TILLAMOOK, Ore. — “Hey, we have a baby,” DJ and Jaimie Josi said to each other a little less than a dozen years ago, just after the birth of their first child. “Let’s buy a dairy.”

The couple were both working other jobs in 2013 when their son, Sheldon, now 11, came along. With some help from DJ’s parents, they started their first farm on 108 acres with about 250 milking cows “in a dairy that was designed to milk 100,” DJ said.

Both had backgrounds in dairying.

The Josis now have two more children, Julia, 9, and Dean, 5.

Fast forwarding to New Year’s Day 2021 found the pair taking over an 88-acre row-crop operation just southeast of Tillamook. It had three well-maintained houses, which are now used as homes for them and their six year-round employees.

“We had gotten to the point (at the previous farm) where we would have had to take on a large debt and go to 300 cows to make things work, so we took on half that debt in order to diversify,” DJ said.

That diversification led to cutting their dairy herd to 150 cows and taking on the previous owner’s farmstand, which features eggs from their own chickens plus vegetables year around.

Their operation is known as Josi Farms, and their advertising notes the farmstand features produce, free-range chicken eggs and pasture-raised Angus beef.

In the winter, he said, crops such as carrots, potatoes, brassicas and the like are sold, while summer is highlighted by carrots, zucchinis, cantaloupes, kohlrabis — and even artichokes.

“The farmstand is on the honor system (customers pay using cash, Venmo and Paypal),” Jaimie said. “As long as that is working, we’re making money.”

The produce is also sold at the Tillamook and Manzanita farmers markets and goes to about 16 area restaurants.

“High-end chefs want that interaction with the farmer,” DJ said.

While DJ, who is 44, is in charge of the planting and tending of the vegetables, their dairy operation is mostly overseen by their employees.

Jaimie, 41 — “an equal partner in this agricultural operation,” DJ said — does the accounts as well as the many other chores necessary to run such a diverse operation.

Future plans include building a value-added vegetable processing facility, retail storefront and a small cafe on their land.

“It would also help keep our staff employed year around, through the winter months,” Jaimie said. “We don’t lay people off. Some of our employees have been here since the start of this farm.”

The couple’s goodwill extends to farmstand sales activities.

“Most people who are buying fresh vegetables will not intentionally steal,” DJ said. “But if someone ends up stealing a couple of vegetables in order to eat that day, at least they made a healthy decision.”