Jim served 9.5 yrs. active duty Air Force as a C-5 Crew Chief (aircraft mechanic, QA, etc.) in Dover, DE. He then joined the Nashville, TN Air National Guard full-time, and worked on the C-130 for a year, before transferring to Martinsburg, WV Air National Guard, again, full-time where he worked again on the C-5 and then the C-17. He is now a SMSgt, supervising the AGE shop in Martinsburg, and is on several other teams including Crash Recovery. He has participated in several deployments including Rota, Incirlik, and two 6-month deployments to support USCustoms and Border Patrol. Throughout his career, he has mentored many young airmen. He has a total of 27 years of service.
Jim started dabbling in farming in 2013 and officially registered the farm in 2016. At that time, he had no real experience farming. Being a member of the Farmer Veteran Coalition, has supported his dream to retire in 3 years and farm full-time. Through the information provided in the newsletters and the educational online seminars, Jim learned how to grow the farm output from just feeding his family to providing eggs and meat to local markets and to individual customers in his and surrounding counties. The Farmer Veteran Coalition's website is full of thought provoking insight that helped Jim succeed. The Farming and Business Resources, have been instrumental in making his dream a reality.
Jim and his wife both began eating "clean" (no preservatives, no added sugar, nothing artificial) in 2013. Because they found it so difficult to find reliable food at the stores that met their "clean" criteria, they decided to start growing their own. This grew from gardening, to chickens, to cattle, to hogs, to turkeys, bees, etc. When their friends and neighbors got a taste of their home-grown food, the Dollingers began to expand to grow enough to serve their community and beyond.
In the last 10 years, under Jim's management, the farm has grown exponentially and has begun to be profitable. He moved from a 4 acre farm in Hedgesville, to a 50 acre farm (leasing 90 additional acres) in Rio. He has grown his laying chicken flock from 6 to 85, began raising beef cattle (currently 16 head, including Angus crosses, White Parks, and Scottish Highlands), raises an annual flock of holiday turkeys, established an apiary, raises broiler chickens and ducks on request, raises a few hogs each year, and has a high-tunnel for growing vegetables.
Additionally, the farm offers 2-hour walking tours for schools, families, and other groups, explaining how the farm was established and operates, how animal care is handled (he also has donkeys, goats, potbelly pigs, and horses) providing lots of animal interaction, and how they are beginning to implement regenerative practices. The tours also include wildflower identification and foraging. The farm has become something he and his wife, Kim, can enjoy working for many years to come.
When asked about his service, Jim responds, "There's no other life. It's the best." He feels the same about farming. Like his connection to the military, he treasures his connection to the land and animals. In the military, he was able to serve the country by defending it and making the world safer, and by farming, he is able to serve his community with good, wholesome, nutritious food.
