Kevin Tenborg, President
Kevin was born and raised at the Flying T Ranch. He feels that it is a "tremendous honor" to farm this same land for four generations now.
He grew up raising turkeys and incubating their eggs for production hatching. When he was younger, he raised steers for 4-H and Future Farmers of America and rode his dirt bike all over the county -there were not many fences back then!
He migrated to the Bay Area to find his way and received his general contractor license, becoming a "Jack of all trades" and a master of most! He married his best friend, Patricia Tenborg, and have been an inseparable power couple since. After exploring and enjoying their life in the Bay Area, Kevin and Pat felt the strong call of the "farm-life" and moved back to the Flying T Ranch permanently.
They now raise organic chickens, commercial cattle, and hay. While raising his three children, Kevin enjoyed hunting, fishing, and planning the next new venture for his beloved ranch!
Patricia Tenborg, Vice President
Patricia was raised in Auburn, CA with 3 sisters. Although raised in the city, she always yearned to live in the "Country." This dream became a reality after she met Kevin, fell in love, married, and moved to the Flying T Ranch.
While working as a full-time ranch laborer, she raised her three children in the environment she wished that she had grown in. She always thought that it was wonderful to be able to give her children the "country lifestyle" so they could run free and enjoy a close relationship with nature and understand where their food came from.
Patricia started raising turkeys and cattle commercially. Soon after she learned the ropes at the Ranch, the family transitioned to raise organic chickens. While raising her children, she fostered an appreciation for the farming culture they were inheriting and supported their initiatives as members of 4-H and Future Farmers of America. Patricia loves horseback riding, watercolor painting, and traveling when she finds the time.
Virginia Tenborg, Founder
Virginia was born and raised in Chadron, Nebraska. Her long career as a farmer began when her family bought and moved to a small dairy farm in New Port, Nebraska. Her parents and four surviving siblings supported themselves by milking cows, separating the milk, and selling the cream. Despite many socioeconomic challenges at the time, Virginia completed her high school education at a boarding school 20 miles away from home. After high school, she returned to the farm where she worked with the dairy cows daily. She organized the family distribution chain and made sure that the family was able to deliver their cream to the dairy depot in town, where a train took it to Minnesota.
During one of her rare travels away from the family ranch, Virginia met William "Bill" Tenborg in the bus that was taking them to California. Bill did not waste any time and asked for her mailing address to begin the courtship that sparked the fire that gave flight to the Flying T Ranch. Soon after, Bill and Virginia married and she moved to California to raise turkeys and cattle.
our roots
The Flying T Ranch was started in the late 1930s when Mr. Thurlow “Tom” Storm Hellum moved from North Dakota to Lincoln, California, with the dream of building a ranch to develop an agricultural operation that would outlast him and provide for his family. Tom began this relocation adventure with his wife Alice and his two daughters, Corralee and Diane.
The Flying T Ranch first raised Turkeys commercially and when its operation began to outgrow its labor-force, Tom asked his nephew, William "Bill" Tenborg to move from North Dakota to help him with the undertaking of expanding the ranch. Soon after Bill moved to Lincoln, they started grazing cattle in the ranch. Shortly after, Bill met Virginia and they married in 1954. They decided to remain on the ranch to raise their own children as farmers. Bill helped grow the agricultural operations of the ranch and eventually became the main "pilot" of the Flying T Ranch as his Uncle Tom stepped back to retire.
As Bill and Virginia's own children grew older, they "cleared the runway" for Kevin and Patricia Tenborg by encouraging them to take flight with their own vision for the Ranch. From turkeys to chickens, and now the best organic chickens in the country and the highest quality fertilizer, Kevin and Patricia have brought the family tradition into a new age of agricultural operations.
Now Kevin and Patty's youngest daughter, Elizabeth Tenborg, DVM, has joined in the family tradition and is ensuring that the ranch's promise of producing the best agricultural products continues to be honored and fulfilled by her 4th generation of farmers and for all of our customers across the United States.