“My dad taught me at a young age to love the land,” said Mulliniks. “Then I traveled around the world and
started to realize how special this place is and how much we take for granted.”
Mulliniks was born and raised in Marshall County and has spent thousands of hours roaming the countryside around his parents’ farm in Talley Station and his grandparents’ farm in Delina. Over time, he purchased land around them and starting thinking about how to manage the farms in a way that was consistent
with his life philosophy.
Mulliniks graduated from Marshall County High School and attended Rhodes College in Memphis, a
prestigious Presbyterian institution, where he majored in international economics with a minor in Japanese studies. He spent three years working for the Japanese Consulate in Japan. He came home, married
his lovely wife Allison and they had two children, Joseph, now 13 and Annabelle, 9. He decided to settle here
even though his experience and skills made it possible for him to work anywhere in the world. He is now director of sales and marketing for CalsonicKansei, a Japanese company that has facilities in Lewisburg and
Shelbyville.
“I’m really lucky that I have a good job,” said Mulliniks. “My wife and I felt this would be a good thing for
a lot of reasons, not the least of which is a great tax benefit.”
While the tax benefit helps and his children will have highly sought after hardwoods to sell, the trees
represent much more than future profits or savings on taxes.
“I just stand up here and I look around and think, if someone doesn’t do something, there won’t be anything left,” said Mulliniks. “You know how people always say, there’s another hill over there? Well, that’s
what a lot of people said in a lot of places and now there are no more hills there.”
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The first straining of the honey from the extractor.