Friday, February 18, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 25
A search for personal Zetahs come home to live their vision
sovereignty
BY CHRISTINE BEHNEN STAFF WRITER
HUTCHINSON – Daniel and Stephanie Zetah live and farm at New Story Farm between Dassel and Hutchinson. These 96 acres are where Daniel grew up, where his parents, Dennis and Elaine, raised cattle since the sixties. This farm is an old farm, a family farm, but Daniel’s pathway home was anything but a straightforward continuance of the life he grew up with. Daniel had established a life in Australia, and then underwent a radical transformation of his life goals and skills, in order to be able to return to the land that first knew him. Stephanie likewise gave up the trappings of an established professional life on a computer in order to discover the new way of living that brought her home here. Together, they are holding space on their farm for a new story, and not just for themselves, but a new story for any who might be seeking and willing. At one time such a drastic change might have seemed
PHOTO BY DREW ARRIETA
Daniel and Stephanie Zetah are pictured outside their re-purposed chicken coop where they gather for community meals, hanging out, crafts and other social experiences and events.
unlikely, impossible, or even undesirable, but the seeds of that change were present even from a young age. And, there were distinct moments which were like flint to steel, sparking a pivotal moment which might have otherwise slept undisturbed. “My parents raised cattle
organically,” Daniel remembered. “And yet, every time we sold a cow it would go away on a truck, and we bought all of our meat at a supermarket. Even as a kid, I was always questioning everything.” After studying economics and business, Daniel moved to Colorado, but 9-11 marked a
crucial moment which would lead to him moving to Australia. “I watched American culture double down on fear,” Daniel reflected. “I had to get out. I didn’t fit into this culture, and I questioned it. Why do we do this this way? I didn’t know what I was looking for. I
wasn’t fully baked yet.” His time in Australia would last over a decade. He had a job working as a chemical spraying auditor and prosecutor for Tasmania, an island state in the south. He
Zetah page 26
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