Matt Reese
I grew up on a small farm in northwest Ohio and spent most of my youth writing doodling, taking pictures, reading and exploring the surrounding landscape. With a family full of teachers, I also grew up around a culture supportive of education. I was active in athletics and art in high school before heading of the Ohio State University where I studied agricultural communications. This led to a career in agricultural journalism.
I am 33 years old and continue to work on the family Christmas tree farm on a regular basis. I married my wonderful wife, Kristin, in 2002. We live on a small farm in Fairfield County with sheep, rabbits and chickens. We have a daughter Campbell Miriam who was born in the fall of 2007 and a son Parker Matthew born in August of 2009. We are active in our local church and with numerous other organizations.
I have served as the assistant editor for Ohio’s Country Journal, a statewide agricultural publication since 1999. I also write a column for numerous newspapers around Ohio, Fresh Country Air and do freelance writing and photography work. I have written and self-published six books to date. Visit my blogs at mattreesebooks.blogspot.com and freshcountryair.blogspot.com for more information.
Are you a Barbie girl?
I am guessing that you have never seen a promotional video for an agricultural commodity quite like this. At least I haven’t. This is lesson from the folks in Australia on how to generate interest in your products. Let me tell you, lamb has never looked quite so good. You may want to book some [...]
Rock ‘n Roll and PJs all day: Three days of Daddy in charge
By Matt Reese My wife was gone for the latter part of last week on a trip to Washington, D.C. with the AgriPOWER Ohio Farm Bureau program. This left me in charge of the house by myself — not a small task with two young children and a barn full of animals to care for. [...]
Ag needs to be a squeakier wheel in farm bill debate
By Matt Reese The squeaky wheel gets the grease, they say. And, right now, the wheels of federal farm programs are running smoothly, which may not bode well for the farm bill and agricultural funding amid the tight budget situation. Agriculture is one of the few areas that has been proactive in light of the [...]
GM mosquito terror spawned from lemon flavored milk
By Matt Reese In response to the Doc Sanders article posted on our website earlier this week, “Thank God for the FDA: A sour tale of lemon flavored milk,” we got a question from a concerned consumer who had recently read an article that portrayed the FDA in a less favorable light. She was concerned [...]
Most viewed stories of 2011
With the dramatic expansion of our Web presence in the last couple of years, it has been interesting to see which stories are viewed most often. So, in a tradition started last year, we thought we would highlight the most viewed stories on www.ocj.com over the last year. These results will be in the [...]
Merry Christmas from the Reese family
The thin layer of fresh snow crunched under the tires of the old, rusted van than pulled into the parking spot between a gleaming new SUV and a small, sporty BMW. A lone man got out of the dilapidated van with a creak of the door and a cloud of cigarette smoke. He had dirty, [...]
Flood waters make for soggy Christmas tree sales
By Matt Reese Christmas tree farms have to deal with the weather twice – once during the growing season and then again during the sales season. With just a few short weeks of marketing for Christmas trees from Thanksgiving to Christmas, the late fall/early winter weather can make or break the entire year. Despite the soggy [...]
A brown Christmas
This week, I wanted to share a blog my wife wrote about a very unfortunate, but humorous occurrence at the Reese family Christmas tree farm. A brown Christmas. By Kristin Reese This is a blog topic that you will not see me writing about often, or maybe ever again. I had to attempt to tackle [...]
Last minute shopping gone awry
By Matt Reese It was three days until Christmas. And, though I had no gift for her yet, my wife had dropped less-than-subtle hints that she wanted a new pair of boots for Christmas. I have always steered clear of clothing purchases for several reasons. First, I never have any idea what my wife likes. [...]
Talkin’ Turkey Part II: Leftovers
By Matt Reese Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have so much to be thankful for this year, my fantastic family, my wonderful career and Ohio agriculture. Without a robust agriculture in our state and country, we would have far fewer blessings to count on the Thanksgiving table and all year long. Of course, the turkey is [...]
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