From the left, Cody Nicholson Stratton, aka the Unorthodox Farm Daddy of TikTok. Courtesy of HeyAlma.I swear that in my life, the universe works in incredibly clever ways. Recently, after nearly two years of eating plant-based foods, I made the decision to return to meat and dairy again for health reasons. One of the central reasons I stopped eating animals in 2021 was because if you showed me one video or photo of an animal getting killed in a farm or slaughterhouse, I would collapse to my knees. Yes, I’m that kind of animal lover. In retrospect, however, I really didn’t know a lot about farms. I think this weird voice in the back of my head used to say that all farms on the planet were vicious and evil. It’s really not like that. I mean, yes, there are a lot of farms and farming companies that you should avoid, but if you find the right kind of food and dairy which was produced in a healthy, sustainable environment, it’s OK. (Also, I forgot to apologize at the start of this post if you’re reading this and you’re vegan or vegetarian. I’m sorry!)
Now, why the heck am I talking about food and farming? Why am I saying that the universe works in clever ways? Me changing my diet just happened to coincide with discovering this week’s digital media spotlight, TikTok user @UnorthodoxFarmDaddy, aka Cody Nicholson Stratton. With over 160,000 followers and 18,000 on Instagram, he celebrates – in hilarious fashion, I might add – three things: Judaism, farming, and queerness. Best of all, he is a regenerative farmer, meaning that his land and dairy are certified organic and his farm free-range. There’s even more to it than that.
“It’s about soil health, sequestering atmospheric carbon and really improving your land base and tracking that,” he says in an interview with HeyAlma. “We use animal impacts to improve the land and the soils and to increase biodiversity in our plant communities and the wildlife habitats.”
And you know what? He’s not one of those evil-looking slaughterers I had envisioned in my plant-based mind. Together with his husband, Thomas, one of the objectives is to treat the animals as humanely as possible.
“And tsa’ar ba’alei chayim, the idea of not inflicting harm on animals, is in everything we do,” he says. “We’re taking that life to sustain our community, but there should be value in it. It shouldn’t just be a rote mechanical act.”
Amen, Cody!
So yes, me learning about this user couldn’t have come at a better time in my life. Unorthodox Farm Daddy is one of the most original TikTok accounts I’ve seen in a while, and I absolutely love it. Typically dressed in jeans, a hat, and a pride t-shirt, Cody loves to sing and dance to pop classics in his videos, all the while doing “farm things,” like shearing sheep’s fur, watering chickens, or riding a tractor. He plays around a lot with his phone, but he celebrates two things that so many people are still ill towards: Judaism and queerness. (Trigger/curse word warning: check out this outrageous video of Cody responding to an antisemitic comment someone made towards him.)
This is, unfortunately, nothing new to queer or Jewish digital content creators. These apps are free-range (no pun intended), and anyone can say anything disgusting. Cody’s content, however, is less about reacting to the backlash and more about exploring the interconnectedness between Judaism and agriculture.
“If you look at Torah from an agricultural perspective, there is a lot there that informs us as to how we should farm, how we should treat animals and wildlife and our communities,” he says. “And it’s surprising how many common practices are Torah even just within agricultural communities.”
Indeed, when you think about it, there are so many mitzvot that farmers do in their day-to-day jobs. A “mitzvah,” if you’re unfamiliar with the term, is basically a Jewish term for a “good deed.” Put that together with farming. How do we get our food? From farmers’ good deeds. It sounds obvious, of course, but many of us forget about how grateful we should be to people like Cody, good-hearted souls sweating through dirt and mud to put plates of food on our tables.
There’s also the fact that Judaism, as well as other religions, is a naturally agricultural holiday. Were the first Jews in the world commuting to cities and working in large buildings? I don’t think so. They were nomads working in new field after new field, raising their own farms and communities. In addition, how are the Jewish holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot related? They’re harvest festivals, holidays that remind us of the Jews who relied on agrarian means as a way to survive. And there’s also Tu BiShvat, aka “Jewish Earth Day.” Judaism is so agricultural! I could go on.
It’s great to see someone as original as Cody on our phones, an intelligent but also really funny guy who is so proud to be who he is. With his husband, Cody runs Foggy Bottoms Boys, a sixth-generation organic dairy farm that has been around since the 1860s. Located in Eel River Valley in Northern California, it’s also the hilarious nickname for the couple.
Cody and Thomas, the latter of whom appears in many of his husband’s content, also have a son named Silas, an adorable boy who especially loves holding chickens. (In one video, he sits a live chicken in his car seat.) While Cody identifies as a Reform Jew, Thomas is not.
“We always joke that Thomas is Jew-ish. Basically, he’s here for the latkes,” says Cody.
Cody was not exactly raised religiously, but he started becoming more observant after dating a Jewish man in college. After the 2018 tragedy at the Tree of Life synagogue, he grew even closer with his religion, compelling himself to wear a kippah while working on the farm.
“There are not a lot of observant Jews in agriculture. And the visibility is really important, whether you’re queer or Jewish or a member of any minority group,” he says. “And so being outwardly Jewish by wearing the kippah gives you that visibility.”
Although he’s more observant, Cody and his family need to occasionally “break the rules.” They attend virtual Kabbalat Shabbat services but can’t be shomer Shabbos (not working during Shabbat) since their animals need to be taken care of on Saturdays. Nevertheless, and despite living 45 minutes away from their closest synagogue in the small county of Humboldt, the family still celebrates Judaism in all its beautiful ways, including all its holidays.
Unorthodox Farm Daddy technically started as the channel for his and Thomas’s business, Foggy Bottoms Boys. Once COVID lockdown happened, Cody started baking challah on his Instagram, like many of us, before changing Foggy Bottoms Boys into a more informal, personal Unorthodox Farm Daddy. He’s a funny TikTok user, dancing and lip-syncing while riding a tractor in many videos, but more than that, he’s such a positive guy. There will forever be haters in this world, but as a proud-loving Jew and gay man, Cody knows that every one of us is beautiful. I’ll end this post with a beautiful quote of his.
“I think if we are all made in God’s image, we are all unique, we’re all inherently worthy of love and of acceptance,” he says. “That’s the way that I see the value in all of us. We’re all unique, beautiful individuals.”
Learn more about Foggy Bottoms Boys at FoggyBottomsBoys.com.
Follow Unorthodox Farm Daddy on TikTok and Instagram.