“I have developed actual relationships with my customers because it is farming. It is such a small world at the end of the day and all of my customers are either friends or family to me at some point in time. Even customers from previous banks, we still talk and we still have that relationship because you’re in farming and I feel like everybody’s the same in the agriculture community. They’re good people and they’re honest people and they want to help everybody. And I think that’s just agriculture in general.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kaitlyn Niemeyer Burks. Kaitlyn is Head of Ag Lending at a bank in Missouri. At home, Kaitlyn is a 4th generation farmer and she shares that being a banker and having farmers as customers, while wasn’t her original plan, it is her way of helping her family farm and staying connected to agriculture and people in the ag industry. Kaitlyn gives some insight on new trends she is seeing in younger generations of farmers as well as some tips for starting farmers. Kaitlyn also shares about her passion for helping her customers throughout their farming journey.

“I learned a lot about who I was and who I was capable of being and that was just an awesome experience.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Camarie Roorda. Camarie and her family have been involved in agriculture and the rodeo industry for years and Camarie shares about her journey in rodeo. Camarie’s experience in rodeo helped spark her two businesses, the Performance Pony Company and RodeoKids. Camarie explains why she finds it important to invest in kids and help cultivate their passion for ag and rodeo.

“I think that it’s important for consumers to know that when you are in a rural area you cannot receive the same products, sometimes at all.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ashley Comeau. Ashley and her husband, Adam, are the current owners of Brant’s Meat Market in rural Kansas. Brant’s Meat Market has been in operation for over 100 years and Ashley talks about the history of the store and the Brant family and the processes they had in place to run the meat market. While still wanting to hold and honor traditions of the family and the store, Ashley and Adam also want to expand their customer reach and opportunities the meat market is able to fulfill. Ashley also shares about opening a second location and the highs and lows that came with a second store. Ashley and Adam love working with their community to provide high quality meat as well as local meat.

“That is where when you are starting a new business, you have those challenges. You have to think around the corner. You have to think, ‘I know what I want, now how can I explain it to someone who’s never met me?’”  

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Brad Fourby of Leafy Green Farms. Brad’s farm is unique and innovative. Situated in Southeast Kansas, Brad is able to grow his leafy green vegetables year round using climate-controlled shipping containers. Brad shares how his farm got started and the challenges he faced, like getting the bank to believe in his vision like he did. Brad also shares about ventures getting small farms like his into schools to not only help the students but their families and the community as well.  

“So there’s a fine line and balance that needs to happen and I know that Texas is good about having those conversations and cattle raisers are active in those conversations and trying to make sure that both sides win and come out with what they need, but that we’re preserving this heritage of these families that have put countless hours and generations into feeding not just America but the world a lot of times.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jana Earp. Jana and I covered quite a few topics in our conversation. Jana talked about her efforts to educate students about where their food comes from. Jana also shared about posting her outfit of the day online. She had lots of corporate wear and wanted to dress in more western clothing and how she incorporates some corporate attire into her everyday western, comfortable outfits. Jana also opened up about her health tragedy that happened and how she needed to go back to the farm to slow down because of what happened.

Don’t forget to join our Facebook group, Farming On Purpose, to enter for our one year anniversary giveaways, check out our merch for the podcast, to share your stories, and support other farmers and ranchers.

“It’s a balancing act of just being your authentic self and figuring that out. As humans we are always evolving, interests change, stages of life change, all of those things. If you look at what I shared 6 or 7 years ago, it’s still the same basis of agriculture but I have changed a lot myself.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Andrea Flemming. You might know Andrea better as That Fit Agvocate. During our chat, Andrea opened up about her mental health and how fitness started out as an outlet for her anxiety and stress, but evolved into a new lifestyle and career. Andrea also shared about adding more to her plate like adding apparel to her website and doing brand collaborations, and transitioning to a full time fitness coach, then shifting to agriculture advocate. One of Andrea’s passions is farming and ranching with her family, and she talked about what that looks like for her as well as how hard it is to expand the farm with factors like land prices hindering growth.

Don’t forget to join our Facebook group, Farming On Purpose, to enter for our one year anniversary giveaways, check out our merch for the podcast, to share your stories, and support other farmers and ranchers.

“I think it’s all just a balancing act and just trying to put a pencil to it. We do a lot of penciling because we’re new at this, we’re figuring it out. So what works for our neighbor may not work for us because they’re in a different situation than we are and that’s ok.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jess Trask of Perigo Hay and Cattle. Jess shared about her experience on her family’s hay farm and why they decided to get involved in the cattle industry. Not having a background in cattle, Jess had quite the learning curve to figuring out how to manage their cattle operation. Jess also talked about the importance in learning and always being open to learn new things and adapt. Getting stuck in traditions or how things are always done can be dangerous for a farm or ranch’s success. Jess dropped an exclusive look into a new project they have in the works!

“I think there are still a lot of questions about what the future of the farm is going to look like and what we’re going to do with it. People want to be involved and I’m honestly really grateful for that, that they feel so proud of the family farm, that they want to see things do well and see it succeed and be the beautiful place that they remember it being.”

For this week’s episode, I wanted to share our farm transition story. In past episodes I mentioned our move and a little about our farm transition, but today I wanted to dive deeper into what that move looked like for our family. I talked about our previous acreage that we bought not long after getting married and the downside of that property. After deciding we needed to move to expand our operation, I shared about our farm shopping experience. Then when we wanted to move forward purchasing my husband’s family farm, there was a lot that went into making that possible as well as renovations that have happened and are still in progress on the family farm. Now we are getting settled and into new routines and continuing to make progress on our forever homestead and farm.

“I would say the biggest thing is, you definitely have to put your ego aside and your pride and just know that you’re going to do things wrong and you will learn so much more from doing them wrong than doing them right.”  

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kristin Harms. Kristin shared about the transition she and her husband made from having careers outside of agriculture to having active roles in her family’s Red Angus seedstock operation. Sometimes in agriculture, you have to be creative; Kristin shared some tools they use in their operation that are not ag or business specific. Some of you may know Kristin as The Basic Ranch Mom on Instagram. Kristin talked about the importance of having that page and why she started it.  

“I had to learn everything the hard way. I was going to the library all the time when I had time to do that. I’m listening to podcasts all the time. I’m trying to network with people like you and find people on social media and compare and just join all these groups where you can ask questions. That’s really how you get through it; you’ve got to find people who are willing to share their knowledge with you and that’ll save you some of the heartache.” 

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tiffany Baxter, owner of Backyard Butchery.  Tiffany talked about how she started her fully mobile butcher shop and some of the obstacles she had to overcome. Tiffany also shared what her farm operation looks like and her plans to expand the farm to hold more animals. Tiffany was very open about sharing what has and hasn’t worked for her, obstacles with Backyard Butchery as well as her own farm operation.   

“Having a game plan is going to save you time and money in the long run.” 

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Thea Larsen. Thea opened up about how motherhood changes you and how the help you need as a mom isn’t always logistical. Thea also talked about being a ranch wife and working with your loved ones. Her words of wisdom that confrontation doesn’t have to be conflict and communication are important to maintain healthy and functional relationships with your co-workers that are also your family members. Thea shared about the group she started for rural and western women called Cowgirls Over Coffee, the purpose of which is for women to find their tribe of other women to learn from and lean on.  

“I love the marketing work that I do. I love solving the problems I get to solve for all the different clients and all the different capacities that I work with. I love that variety.”

For this week’s episode, I wanted to share my story with you! In most of my previous episodes we got to hear stories from people that have inspired me and I thought it was time to give you a little more insight into my life. I talked about how I started freelancing in college and the jobs I had after graduation. With a young and growing family, I knew I needed to make a career change that more aligned with our goals as a farming family. The transition to being self-employed was scary and full of challenges but for me, was completely worth it. Now our current season of life feels like a dream come true and I’m so excited to continue to share our family’s journey with you all!

“Stress plays just as big of role as if I were to take every chemical out of my home because that is one more thing that I have to do, that I’m worried about, that’s increasing my anxiety, increasing my cortisol level and I already know that I’m at-risk for cancer and diabetes and both of those are connected to stress.”  

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Bailee Cooper. Bailee is a licensed and registered dietitian and she explained some of her research and a published article she wrote. A big topic in our discussion was food trends. We discussed what food trends have come and gone and Bailee explains why it’s important to have certain foods in your diet. Bailee also highlighted that stress is something you want to avoid because high cortisol levels can wreak havoc on your body and organs. 

“You’re helping your neighbor. You’re keeping your community going and you’re helping your neighbor and that’s just awesome.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Sammy Gleason. My path has crossed with Sammy’s a few times personally and professionally so it was fun to get to have her on the podcast. Sammy is the marketing manager for the From the Land of Kansas program at the Kansas Department of Agriculture and she shared what it is that she does and what the program does to help farmers, growers, and producers in Kansas. Sammy also dove into some of the benefits of being a member of From the Land of Kansas and how to become a member. If that is something you are interested in learning more about, check out the From the Land of Kansas website or reach out to the office. Also, don’t forget to check out some of the upcoming events Sammy mentioned to help support local Kansas farmers, growers, and producers.  

“We like to consider ourselves a one-stop-shop, which I think is a phrase I probably started in agriculture marketing that a lot of places use now. To give an idea, we had a customer call and say they forgot to pick up donuts and asked if we could stop and bring donuts, and we said, ‘Yep’. We want to be the call they make and we want to provide that service.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Karoline Rose Bohannan. I have known and worked with Karoline for years and it was so fun to have her be on the podcast. Karoline shared the how and why behind the three businesses she’s started so far as well as why it is important for her and her businesses to help the next generation of farmers and ranchers. There’s always lots to do as a business owner and Karoline gave some insight on how she tackles her to-do list.

“I think it’s good to review every once in a while and make sure that the daily routine that we have matches up with our priorities and how we actually want to spend our time on a day to day basis.”

For this week’s episode, I switched things up a bit and am flying solo. Seeing lots of moms, ranch moms, farm moms, etc. on social media, it’s hard not to compare their life to yours, and that comparison is something I wanted to talk about. While I don’t think it is fair to you to compare yourself to another mom on social media because we don’t get to see the behind-the-scenes to her life, comparison can be beneficial in a different way. Being able to hear someone else’s story and how they tackle everyday challenges gives you an opportunity to potentially try something new or see a new way to handle an obstacle. I hope listening to my typical daily routine gives you an opportunity to try something new or I would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions for me!

“I think understanding how things are grown and letting the farmer tell you will calm a lot of the fears placed in people by the major corporations.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rick McNary. Rick used to be a pastor and had the chance to go to Nicaragua on a mission trip. His experience from that trip sparked a passion to connect more people with food. Rick shared how he and his wife started Shop Kansas Farms as a way to give people access to locally grown/produced food and help people learn where their food comes from. Rick also discussed the Harvest Hub project in Rice county, another project to connect people with local food and products.

“I still would like to share stories for rural women written by rural women because I feel like it brings people together and makes us feel like we’re not alone in our situation. We live a very unique lifestyle, like it’s one thing to be a mom or a wife, but it’s a whole other added thing to be a farm wife or mom, or a ranch wife or mom. We literally live where we work and work where we live.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jesse Thompson. To me, Jesse feels like a kindred spirit so it was such a joy to listen to her story and hear about her season of life. Jesse shared about her experiences as a ranch wife and mom and the changes she went through from growing up on her family “franch” to her ranch now with her husband and children. Jesse also talked about the joy cooking brings her and why she tries to make as much as she can from scratch. Being a ranch wife and mom is no simple task, especially while also having a job off the ranch, so Jesse shares a few methods that work for her to keep her household running.

“It’s great that we get to bring in Michael’s family’s experience and we’re taking building blocks from that family, but we’re also passing on lessons. With every experience comes a lesson.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jordan Farquhar. Jordan and her husband Michael farm in rural Alberta, Canada with Michael’s family. Jordan shared what farm succession looks like for them and the key to a smooth transition is communication. Jordan explained what their current cattle operation looks like and how they plan to expand and grow their herd. Growing up, Jordan did not have much exposure to farm life until she met Michael and now she’s a part time farmer and soon to be mom to raise the next generation on their family farm.

“I’m a big fan of ‘and’ instead of ‘but’. So it’s ok to say that was incredibly traumatic and I’m incredibly grateful for how it all happened and all the blessings.”

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Michaela Gasseling. Michaela talked about some of her big life events, like being an ultrasound technician, then her and her husband deciding to move back to his family’s farm, and her emergency brain surgery after the birth of her fourth child. Michaela also shared the perspective shift that came after her recovery and how that has shaped the life she lives now.