Homegrown Diversity
By Krishna Ramanujan MA'01

Jim Guderyon

When Jim Guderyon was five years old, he was already driving a team of horses on the Hartland, Wisconsin, dairy farm where he grew up. Now, with a resume of experiences that includes living in Uganda, Tonga, Egypt, Lesotho, Swaziland, and the former Soviet Union, he's back where he started — and still working the land.

After earning a degree in dairy science at UW-Madison and working for some twenty years selling feed, seed, and fertilizer, Guderyon and his spouse, Elaine, hit the road for Kenya in 1980. What started as a two-year stint with USAID turned into four years; then they ventured on to Uganda, Tonga, and eventually Egypt. At each stop, he tried to help small farmers move out of subsistence farming and into commercial agriculture. The Eagle Heights gardens have brought Guderyon back to his roots, literally. On his four plots he grows produce, including onions, potatoes, beets, parsnips, and carrots.

"I just enjoy planting things and watching them grow. I consider it part of my agrarian background," Guderyon says. Though he and Elaine store some of their crop in a root cellar for year-round use, they always share their excess food with family members.

"I see this as part of an intergenerational thing," he says. "I've already shared gardening experiences with my children, and now I can also do it with my grandchildren."

back, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, next
On Wisconsin home page