From the time that he was just a pup on his parent's farm, Cole was very talented when it came to agriculture.  Normally, Cole would help out his mother (a silver vixen) in the corn fields, while his father (a human) tended to the livestock**.  Cole lived on his parents' farm until his senior year in high school, until the family received a call from Gibbon.  It was Cole's aunt (his mother's sister), she was calling because Cole's grandfather (another silver fox) had been kicked in the face by a horse while he was trying to hook up an old-fashioned plow to it and that he was injured so severely that he had been taken to HCMC in Minneapolis.  By the time Cole, his parents and aunt arrived at the hospital; his grandfather was lying in bed with a halo neck brace.  And even though the Vulpine anatomy is similar to that of a human (at least internally), there was nothing the doctor's could do about a broken neck.  Although Cole's grandfather had survived the blow, he would end up spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair.  This was a real problem for him because he loved working on the farm that he owned in Gibbon and didn't want to give it up.  After being released from the hospital a few days later, it was time to make a decision.  Cole's grandfather didn't want to sell his beloved farm, so he decided to leave it to his family, but to whom?...Cole's parent's already owned a farm and his aunt lived in St. Paul and didn't want anything to do with farming (although she did come to visit on occasion for the family's sake).  So he made the decision to leave the farm to someone who loved working in the fields as much as he did, Cole.

 

Cole spent the rest of his senior year between his parents' farm and his grandfather's farm.  And by the time he graduated, Cole was on his own, raising the crops that his grandfather planted before the accident and selling the horse to a free-range ranch near Willmar (about 100 miles W of Minneapolis) and replacing it with a John Deere tractor, he did keep his grandfather's plow however and still has it to this day.  Over the next 2 years, Cole began raising more crops and livestock on the farm.  With the help of his grandfather's advice, Cole learned how to get eggs from a chicken while not scaring the daylights out of them (because he's a fox***).  As the farm grew, it became more difficult for Cole to maintain it by himself, so he went to various towns nearby to hire additional help.  Last season, with all the help he received, the farm saw it's most bountiful harvest ever.  Unfortunately, by this time, his grandfather had succumb to his injury and was unable to see the celebration that was held that October after not only an excellent growing season, but also to celebrate Cole's recent marriage to Carol...but that's all I'm gonna say about that, you'll hafta go to Act 2 to find out more about Cole and Carol.

 

End of Act 1