#Pol #Wateren #son #building #gigantic #family #farm #Michigan
Veterinarian Dr Pol was one of the first professionals to become the subject of an unscripted reality show in 2011. “It was my son Charles who came up with the idea, he is the producer.”
Dr Pol is now 81 and, in front of the camera, he joins forces with the same son Charles to transform 350 hectares of undeveloped land into a real family farm in The incredible Pol Farm (National Geographic).
Jan-Harm Pol, originally from the Netherlands, specializes in livestock and has now looked into the mouths of around half a million patients. Viewers in forty countries worldwide walk away with the veterinarian known for his pragmatic approach. Why do it expensively when you can do it cheaply? He still works 14 hours a day in rural Michigan, where, after studying veterinary medicine, he interned as a young farmer’s son from Wateren and met his great love in 1961 and never left.
He has now lived in the American town of Weidman for decades, but he still loves our kitchen. “We like to eat a Bouncer here,” he says in Dutch over Zoom. “Slice of ham and an egg on top. They don’t have that here, but they do have scrambled eggs. My wife Diane also makes stew a few times a month. I don’t miss anything else, except maybe tasty treats. But we have a store here that sells Dutch Gouda. I don’t have much licorice with me anyway.” He still visits our country regularly. “For the last time in 2022. My brother unfortunately passed away.”
Dr Pol has been looking for a successor in front of the camera and he was found… in his own practice. “The person we had in mind in the program later decided not to emigrate,” says the TV doctor. “However, my employee Dr Olivia is cut from the same cloth as me, she is the perfect candidate to take over the practice in the long term.” Then laughing: “But I hate sitting still, so they’re still a long way from getting rid of me. My work is my hobby and I still learn every day.”
Charles
Son Charles does not fully understand the Dutch language. “I speak a little Dutch, but I understand it better than I speak it.” Dr Pol: “We tried to teach it to the children, but it is a difficult language. My wife Diana speaks it fluently. We lived together in the Netherlands for three years.”
Charles turned his father into the star he has been for years and recently came up with the idea of starting something new: a reality series about starting a farm, in which he plays the leading role with his family. Charles takes over the conversation in English: “I never wanted to be on television like that, but it turned out this way. I mainly do it to inspire others to come into contact with nature more. You don’t have to have a farm at all, you can also do a lot in a garden. The idea started for me when I saw all those empty shelves during Covid and, as a father of two young children, I realized that it is better to be self-sufficient. I also think it is important that I introduce my children to farm life and that they learn where the food comes from and help on the farm.”
Dr Pol agrees: “You have to give children responsibility from an early age, that’s how we did it with our children. If you take an animal into your home, they will learn this automatically.”
