RICHLAND, Iowa – He quit his job and drove his wife and their four young daughters across country, a 21st-century pioneer lured to these faraway farm fields by the promise of a life-changing deal with an older stranger.
Isaac Phillips always wanted to be a farmer. But some friends as well as colleagues at the Utah jail where he supervised inmate work crews were leery, telling him: a) don't give up a steady job, b) you're making a big mistake and c) it's a crazy idea.
Phillips knew the business he was plunging into was risky, that there were no guarantees for him in these Iowa hills. And yet, the family moved more than 1,000 miles.
"I thought I may never get a chance like this in my life," Phillips says, two years into his new rise-with-the-rooster career. "I knew there was no way I could do this on my own."
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