Frank Strong will tell you that he spent 35 years as a natural gas pipeline engineer so that he could do what he really wanted to do — become a farmer.

After retiring eight years ago at age 58, he moved to Tennessee to make it happen.

“There was nothing wrong with working full-time in the pipeline industry,” says Frank, a board member of Perry Farmers Cooperative who row-crops around 120 acres along the Buffalo River near Lobelville. “The people I worked with became family, and I’m proud of my years there. But farming had been my goal for a long time, so I was thrilled to finally make it happen.”

The son of a career Naval officer, Frank and his large family — he is the seventh child out of 12 — moved often throughout the U.S. until his father retired.

“We finally settled in Los Lunas, New Mexico, on a 10-acre property,” Frank says. “We were fairly isolated, but with 11 brothers and sisters, you didn’t lack for friends. My five sisters had horses, I had calves, and my brothers had chickens, pigs, and goats. We also grew six or so acres of alfalfa.”

Frank admits that he didn’t realize he was developing a farming “bug” then.

“We were just having a good time,” he says. “We would also make money baling and hauling square bales of hay. If you could pick them up out of the field, load them on a truck, and stack them in a guy’s barn, you got 10 cents a bale. That was good money!”

By the time Frank was 10, he realized he had a natural talent for fixing vehicles and equipment.

“People began asking me if I was going to be an engineer when I grew up,” he recalls. “I didn’t know what an engineer was, but I naturally went in that direction, which led me to a degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University. Since I was so far from home, I would often spend school breaks at the farms of my friends and roommate. This gave me even more exposure to agriculture.”

After earning his degree in 1981, Frank began his long career in the natural gas industry, moving throughout the Midwest to serve as an engineer at various stations that moved the product from the Gulf Coast of Texas to various locations, including Chicago.

“I would service stations in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and even Wyoming,” he explains. “Early on in my career, I bought 100 acres of farmland that adjoined the property of my college roommate, who was a generational farmer. He basically farmed it for me and, whenever I had time, I’d go up there and help. I eventually sold that property, but never got the idea of full-time farming out of my system.”

When his pipeline company underwent changes in 2013, Frank finally saw his chance. With the blessings of his wife of 16 years, Erin, he began an exhaustive internet search throughout the Southeast U.S., looking for available farmland. Nothing suited him until he spotted a listing in the small town of Lobelville, Tennessee.

“When Erin and I first drove down from our home in Illinois, we not only fell in love with the farm immediately, but also with the entire state,” he says. “It felt like home right off the bat.”

Frank purchased the property and began a three-year process of transitioning from Illinois to Tennessee while his new Perry County friends, farmers Tim and Craig Byrd, began farming the property.

“The Byrds are a prime example of why we love it here,” says Frank. “They were already familiar with the property, knew how to farm it, and are great guys. Pretty soon after buying the place, we became aware of Perry Farmers Co-op, too. From the get-go, [manager] Terry Skelton and all the folks there were as helpful as could be, and I’ve been a board member there for the past three years.”

Upon moving to the property for good in 2016, Frank began the process of acquiring equipment and becoming accustomed to the differences between farming in the Midwest versus the Southeast U.S. He put his engineering skills to good use by purchasing older, used farm equipment, repairing it, and keeping it maintained himself, and he and Erin also keep a small collection of goats, chickens, and dogs.

“I look at life as an adventure,” he says. “You could call it a day after climbing Mt. Everest or you could say, ‘That was great — what’s the next adventure?’ For me, leaving my first career, coming down here, and digging in the dirt feels much closer to what God intended for me. It’s just a great way to live.”