A growing philosophy in Oklahoma
LIFESTYLEStay-at-home dad relishes opportunity to reap land’s bounty

So, the doctor of philosophy and father of two young boys traded his careers in academia and business for a pair of overalls and work boots, and he became an organic farmer and stay-at-home dad.

Miller was no stranger to the notion of home-grown crops. He was raised in rural Nebraska, and both his grandparents canned their home-grown vegetables.

"Until I was about 7 or 8, I had never eaten ketchup that my grandma didn’t make,” Miller said. "I have always had that kind of nostalgia for that. When I had kids, I thought, you know, I want them to have a place that they can go and be outside and run around.”

Miller has had backyard gardens for years, but the ¼-acre plot in Oklahoma City limits, where he and his family live now, wasn’t spacious enough for what he had in mind.

He envisioned expansive gardens bursting with produce he could share with others. He wanted chickens, hogs, cows and goats. He wanted to build an "Earthship” home where he and his family could maintain a sustainable lifestyle while having a positive effect on the Earth and community.

That’s why he and his wife bought land in eastern Oklahoma County — "the one thing they’re not making any more of.”

They are years away from his dream of fully living off the land there, but each year, his gardens thrive more, and he builds more infrastructure on his acres and gets closer to his goal.

"The thing is, for me, it’s my own sort of paradox that every day I drive out here, and I drive home. I live a fairly energy-intensive lifestyle; however, I aspire to living out here in an off-grid cabin growing my own food, eating my own chickens. It’s crazy. What can you say?” Miller said.

Making money from his produce is not Miller’s primary motivation now. He’s a stay-at-home dad, and his wife works at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

He named his farm "Happy Eggs” because he had a large flock of chickens laying eggs he sold. That was before a pack of pit bull terriers massacred his brood in December, leaving only about 15 from a high of about 80 chickens.

Now, Miller nurtures a new brood of chicks to replace those he lost.

"I’m at the point now, doing it for money is a whole separate thing,” he said. "I’m just trying to grow enough tomatoes that we can can them all and not have to buy tomatoes at Walmart all year.”

He cites concerns about the state of the industrial food system in America as a prime reason for adopting an organic lifestyle of subsisting off the land.

"It seems to me that when we have a food system that requires 10 calories of fossil fuel for every food calorie that we consume, and we’re currently at the world peak production for petroleum, that’s a problem,” he said. "So far, it’s been limited to other countries, but it’s coming to a theater near you, I think — the world’s problems with food.”

Eventually, Miller hopes to create a CSA (community-supported agriculture) operation in which consumers can buy shares of his crops.

But foremost is Miller’s devotion to nurturing his boys, who love to spend time on the farm.

"I can’t tell you how many times last summer we’d be out here working in the afternoon, and I’d take them in for dinner and they wouldn’t eat their dinner because they’d already been out here pulling tomatoes and whatever else out of the garden,” he said.

Still a philosopher at heart, Miller believes there is no more intimate relationship in people’s lives than the one they share with the food they eat. People spend far less time considering what they consume than they should, he said.

"There’s no more basic relationship to life than the food that goes into your mouth,” he said. "And people are so uncritical about it.”

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