KEELINE - Call it a tractor-seat inspiration.

The many hours Kevin Gaukel of Keeline spends on a tractor give him time to think.

On their 3,500 acres in eastern Wyoming, the Gaukels raise cattle. They also grow hard red winter wheat and a little hay.

But staying in agriculture is often a struggle for a young family. So as Kevin works the soil from his tractor seat, his thoughts sometimes turn to the survival economics of farm and ranch life.

It was during one such reverie that Kevin hit upon the idea of a value-added business: The family could finish their hard red winter wheat into a variety of baking mixes to make extra cash.

"I'd been farming pretty much all summer, and looking at the crop we were producing, and kinda realized that what I was producing wasn't what the consumer really wanted," he said.

So Kevin and his wife, Julie, created two bread mixes - one for a whole wheat bread and another for a raisin bread - at a time bread machines were in vogue. They also created a pancake mix.

Like a meadowlark that refuses to be silenced by a heavy wind, the Gaukel family has been undeterred; they are using their combined ingenuity and strength to remain on the land.

Cattle are the biggest component of the family income, but driving a school bus and tree planting also are part of the equation. Meanwhile, Gaukel Grown and Ground, which was started in 1999, has come on strong.

"I haven't figured last year in, but we've been experiencing between a 20 percent and 30 percent growth from the first year we started," Kevin said. "We've done really well."

Gaukel Grown and Ground now offers 11 products, including mixes for specialty breads and muffins, cereal, and "Bouquet of Flours" gift sets.

The wheat is stone-ground and considered all natural. The Gaukels don't use herbicides, pesticides or fumigants to produce their wheat.

This is truly a family business. The Gaukels grow the grain, harvest it, clean it, grind it and package it. The youngest members of the Gaukel clan - Kaitlin, 11, Kylee, 9, and Kaden, 7 - busy themselves with sewing and labeling colorful cloth bags.

"They're very good at checking each others' work," Julie said.

Sometimes, when orders are backed up, Julie said everyone is invited to engage in a bit of "forced family fun," which might even mean drawing in grandma and grandpa.

Their customers seem almost like part of an extended family. "People are wanting to buy closer to home," Julie said. "They're wanting to know who's growing their grains. They're wanting to know where their food source comes from."

"We do face-to-face still," she added. "It's very important for people to see who is handling their food products."

So the Gaukels attend big shows like the Denver Merchandise Mart as well as local farmers' markets. They also sell on the Internet.

Frequently, people receive gifts sets during the holidays, then become repeat customers as they reorder. Gift sets have been shipped across the United States, and to such distant locations as Great Britain and the Czech Republic. Top sellers are pancake, muffin and Italian herb bread mixes.

Julie sees a bright future for Gaukel Grown and Ground. "We already have requests for five new products," she said. "So we are in the process of trying to develop those recipes now, and to get those on the market as soon as possible."

She anticipates a day may come when what started as a tractor-time notion could become a primary source of income, with finished baked goods and even a storefront.

"It has been great," she said. "It's very exciting to see it grow."

For their efforts, the Gaukel family recently was recognized as the Small Business Administration's 2007 National Home-based Business Champion of the Year. They were presented the award in Washington, D.C., in April.

Business Editor Tom Mast can be reached at tom.mast@casperstartribune.net, or call 307-266-0574.