“ So yeah the balance of the family and the business and the farming and all that, just trying to get more systematic and efficient so that we can balance it all.”
Growing up on a farm shapes who you become. For Abby Bowser, it planted the seeds for a future she couldn't have predicted. Today, she and her husband Brooks run Bowser Family Farms, a regenerative cattle operation in Southern Michigan, where they've found their own path in agriculture.
“I think the most important thing is focusing on what our priorities are, because those priorities give us a purpose even when goals become unattainable or the course shifts or something happens in life that changes our trajectory. If we know what our priorities are. We can choose to focus on those every single day.”
“Some years you're going to make more money than other years and I think as long as you don't outpace your budget, then you'll end up being just fine.”
Starting to farm isn't easy, especially when you're juggling a full-time job. But for Brenna Beard, a beginning farmer from central Indiana, the pull of continuing her family's 200-year farming legacy was too strong to ignore.
“Teaching classes and being able to plant the seed itself for other people to get excited for things that have been lost in our generation has also just been something that has brought tons of happiness and joy.”
City girl turned farmer Jessica Lewis shares how she built Back to Roots Farm in Thomasville, Georgia, starting with bottle baby goats and growing into a thriving business teaching homesteading skills. With her seven-year-old daughter already sharing her passion for farming, Jessica shows how starting small and being willing to pivot when markets change can lead to success in agriculture, even without prior experience.
