Ned Yost, a former major league baseball player and manager whose love for the outdoors motivated him to place their land in a conservation easement. Photograph by Hadrien Turner.
For Ned Yost, former major league baseball catcher and manager of the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals (the latter of whom he won the World Series with), spending time outdoors has always been his way of disconnecting from the stress and intensity of professional sports.
“My whole life, the best place that I could find to recharge and reset my batteries was in the woods where it was quiet, where you could think. You were there by yourself, you could enjoy the beauty of nature and the wildlife and just really, totally relax,” he says. “It’s hard to explain to some people but for me it was just my happy place. It wasn’t about killing a big buck more than it was enjoying sitting out there and having the opportunity to see a big deer,” he adds.
Initially, Ned and his wife Deborah purchased 200 acres in Meriwether County to hunt deer on, but they soon found themselves spending so much time there that they purchased an additional 500 acres. Not long after, they decided to make it their permanent abode. They lived in the property’s barn for a year and a half while constructing their new home.
Pine forests found on Ned Yost’s property in Meriwether County. Photograph by Hadrien Turner.
“My wife grew up on a farm and she remembers being out there with her grandparents going fishing with a cane pole and being able to see the wildlife and being able to play out in the country” Ned says, before adding that “It’s memories more than anything else that you’re creating by being a good steward for the land.” They hope to create the same memories and love for the land in their grandchildren, who relish their visits to the farm and enjoy visiting the “bull frog hole” and roaming the woods and streams looking for other critters and arrowheads.
It’s for this reason Ned and Deborah decided to put nearly 200 acres of their property into a conservation easement with ORLT in 2017. This easement protects scenic streams, high priority habitats such as Bottomland Hardwood Forests, Oak Hickory Pine Forests, and Granite Outcrops, and pine savannah managed for wildlife. This wildlife includes a pair of bald eagles that come and go as they please, as well as game species such as deer, turkey, and quail. From the back porch of their home, the Yosts can hear the quail singing and see the eagles fishing in their lake.
Ned puts it best when he proudly concludes “All my life we loved the outdoors. We loved deer hunting, we loved all kinds of fishing, we loved the wildlife. So, when we bought this farm, it was to be able to enjoy the beauty of being out in the country, but it was more about creating an environment for the wildlife to flourish.”
We couldn’t agree more.