By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
A fourth-generation potato and vegetable grower, Nathan Bula of Nathan Bula Farms LLC, Adams, Wisconsin, carries on his family’s farming tradition.
Nathan’s father, Gary, son of George and Mae Bula, was born and raised on Bula Potato Farms, in Antigo. Nathan’s mother, Lynda, daughter of Edward and Marilyn Fisher, was also a generational potato farmer. Her grandpa, Lonnie Powell, raised spuds in Langlade County.
In 1970, Gary began sharecropping with another farmer in Plainfield, and two years later, he and Lynda bought land in Grand Marsh and started their own operation.
“On the home farm here in Grand Marsh, I’m only the second generation. Dad and Mom built Gary Bula Farms, Inc. from the ground up,” Nathan says. “I am fourth generation at least in the states. My great grandpa probably farmed potatoes with his own dad in Poland, but we don’t know that.”
“Mom and Dad started Gary Bula Farms from their own sweat equity,” Nathan continues with a sense of pride.
“From my understanding, Dad did some rental agreements in Plainfield, and then wrote Mary Rashke a letter asking to purchase her home farm,” he relates. “It’s cool. We got the letter back recently.”
“Mary’s daughter kept the letter and framed it, so it’s really neat to have my dad’s handwritten letter of intent to purchase Mary Rashke’s home farm,” Nathan says.
