From Cartoons to Crops: Matthew Ruhter’s Unexpected Farming Adventure
By Rebecca Rachel Moody
Black Bear Farm sits on twenty-eight acres of land in Paonia, Colorado. Formerly known as Agape Farm and Retreat, the property once served as a bed and breakfast for visitors to the agricultural community sandwiched between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs. During the pandemic, the bed and breakfast shuttered its doors permanently before it was sold a year later to a family that wanted to utilize the property as a private residence as well as a commercial farm.
On this property, hay, sunflowers, tomatoes, apples, and goji berries are grown. But the farm’s star-player crop is the humble grape. So much so that the farm has a contract with two local wineries that have each produced several award-winning wines. The farm also specializes in livestock, specifically the breeding of sheep. And of course, no visit to Black Bear Farm is complete without trying some fresh eggs, courtesy of the robust hen population.
Today’s interview subject is actually someone I have known for far longer than I have known any of the interview subjects featured so far. That’s because he’s my younger brother! Matthew Ruhter has been working and living on our family’s farm since 2021 when our mom bought the property. Here, Matthew and our sister Amanda work hard to raise food for the local community. While visiting my family, I decided to sit down and ask Matthew how he enjoys farmwork. This was especially exciting for me considering I have not really had the opportunity to interview any blue-collar workers for this series.
Having known Matthew all his life, I was genuinely surprised that the boy who loved making music and watching cartoons was working and thriving in an environment that seems like a stark contrast to his interests. After all, when we were still in college, Matthew had a very successful animation commentary channel on YouTube. For a while, he was even able to monetize his content on the platform for a small amount of money.
However, when I sat down to catch up with my brother during my visit to the farm, I learned that autistic individuals don’t necessarily need to pursue a career related to their special interests to lead a fulfilling life.
RM: Tell us a little bit about what it is you do for a living.
MR: I’m a farmer! I take care of the sheep, I take care of the chickens, and I also take care of the grapevines and some of the other outdoor stuff like harvesting tomatoes and apples.
RM: What’s a typical day in the life of a farmer?
MR: I usually get up at around nine. I spend an hour with my family before I grab something to eat for breakfast before I start on my indoor chores, which usually consist of cleaning up after the cats and giving them and the dogs their medicine. Then I go outside and start the farm work. Most days, I’m out there from eleven in the morning to five or six o’clock in the evening. Usually, I do stuff like tending the grape vineyards, such as pruning the vines back or watering them. After I work outside, I make dinner, work on my own stuff for a while like my music and my YouTube channel, and then I head to bed.
RM: Switching gears a little bit, how old were you when you were identified as neurodivergent, and tell us a little bit about that.
MR: So I was diagnosed with autism at around four years old. When I was three years old, I still wasn’t speaking properly, if at all. I really hadn’t learned how to talk. Mom had her suspicions that I was autistic, so she had me put in a special head-start program for about a year before I started school. When that year was up, the teacher referred Mom to a clinic in San Bernardino, California, and that’s when I was diagnosed with autism.
RM: How would you say your job supports your neurotype?
MR: For the most part, I get to pick and choose my hours instead of being expected to get up super early every morning. Also, as long as the work gets done, Amanda and I decide amongst ourselves which jobs we want to split between us on the farm. This is one of the few jobs I can think of where I have a voice and a lot of say in the matter as far as tasks I want to accomplish during my workday.
RM: Just for fun, tell our readers a little bit about your special interests! Here’s your chance to go nuts!
MR: Are you really sure you want me to answer that? I have about five special interests, so we could babble on and on all day about them! So, my special interests are electronic music. Specifically bass house, complextro, uplifting trance, dubstep, raw style, and drum and bass. Second special interest would have to be anything involving animation, specifically western animation, and especially anything produced by Cartoon Network. Third special interest would be iPod collecting. I got really into that after watching a fellow YouTuber called DankPods. My fourth special interest is reality TV game shows like Big Brother and The Circle. My fifth special interest is video games, specifically Super Mario Bros. I love the villains, especially the Kooplings, specifically Lemmy Koopa.
RM: Now this is very interesting, because your special interests have absolutely nothing to do with what you do for a living! How do you reconcile that?
MR: Even though my special interests don’t relate to farming, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t like farming! I think being out in nature every day, especially doing tasks that require a lot of really daunting physical labor, is actually a very good mental break for me.
RM: I can imagine being out in the open fields every day while working on a farm would be very supportive to one’s sensory health. Would you say that’s true?
MR: It is!
RM: In what ways?
MR: First of all, I get to listen to my own music whenever I want as I’m working. Not a lot of jobs let you do that! I get to enjoy the outside instead of spending all day in my room or in an office. Even though it would be nice to have more days where I could just focus on my special interests, I also feel like from time to time I need to take a break from my special interests to recuperate.
RM: From what it sounds like, it doesn’t sound like you have any regrets about not pursuing your special interests as a career.
MR: Yeah, I don’t really have any major issues about not pursuing any career related to my special interests. However, when it comes to music, I am slowly but surely trying to work on making my own music. I don’t know if that’s something I’d want to do on a professional level or if it’s something I’d want to eventually make money off of.
RM: You never know! It took Chappelle Roan ten years to finish and release her album, and now she’s an MTV Video Music Awards winner! Do you have any advice for neurodivergent folks who might want to pursue a career in farming?
MR: Communication in this job is just as important as it is in any other job. I’m lucky I work with family, and s if I need a break, I just tell Mom or Amanda. But since most people are not working with their families, I would say that any accommodations you need on the job should be discussed right away. That doesn’t just go for autistic people. That also goes for neurotypical individuals who have any conditions where they might need accommodations.
RM: So even in 2024, some people still have this outdated and elitist idea that blue-collar work is “lesser” than white-collar work. I’ve also met people who hold this outdated idea that autistic people are only suitable for blue-collar work. As an autistic blue-collar worker, is there anything you’d like to say to that?
MR: Autistic or not, one thing people need to realize about blue-collar work is that we are the backbone of society. We make civilized life possible for everyone else, and more people need to realize this. Without us, you guys can’t eat! And if autistic people feel called to do blue-collar work and it’s something they genuinely like doing, then there shouldn’t be any shame in it!