you know, what are you going to allow me to call a farm income? You know, these people are coming to stay on my property. They’re getting the education by staying on my property, which is allowed. They may not buy a product. I’m not forcing them to buy a farm product, but they’re coming for the educational aspect. you allow their hospitality income?

And so, cause you know, when you do a farm, it’s, have to, you know, education, product, grain, whatever it is, I have to categorize out all my incomes. And so it’s getting them, there has been this open-eyed willingness at the County of how can I work with you? How can I get you exposure? How can I get you the breaks you need? How can I help you survive? Because I do believe this is good for tourism. I do believe this is good for kids.

I do believe it’s good for families and actually I’m bringing my family and the entire Clackamas County here for a retreat.

So, you know, I think there’s a push there and if local jurisdictions will work with because they’re also hopefully waking up to what I spoke to you earlier about in regards to all the farmland going out for sale and being bought by corporations. You know, so how can we, good. So just how can we, you know, incorporate this and not make it so impossible for somebody without corporate money to make this a successful local small farm.

Fran Rinaldo (1:00:24)
Go ahead.

Connor McWilliams (1:00:35)
which it was originally intended to be. ⁓ And so I think through the education of kids and the, like I said, the first avenue through the farm tours, ⁓ we do farm tours for kids and watching ⁓ just the experience they get and the education they get. And right now we’re having, we have had two special needs. ⁓ Schools and classes reach out to us. One is actually a government program.

and we’re super excited to work with them. we have two of them coming this year and, they’re super excited. Their kids are super excited. ⁓ and again, they told me to be full educational. ⁓ so to watch this push of, please teach my kids the reality and full education, as long as you use educational appropriate terms. ⁓ then we’re all for that. And so those two avenues, I think as those two meet.

because some of those parents work in the county and as those two hopefully meet to create this holistic family community, not, I mean, almost like a big scale commune, but not really not on the land, not this, not this, but this as parents band together. I think you saw in the political election, this, you know, you saw movements and all these things for, you know, hashtags of moms and this and that moms, you know, education against education and all this stuff.

Fran Rinaldo (1:01:46)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (1:02:02)
And so I think that it’ll be interesting, but I’m hoping that the world is waking up. ⁓ And obviously, McDonald’s knew it from day one that you reach everyone through the little kids. So we enjoy the opportunities to educate the kids ⁓ as much as possible.

Fran Rinaldo (1:02:15)
⁓ that’s, ⁓ you’re, you’re using their own game against them.

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, really, you know, just from my own personal perspective, I come from a family of educators and I just I’ve always, you know, so passionately believe that education is is like the most powerful tool you can give anybody and what and I think, you know, like you’ve said in this conversation is you we can see the sort of decay of society because we don’t

educate people anymore about like how to be a human being, about where their food comes from, about how to be a community member, about how to care for something, about how to struggle for something. ⁓ And, you know, it’s so amazing how, like you’ve said, you’ve found this microcosm or this way where all of those lessons can be taught in a way that’s also really just like emotionally rewarding and

calming and, I don’t know, connecting us back to our humanity. ⁓

Connor McWilliams (1:03:35)
They say that farmers, there’s a study done all the time every year that, know, who are the happiest professions and your happiest professions, usually farmers. ⁓ There’s a gratitude of the land. yeah. Like by a long shot. It’s always people that work outside with their hands. ⁓ So farmers are always the top ⁓ computer people that walk to a desk are usually toward the bottom. Medical field is also toward the bottom. But.

Fran Rinaldo (1:03:44)
Really? Wow. Yeah.

Sad.

Connor McWilliams (1:04:07)
It is because you are outside. mean, how do you keep yourself connected? I go feed my cows and animals every day and I watch them and I pay attention to their weight content, their fat content and the land. And I just sometimes just sit there and enjoy the nature and the birds and just enjoy watching them eat. And, you know, there’s a saying, watching the grass grow. it’s, I feel like an old man, but…

Fran Rinaldo (1:04:30)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (1:04:34)
watching the grass go is really nice. ⁓ And so it’s the most rewarding for sure. And I think just giving people that glimpse of come check us out, you can stay here for the weekend, you can stay here for the week, your family can have this place. And let me educate you about, you know, small time farming and hopefully people get connected to small time farmers so you know, they can know where their stuff is coming from and then you know, well.

Fran Rinaldo (1:04:36)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (1:05:02)
all have these conversations together through these meetings and through people connecting with farmers. And, you know, at some point, hopefully that beats your corporate America to the race of buying all the farmland and people eating fake meat.

Fran Rinaldo (1:05:18)
Yeah, I hope. It’s funny. So ⁓ I’m actually in nursing school right now and I joke with my friends all the time when we’re studying for our pharmacology exams. I’m like, I’m not supposed to be memorizing medications. I’m supposed to be memorizing where the tree splits in the road and I’m supposed to go 20 meters more and then there’s the fallen over log and then that’s where you find the special mushroom and like…

I’m like, that’s what our brains were meant for is to know the land. And it’s amazing how we as humans do have this like super capacity to get connected to the land. And I’m sure you know like every nook and cranny and spot of your farm and it’s like how your brain is supposed to work. so, I feel like it just feeds into kind of what you were saying. Okay, my…

Connor McWilliams (1:06:10)
I can tell you where to find

the golden chanterelles. I can tell you where to find it all. Yeah.

Fran Rinaldo (1:06:14)
yeah. my gosh, that’s amazing.

Do you guys have truffles too?

Connor McWilliams (1:06:19)
Yes.

Fran Rinaldo (1:06:21)
Wow, that’s amazing. Have you ever seen Pig, the movie? You should ever, like, you’re puritanical about it or you just don’t hardly ever do it.

Connor McWilliams (1:06:25)
No, I don’t watch TV or movies, so no.

Like I’m outside working or hanging out with my animals until the time I go to bed and then the minute I wake up I go outside. So I just don’t, it’s not enjoyable.

Fran Rinaldo (1:06:37)
You’re like, when do I have time to sit down and…

Well, if you ever

have something crazy happen where you have to sit down or fly on an airplane, you can watch Pig. It’s about this man and his pig that finds truffles, his prize pig in there, and this beautiful relationship, and then the pig is stolen. And so he spirals in commentary on man and nature and industry and all that stuff. I have one.

Connor McWilliams (1:06:49)
You

Fran Rinaldo (1:07:10)
One last question for you, which is just, I think you’ve sort of spoken to this, but do you have any advice for, you know, people like me, people like lots of us living in an urban setting or maybe who don’t have access to, ⁓ to go to a place like Highland Farms right now? You know, how, how do you recommend to those people to get more connected with the land to, you know, have more of an

of a understanding and like symbiotic relationship with the world around them.

Connor McWilliams (1:07:46)
I think the, from an urban community, the first step would be understanding where it all comes from. And I think society started that trend by saying, ⁓ I’m going to leave Safeway and the big grocer and go to like Trader Joe’s and stuff. But even then it’s a good effort, but it doesn’t compute it all, compute it all the way. And so, like I said, there’s, it’s very easy. mean, you can look up.

Farms there’s one down the street. There’s even another person on the street for me. I can think of two just around me Where you can sign up for all their produce and their Animals and there’s a lady that brings into Portland on Thursdays and she sells it, you know brings it to her clients to her club list in Southwest Portland and You know, she gives you this whole basket of everything you order and you know

that your vegetables come from her and she allows you to go to her land and she hands you a pamphlet on her land and she’s very cool and she gives you her phone number and you know that’s and she delivers to Inside Portland. I deliver to Inside Portland. ⁓ I will bring it to your doorstep. ⁓ And so it’s getting connected I think and breaking that fear of okay I don’t eat meat or I’m not going to do this or I’m not going to this. Okay let me learn about this. Let me see how this is actually done.

Because most of our farming websites ⁓ I’m currently building out Right now I sell my meat on my Highland Farms website, but I’m currently building out Like I think I told you I have the hundred acres across the street that I’m I’m gonna turn into a whole ⁓ You know self-generating ⁓ Eco farm and I’m building out my beef brand website for that right now ⁓ and on that will be

Fran Rinaldo (1:09:36)
Yeah. When will that be

ready, you think?

Connor McWilliams (1:09:41)
We’re close. A couple months probably. We’re close on the website part. Highland Reserve. And so that’s where our cows go. Because we want babies here. And so how have babies is you have mom and dads that produce. But for the safety of people, we keep the babies here. And we love on our babies. then when they get…

Fran Rinaldo (1:09:45)
wow, awesome! And was it going to be called Highland Farms or Highland Reserve?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (1:10:10)
a little older or their mom and dad than they are on the reserve where they’re open grazing and open pastures ⁓ and they get to enjoy that regenerative farm. Anyway, so we are doing the beef brand now and on our website, you know, there will be a huge about and learn about the land and learn about our process and learn about who we are and learn about what we stand for and this and so.

Fran Rinaldo (1:10:13)
and

Connor McWilliams (1:10:34)
You can go to these different farmers or websites or meet them and you will learn about what they stand for, what they represent, you know, where their stuff comes from. A lot of them will let you come out and pick it up and buy it. You can do a tug tour and you know, I do tours and people can come out and see everything about it. ⁓ so I think that is the first step of step by step. How many things can I get local and know where it comes from and know what someone is doing with their land and know, cause people don’t even think about this. Like,

Fran Rinaldo (1:10:49)
you

Connor McWilliams (1:11:05)
Land can be barren, dirt can be barren, soil can be barren. ⁓ It takes, Israel was, the 40s. ⁓ And it took people diving into their heritage and giving back to that land. And then it became one of the most successful affluent ⁓ soils.

ecosystem and there is ⁓ by people regenerative farming and giving back and pouring into their heritage and their ancestors lands of you know and so land can be barren and ⁓ there’s another farm called white oaks ⁓ and you know they did a study on their water and their farm runoff compared to the farm next to them ⁓ and their soil was balanced and

Their water was full of nutrients and all this and the land next to them was completely dead. And they’re right next to each other. And so even getting into the education and diving into what do do to your soil? What do you to your land? What are you putting back in your land? How is your land? What is the nutrients your land is putting into my body? You know, that’s the farthest step. ⁓ But it all affects, I mean, you grow something with certain nutrients and you grow something with other nutrients and you’re going to have two different tastes.

Fran Rinaldo (1:12:20)
Yeah.

Connor McWilliams (1:12:29)
and two different protein levels and two different everything. And so I think that’s the farthest step, but yeah, that’s a way that people can start to dive in.

Fran Rinaldo (1:12:36)
Yeah, yeah, no, I’ve noticed that like

I joke that I didn’t have a real tomato until I was like 22 years old and got one from a farm stand and I was like, this is something different than what I’ve had. This is like a real tomato. You know, this isn’t a whatever I’ve been eating before.

Connor McWilliams (1:12:55)
watered-down,

starchy, watered-down substance. Yeah.

Fran Rinaldo (1:12:59)
Yeah,

yeah, just like water and acid basically and nothing else. ⁓ But, ⁓ Connor, I won’t take up any more of your time, but I’ve really, really enjoyed our conversation. I really appreciate the work that you guys are doing. It’s really inspiring to me. I mean, even that last anecdote that you’ve shared about how we can restore things.

Connor McWilliams (1:13:03)
Mm-hmm.

Fran Rinaldo (1:13:26)
⁓ we can restore barren land and barren soil and I think that’s really desperately important for all of us to remember right now when you know at times things can feel a little bleak and hopeless and it’s always a good recheck into reality to speak with people like you who are trying to change the story a little bit and show people something that we’ve lost. So with that…

wait, hold on, I wanna change that actually.

Connor McWilliams (1:13:59)
Well, we invite you all.

Fran Rinaldo (1:14:02)
Wait, do that again?

Connor McWilliams (1:14:05)
I said, we invite you all to follow our journey and process as we build Highland Reserve and our beef brand, Highland Reserve, and to check it out and to learn about the education, the background of what we’re building and follow our process. We’ll put together sort of a documentary Instagram to kind of follow this process to allow people to really tap into what are the things that we’re putting into the ground and the carbons and, you know, what is the goal we’re trying to reach with our ground and our nutrients. so, um,

If you get a chance, pay attention. Highland Reserve, it will be a big friend. It’s coming soon. And then we are Highland Farms Oregon.

Fran Rinaldo (1:14:40)
I hope maybe you’ll ship to Florida.

Connor McWilliams (1:14:44)
ship.

Fran Rinaldo (1:14:47)
Well, something I can look forward to, but we’ll definitely have to have a part two where we bring the team out to Highland Farms and check you guys out and definitely, like you said, visit Highland Farms, Oregon and book a farm stay and go see the cutest cows in the whole world.

Connor McWilliams (1:14:48)
It’s an option. I would love that. Yeah, we’ll have you all out, come do your corporate retreat.

Fran Rinaldo (1:15:09)
Oh, are you listening, Jam? Let’s do it.

Connor McWilliams (1:15:10)
Hmm… Nuh-huh!

Fran Rinaldo (1:15:17)
Well that’s a wrap on our season finale of season two, Connor. It has been such a pleasure talking with you and I look forward to seeing what else Highland Farms does in the future.

Connor McWilliams (1:15:29)
Thank you for having me on. It was a joy to talk to you and thank you for letting us share to broaden people’s minds and give them opportunities to look how they can connect with local farmers and their local food and where it comes from. So thank you and I enjoyed talking with you and have a great day.

Fran Rinaldo (1:15:47)
Amazing. All right, bye guys.