(This is a few paragraphs from Chapter 2 of the Book – ‘NATURE’S WAY, a Community of Un-Perfect, Perfect Living’ by Will Dursens)

Being the only living child, his father’s passing left everything to his son, Captain John, and his wife Hulda. While she was able to do many things those first few years without Hustin, she also was soon to become ill in the early spring of 1987 with mid-stages of Emphysema and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) brought on by her one major vice of smoking, something which she had been doing off and on since the age of 13. Hulda lost her battle with lung issues within 10 months and died just four days after Christmas in December of 1987 at the young age of just 57.

With the farm and ranch business being as big as it was even by that spring of 1989, Captain John took sole reigns of it all while depending heavily on the three main, full-time farmhands who chose to stay on after his father’s passing.

It was during this time period that Captain John did something special for the area families, he reached out to and hired as many of the area teens and young adults as he could, especially during harvest times and always while looking for those go getters who had the gift of a solid work ethic that he so admired. In return, many of those same teens and young adults would later become integral people within the Ostfold Farm and Ranch business as well as within the building of the community to be named Nature’s Way.

So, even when the farm and ranch would take up so much of his time like it did, Captain John still found time to continue seeing the big picture and that big picture was to divide and conquer the massive acreage which he owned. He conquered it by subdividing much of it up into sizable farm and ranch plots that would eventually be used to give the community of Nature’s Way much its self-supportive nature.

By the time his mother passed away, Captain John had already set aside a major area of 700-plus acres right near the middle of the entire farm and ranch acreage to be used for building the community which he was hoping to offer peace, joy, faith, love, harmony and the opportunity to begin again for so many.

It was then then that the community, the vision of Nature’s Way began taking on structure and being. Nature’s Way, a name he chose because of his strong passion about what is best for people is the best of what nature itself has to offer and by using nature he felt he could build a community for all to get along and work together harmoniously like nature does on its own for survival of all.      

{The Book is Available at Amazon under “Nature’s Way” by Will Dursens or https://store.bookbaby.com/book/natures-way}