#137: Building a Farmstead Business One Step at a Time
“You don’t have to be on one end of the spectrum or the other. It’s okay to find the middle ground.”
This episode of Farming on Purpose features a conversation with Ali Lightfoot of Lightfoot Farmstead in Tennessee. Ali is a high school math teacher, first-generation farmer, mother, educator, and co-owner of a growing direct-to-consumer farm business alongside her husband, Wesley.
What started as a simple desire to feed their own family has steadily grown into a thriving operation producing beef, pork, chicken, eggs, jams, jellies, and more — all while balancing full-time jobs, raising children, and building a business largely during evenings and weekends.
But what makes their story especially unique isn’t just the scale they’ve achieved. It’s how they’ve done it: through consistency, creativity, education, and a willingness to meet customers where they are.
And yes — through a bright blue converted school bus turned mobile farm store.
From No Farming Background to Farmstead Life
Ali didn’t grow up in agriculture.
After moving from Georgia to Tennessee during high school, she met Wesley, whose family had been farming for generations. At the time, Ali thought her future was simple: earn her math degree, teach high school for 30 years, and live a fairly traditional life.
Farming wasn’t part of the original plan.
But after getting married, buying their first home, and settling onto eight acres, something shifted. What started with a garden and a few chickens gradually evolved into something much bigger.
They added a milk cow. Then beef cattle. Then pigs. Then meat chickens. Then a customer base.
The more they learned about food production and self-sufficiency, the more they realized they wanted to build something that could feed not just their own family, but others too.
How COVID Accelerated Local Food Demand
Like many direct-to-consumer farms, Lightfoot Farmstead saw major changes beginning in 2020.
As grocery store shortages became more common, more consumers started asking questions about where their food came from and how it was raised. What had once been a small side business selling extra eggs suddenly turned into growing demand for beef, pork, chicken, and other products.
But growth didn’t happen overnight.
Ali shares how their operation scaled slowly and intentionally over several years. Their first meat chicken batch was only around 200 birds. Now they’re producing approximately 1,400 meat chickens annually alongside beef, pork, eggs, and other products.
The growth came one step at a time — testing systems, improving efficiency, and listening carefully to customer demand.
Building a USDA Processing Facility — and Losing It
One of the biggest turning points in their journey came when they built a USDA-inspected beef and pork processing facility on family land.
The facility allowed them to process animals themselves, control product quality, create specialty products, and operate a storefront where customers could shop directly.
For a while, the family went all in.
Ali stepped away from teaching. Wesley left his full-time job. Their days revolved entirely around processing, farming, and serving customers.
Then in July of 2023, the processing facility caught fire and burned.
The loss forced difficult conversations about whether continuing the business even made sense anymore.
Without the facility, they suddenly became dependent on outside processors again — including long drives, scheduling limitations, and losing some control over product presentation and timelines.
But instead of walking away completely, their customer base rallied behind them and encouraged them to keep going.
The Blue Bus That Changed Everything
After the fire, the family returned to farmers markets using an enclosed trailer setup.
Then a local church offered them an old 1990s school bus for scrap price simply because they wanted it removed from the property.
Originally, Wesley wanted to use it as a hay hauler.
Ali had another idea.
What followed was months of renovation work transforming the school bus into a fully mobile farm store complete with freezers, shopping aisles, checkout space, and branded signage.
Today, the bright cobalt blue bus has become the face of their business throughout the Memphis area.
Customers walk through the front, shop products themselves, and check out at the back — creating an experience that feels personal, memorable, and approachable.
The bus didn’t just solve a logistical problem. It became a branding tool, a conversation starter, and a way to reconnect directly with customers after losing their storefront.
Educating Consumers About Seasonal Food
One of the recurring themes throughout the conversation is education.
Ali spends a significant amount of time explaining why their products are seasonal, why pasture-raised meat costs more, and what different farming practices actually mean.
For example, their meat chickens are rotationally grazed outdoors and fed a non-GMO, corn- and soy-free diet. Because of that, chicken production only happens during warmer months.
Customers often ask why chicken isn’t available year-round like it is in grocery stores.
Those conversations open the door to larger discussions about seasonality, labor, animal care, and what it actually takes to produce food differently.
Ali emphasizes that consumers have largely lost touch with seasonal food production — and helping reconnect people to those realities has become part of their mission.
Building Systems While Working Full-Time
One of the most impressive parts of the Lightfoot Farmstead story is that both Ali and Wesley have continued working full-time jobs throughout most of this growth.
Their days often begin around 5:00 AM and end around 9:30 PM.
Chores happen before work, after work, and throughout weekends. Farmers markets fill Saturdays. Deliveries and farm store hours happen during evenings.
To make it sustainable, they’ve had to build systems everywhere possible:
Automated watering and feeding systems for laying hens
Mobile feed and water setups for meat chickens
Organized processing schedules
Family involvement, including responsibilities for their children
Delivery routes and mobile sales strategies
Ali openly discusses the sacrifices involved — including lost family time, exhaustion, and moments of questioning whether it’s all worth it.
But she also shares that every difficult season eventually brings them back to the same conclusion: yes, it is.
Why Their Chicken Business Has Grown So Quickly
While demand has increased across all their products, chicken has become one of the fastest-growing parts of their business.
Ali believes part of that growth comes from filling a gap in their region. Few farms nearby are producing pasture-raised, rotationally grazed chicken using the feeding practices they’ve chosen.
Their customers consistently ask for more.
That demand has pushed them to nearly double production year after year while still maintaining quality and raising practices they believe in.
Finding the Middle Ground in Food Production
One of the most thoughtful parts of the conversation centers around balance.
Ali explains that Lightfoot Farmstead intentionally tries to exist somewhere in the middle of today’s food conversations.
They are not trying to position themselves as extreme or exclusive. Instead, they focus on producing high-quality food in a way that remains approachable and realistic for everyday families.
Their goal is to create food people can feel good about feeding their children while still keeping it financially accessible when possible.
That perspective has resonated deeply with their customer base.
Teaching Others to Raise Their Own Food
Beyond selling food, Lightfoot Farmstead also teaches processing classes for chickens and pigs.
Rather than treating their methods as proprietary, Ali and Wesley actively encourage others to learn how to raise and process food themselves.
Their classes walk people through:
Brooding chicks
Pasture setups
Rotational grazing systems
Processing techniques
Food preparation and preservation
For Ali, one of the most rewarding moments is receiving messages from students who successfully process their own chickens for the first time.
It represents something bigger than just farming — it represents confidence, self-reliance, and rebuilding lost knowledge around food production.
Building Something Worth Passing Down
At its core, this episode is about building something meaningful one decision at a time.
Not through overnight success. Not through perfect conditions. And not without setbacks.
The Lightfoots have navigated loss, exhaustion, uncertainty, and constant adaptation while continuing to move forward.
Their story is a reminder that sustainable businesses are often built gradually — through consistency, creativity, relationships, and a willingness to keep learning.
And sometimes, through a bright blue school bus rolling through town.
Where to Follow Lightfoot Farmstead
You can follow Ali and Wesley and learn more about Lightfoot Farmstead here:
Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok: @lightfootfarmsteadtn
If you’re near the Memphis area, keep an eye out for the big blue farm bus at local farmers markets and events.
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About the Host of Farming On Purpose, Lexi Wright:
I’m your host, Lexi Wright. I started the Farming on Purpose Podcast from a passion for sharing the future of production agriculture.
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