Grow Getters

New Mexico Dairy Farmer Tara Vander Dussen Is Connecting People to Their Food

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 19:53:21 GMT

When fifth-generation dairy producer Tara Vander Dussen went away to college, she planned to leave farm life behind. Flash forward to today and she finds herself one of the agriculture industry’s most popular ambassadors. Having built quite a reputation — and a big social media following — as the New Mexico Milkmaid, she is an in-demand public speaker as well as co-host of the Discover Ag podcast .

“I think it’s one of those things where you don’t appreciate what you have until you’re removed from it,” she tells Davis Michaelsen on the latest Grow Getters podcast , which focuses on how ag producers are diversifying their operations by starting new businesses. Not that college was a huge step away from her roots — she earned a degree in Soil, Water and Environmental Science. But at the time she didn’t see herself marrying a fifth-generation dairy farmer and raising two daughters on a dairy farm.

Working as an environmental science consultant on farms throughout New Mexico, however, was hardly a side hustle. It was her primary job. She’s also a certified NRCS technical service provider, advising producers on nutrient and irrigation management.

As if her life weren’t diversified enough, in 2016 she started writing a blog, “The New Mexico Milkmaid” and started attracting attention. “I wanted to share about cattle’s role in the environment,” she explains. “The conversation can’t just be carbon in and carbon out. Cattle’s role in our ecosystem is so much more complicated and nuanced than that.” As she phrases it on her website, the blog is her way of “sorting through all the cow manure to share the facts about farming.”

The blog led to social media, which led to public speaking, which led to the Discover Ag podcast, which she co-hosts with fellow influencer (and previous Grow Getters guest ) Natalie Kovarik. Tara says that their shared mission is “to bring agriculture in a new, fun and unconventional way to people outside agriculture.”

For ag producers looking to diversify their operation, she offers, “Clarity comes through action.” Before she and Natalie launched their podcast, they educated themselves, even taking courses on podcasting, and then took the leap. “Sometimes you have to just do your idea and see what happens,” she says. “There are going to be things that change and evolve so keep that perspective.”

Watch the full interview on Grow Getters

Visit Tara’s website: https://taravanderdussen.com

Your Next Read

Nebraska Cattle Rancher Natalie Kovarik Is Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide as a Social Media Influencer
Ohio Farmer’s Six-Figure Side Hustle Earns More Than Her Goat Dairy

Creating A You-Pick Pumpkin Patch In Central Texas Proves Challenging But Rewarding For One Farm Family

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 14:16:28 GMT

For fourth-generation Maryland farmer Taylor Huffman, creating agritourism events to supplement ag income is a way of life. Her parents started diversifying their hay operation 25 years ago with a corn maze and, eventually, a u-pick pumpkin patch that featured a cannon for “pumpkin chunkin’.

When her father passed away in 2013, Taylor and her husband bought the property, continuing to farm as well as host seasonal events, which grew in popularity and complexity. At the height of the pandemic, their fall festival drew 30,000 visitors. Why, then, did the Huffmans decide to move 1,400 miles away to West, Texas, and start over?

“The main reason we came to Texas is the lack of regulation and the freedom to be creative and come up with businesses,” Taylor tells Davis Michaelsen on the latest episode of Grow Getters , a podcast that showcases how farmers are diversifying their operations. “We sold it all and moved here and left behind a lot of opportunity, but Covid made us realize we want to be in place of freedom and opportunity.”

The move required at least 10 long trips, some of which included two trucks pulling trailers. But hauling all of their equipment and belongings halfway across the country was a breeze compared to transporting the farm’s agritourism business model.

“Growing up in Maryland, there were orchards and u-pick strawberries and blueberries and on-farm creameries and just so many opportunities for the public to go out to the farm,” Taylor says. “And that is seriously lacking here in Central Texas. And so we decided that’s what we’re going to try to offer.”

They established Western Belle Family Farm just north of Waco and started growing specialty crops, including sunflowers, strawberries and, of course, pumpkins. If state regulations in their new home were more forgiving, the climate most certainly wasn’t. They dealt with searing heat and record-breaking drought. The first pumpkin crop died from lack of water. Fire ants took the next one.

“Let’s be honest growing pumpkins in central Texas is really hard,” Taylor says on the podcast. But a mix of prayer and perseverance paid off, and this year the Huffmans hosted an Easter festival, a strawberry u-pick event, a sunflower festival and, starting September 21, a pumpkin festival. After surviving a big move and even bigger agronomic challenges, the family feels that they’re right where they belong.

“I would have never thought something like this could work out, but we’ve had an incredible first two years,” Taylor says. “We’re really trying hard to create that actual u-pick experience and I think we might just do it.”

Watch the full Grow Getters interview

Visit the Western Belle Family Farm website: https://westernbellefarm.com/

Your Next Read:

An Infant’s Miraculous Recovery Inspires South Carolina Farm Couple To Start A Blanket Business

Three North Dakota Farm Sisters Are Making Pasta That’s Good for the Gut

Chicago’s Urban Sprawl Leads Illinois Corn Growers to Start a Whole New Business Making Whiskey

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 15:39:19 GMT

For Jim and Jamie Walter, a father and son growing mostly corn and soybeans on a fifth-generation farm near DeKalb, Illinois, deciding to create a side business was a no-brainer. Due to Chicago’s urban sprawl, available land was becoming scarce, and they needed to find a way to support their operation.

“We were seeing a lot of rented acres that we farmed get developed for residential real estate,” he tells Davis Michaelsen on the latest episode of the Grow Getters podcast . “We needed to do more with fewer acres as the city continued to grow closer and closer to us.” After considering a few other options, they decided that using some of their crop to make whiskey was the best way to go.

“Rather than seeing urban sprawl as a threat, perhaps it’s an opportunity for us to create direct-to-consumer relationships and take advantage of the big population center that’s literally on our doorstep,” Jamie says. The Whiskey Acres brand was born. Of course, there was a lot of trial and error along the way and, since whiskey takes years to age properly, determining that an error had been made was a slow process.

But they persevered and are now producing a wide range of distilled products, using corn, barley and red winter wheat grown on their farm. The Whiskey Acres brand includes several types of bourbon, rye and even vodka. And apparently it’s good stuff. Their bottled in bond bourbon recently won a double gold medal at the San Francisco International Spirits Competition, among a number of other awards that have been bestowed upon their brands.

One key to their success is a farmer’s expert knowledge of the corn being used in the distillation process because they’re growing it themselves. This insider insight led to the brand’s motto: Great whiskey isn’t made, it’s grown. “Based on what we knew about corn genetics, we suspected that some corn varieties would affect flavor more than others,” Jamie explains on the podcast. “We found a rich palette of flavors in heirloom and specialty corn.”

Every episode of Grow Getters showcases a farmer’s or rancher’s story of how they created a successful side business to diversify their operation and generate additional revenue. These producers have learned through personal experience how to succeed and offer valuable advice to viewers thinking about a business of their own. “Don’t be afraid to follow your passion and your dreams, but don’t go into it willy-nilly,” Jamie says. “Spend the time to put together a plan. Do the research. And talk to people who have done it.”

Watch the full interview here!

Learn more about Whiskey Acres

Visit the Whiskey Acres website at https://www.whiskeyacres.com/info

Nebraska Cattle Rancher Natalie Kovarik Is Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide as a Social Media Influencer

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 22:38:12 GMT

When Natalie Kovarik was growing up on the family ranch in Montana, she had no intention of staying in the ag world. She went off to college, earned a degree in pharmacy and took a job in a city. While back home at the ranch for a short visit, however, she met her soon-to-be husband and eventually ended up raising a family on a cattle ranch in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. She now finds herself not only back in the ag world but a social media ambassador for it.

On the latest episode of Grow Getters , a new Farm Journal podcast that celebrates America’s most inventive ‘agri-preneurs,’ Kovarik talks about how she has become a powerful voice in spreading the word about how food is grown and livestock is raised. Her goal is to bridge the widening gap between rural and urban life and to foster a clearer understanding between those worlds.

“I think my biggest thing is just reminding people that there is a person or a face and a family behind food,” Kovarik tells Grow Getters host Davis Michaelsen. “I think that all the fear and misinformation and consumer confusion is rooted around that missing piece — that there is a person behind the food. I think trust would be increased substantially if they could connect their food with a person.”

By spreading this message effectively, Kovarik has amassed a social media audience numbering well into six figures. She also co-hosts a podcast called Discover Ag with dairy farmer Tara Vander Dussen, on which the pair covers what’s new in the world of food. But achieving such success didn’t come without some false starts and deft pivots.

“I think there’s beauty in testing different paths and seeing what fits for you,” she says. “If you look back at my journey, I’ve always been one to kind of go down a path and then say, ‘Is this working or is it not?’ And then kind of back scale or continue forward. And I always try and give that advice to youth because sometimes that’s not the advice they get.”

Listen to the full interview on the Grow Getters podcast.

Find out more about Natalie Kovarik by visiting https://nataliekovarik.com

View More Episodes of Grow Getters
View Natalie’s Podcast, Discover Ag

Three Iowa Farm Wives Escape “the Grind” By Grinding Beans And Selling Coffee

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:40:56 GMT

The idea for a new business started as a joke among friends. Iowa’s Naomi Gretter, Sky Hahn and Kari Berg were busy schoolteachers who were even busier raising active children and helping on their families’ hog farms. At a school in-service day, Namoi said she the three of them needed to find jobs that allowed them more time to enjoy their lives. She suggested — in a kidding way — that they should go into business together. She said she’d always wanted to run a coffee truck. Flash forward a few years and that’s exactly what they’re doing.

On the latest episode of Grow Getters , a new Farm Journal podcast that showcases agriculture’s most inventive side hustles, they tell host Davis Michaelsen how they’ve managed to succeed, making money to help support the farm while giving themselves more time for family, friends and fun.

The trio was inspired by a book titled “Growing Slow,” by Jennifer Dukes Lee, to take a new approach to their lives. “It’s about slowing down to enjoy what’s around you because it all goes by so fast,” Kari explains on the podcast. “I was running around constantly and not enjoying the things I should.”

After careful research, they partnered with Java House, a coffee roaster in Iowa City. Now they just needed a truck, which they found online. Getting it to Iowa required a weekend trip to South Carolina through an ice storm. “At first, we did add more to our plates, but now we’re able to control our own schedules and have more balance between taking the truck out or doing things around the farm or family things we’d like to do,” Naomi says.

“Since there are three of us, we divide things out so that makes it easier,” Kari adds. “If this was a one-person show, it would be overwhelming.”

Rural Revival Coffee Truck serves crowds at many events, including World Pork Expo for the past two years, Iowa county fairs and RAGBRAI, an annual Iowa bike-riding event. Maybe best of all, they now can roll into the parking lot of the school where they used to teach to serve former colleagues. Their advice to wannabe entrepreneurs is simple: “If you have a dream, follow it,” Kari says. “Just go for it. Life is short.”

Watch the full interview on Grow Getters.

Visit the Rural Revival Coffee Truck website
Read the full story about Rural Revival Coffee from PORK
See Rural Revival Coffee Truck on AgDay

An Infant’s Miraculous Recovery Inspires South Carolina Farm Couple To Start A Blanket Business

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 16:01:03 GMT

A lot of side businesses start out with a dream of financial success, personal fulfillment and maybe even a little bit of fun. But Ty and Tracy Woodard, who farm a variety of row crops near Darlington, South Carolina, were inspired to start their Covered in Cotton business by an actual dream.

In 2017, Tracy woke from a dream that seemed to be sent from heaven. She was told to start a business using some of the farm’s cotton crop to make and sell blankets. The dream even told her the name of the company. “I wrote it all down and I woke up Ty and I said, ‘This sounds crazy, but this is what we’re supposed to do,’” she explains on the latest episode of Farm Journal’s new Grow Getters podcast, which celebrates entrepreneurial farmers and ranchers who create new businesses to complement their ag operations.

Blankets hold a special place in the Woodards’ hearts because two years before Tracy’s dream, their three-month-old son, Tobin, was hospitalized with a severe form of bacterial meningitis. Even after undergoing emergency surgery the prognosis was bleak. If he survived, he more than likely would be blind and deaf and perhaps stunted developmentally.

Ty and Tracy spent 35 nerve-jangled days and nights at the hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. They took comfort in a blanket a nurse gave them on the first night. “It was a source of practical comfort but then even afterwards it was this reminder of the Lord just covering and protecting our family,” Tracy tells host Davis Michaelsen on Grow Getters.

Somehow, Tobin made a full recovery. Today he’s a straight-A student who plays sports and, Tracy says, he’s “the funniest kid you’ve ever met.”

Covered in Cotton has continued to grow in the years since the dream. While Ty, his brother and his dad farm over 4,000 acres of row crops, mostly cotton, corn, soybean and peanuts, the couple manages the blanket business. They’ve also created Cotton with a Cause, a program through which they donate a blanket to a children’s hospital for every ten blankets they sell.

Watch the full interview on Grow Getters.

Read the full story about the Woodards on AgWeb: https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/cotton/rooted-love-and-purpose-how-south-carolina-couple-helps-others-find-comfort

Find out more about Covered in Cotton: https://coveredincotton.com/

How Eighth-Generation Ohio Farmer Zoe Kent Built a Vast Social Media Following With Her Funny Farm-Life Videos

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 13:33:43 GMT

When Zoe Kent returned to the family farm in Crawford County, Ohio, after earning a degree in ag business, she and her dad, Mickey, made a plan. They formed an LLC, she would work for him for five years and then buy him out. But after just two years, Mickey’s health began to fail and she wound up running the entire operation. An eighth-generation farmer, Kent found herself, while still in her 20s, in charge of growing crops on land the family had been farming since 1820.

While making this transition, she also started making short, funny Snapchat videos of her life on the farm, mostly for city-dwelling friends from her college days at Ohio State. When she began posting her videos on TikTok, her Farm With Zoe began drawing quite a few followers, who now number more than 200,000 across multiple social media platforms.

“I’m just showing people what’s going on on the farm,” Kent tells Davis Michaelsen on the latest episode of Farm Journal’s new Grow Getters podcast . With so many followers, she’s become an influencer, though she says she doesn’t especially like that tag. “I’m definitely first and foremost a farmer,” she says. “And [social media] has blossomed into a whole other side gig.”

Grow Getters is a podcast all about side gigs, specifically ones ag producers have created to help support their farming and ranching operations. Michaelsen posts a new episode every other Tuesday, using humor and his musical skills to complement the creativity and resourcefulness of his guests.

Watch the full episode of Zoe Kent’s interview on Grow Getters .

When Kent isn’t focused on growing corn and soybeans, she spends her time making videos “to show people what agriculture is like today. I’m trying to connect with the consumer and also with other farmers,” she says.

She’s particularly interested in connecting with other women in ag, but her closest connection is with her dad, who joins her for the final part of the podcast. Not only is his advice about farming invaluable, he’s also become a popular figure on Farm With Zoe. In the true spirit of Father’s Day, she says, “All of my best videos are the ones where Dad tags along in them.”

Read more about Zoe Kent here .

Watch more Grow Getters episodes here .

Iowa Farm Family Turns a Small Dairy Herd Into a Beloved, Multi-Product Brand

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:52:58 GMT

When the four Hansen brothers came back to the small family dairy farm in Hudson, Iowa, which had operated since 1864, things needed to expand. So, in 2004, the family built its own on-site creamery to create a branded line of non-homogenized milk. A year later, they expanded the brand to include ice cream. And the business just kept expanding, becoming one of the area’s best-known local brands.

Jordan Hansen shares the family’s amazing story on the latest episode of Grow Getters , a new podcast about agriculture’s most inventive side hustles. Hansen’s Dairy has taken ‘side hustle’ to a whole new level. Beyond their line of milk and 20+ flavors of ice cream, they now offer butter, cheese curds and even opened a couple of branded retail shops in nearby Cedar Falls and Waterloo.

“We’re blessed that we have 150 milking cows and they are supporting five owner families and about 60 total employees,” Jordan tells Grow Getters host Davis Michaelsen. “If they had not made this decision 20 years ago to start processing our own products, it would be quite different. We put ourselves on the map.”

Most people in northeastern Iowa don’t need a map to find the seven-generation farm. They’ve been there already for the Hansens’ popular agri-tours. These tours were the family’s first side hustle, starting back in 2002. When Jordan’s husband, Blake, decided to mix a few kangaroos with the usual farm animals, visitors started lining up. Last year, the farm hosted nearly 9,000 guests.

Today the family’s closed herd of purebred Holsteins, each one with a name, drives a multi-level business. A few years ago, the family added Wagyu-Holstein beef cows, which are born and raised on the farm. The product lineup expanded to include filet, New York strip, ribeye, sirloin, ground beef and summer sausage as well as beef sticks and jerky.

All of the products can be ordered online but are only available for pickup at the retail outlets. “We’re pushing forward that ‘buying local’ movement,” Jordan says. “At both our stores we also sell a lot of products made by other local producers.”

Proving that necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention, the Hansen family’s inventive side hustles have turned a small farm into a successful, diversified business that’s well positioned for the next generation to inherit someday.

Watch the full episode of Grow Getters

Nebraska Farmer Distills His Love For The Midwest Into Flyover Whiskey

Wed, 22 May 2024 14:16:22 GMT

Feeling that America’s “flyover states” deserve more love than they usually get from the rest of the country, Nebraska row crop grower and beef producer Joe Knobbe decided to do something about it. According to his website: “We started Flyover Whiskey to showcase the generations of Midwest farmers who make the Heartland such an amazing place to live.”

As he explains on the latest episode of Grow Getters , a new podcast from Farm Journal Studios, when he’s not growing corn and soybeans or feeding roughly 1,500 head of cattle, Knobbe is working at his small distillery, a converted farrowing barn on the family property. This creative side hustle takes a unique approach to selling whiskey in that he’s not making it available to the general public.

Instead, his customers are fellow corn growers. They place their order for a six-bottle batch of whiskey by shipping 20 pounds of their corn to Knobbe. He and two staff members use the corn to make whiskey, and they also create a custom name and label for each bottle in the batch.

“People want to share what they produce with family and friends,” Knobbe says on the podcast. “You want something to share, to say, ‘I grew this’ and be proud of yourself.” Many corn growers sell their crop for use as livestock feed and for ethanol, as does Knobbe. On Grow Getters, he tells host Davis Michaelsen that growers want to taste the results of their work and Flyover Whiskey provides that opportunity.

“It’s not about the whiskey,” he explains. “It’s about farming and having pride in what you raised. Every batch is special.”

Read the full story about Flyover Whiskey.

Each episode of Grow Getters explores an inventive side hustle that an agricultural producer has created to add a new — and often fun — revenue stream to their operation. By plugging into their passions and often into new technology, these grow getters are redefining what it means to be a farmer.

Through profits from his Flyover Whiskey distillery, Knobbe was able to hire a good friend as a full-time worker on the farm, giving himself a little more time to spend with his young family. Even better, he adds, “It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

Watch more episodes of Grow Getters!

By Shifting from Row Crops to Ancient Grains, a Michigan Farm Family Creates a New Healthy Snack

When prices on row crops sagged 10 years ago, the Smith family made a major pivot on their seventh-generation Michigan farm. Instead of continuing to focus on growing corn and soybeans, they switched to ancient grains, particularly an Ethiopian grain called teff. Starting slowly, they planted just 33 acres to test it. The crop flourished. Which gave them another idea: what if they created a product using teff that they could package and sell?

Cue daughter Claire, who had left the farm to attend college and then worked in retail. She not only didn’t like farming, she was literally allergic to it. But when her parents asked her to come back and start a CPG brand using teff, she agreed. And the Smiths haven’t looked back.

“That blank page of possibility was super attractive to me,” Claire tells Davis Michaelsen on the latest episode of his Grow Getters podcast , which focuses on how ag producers can diversify their operations by creating a side business. With an inhaler in hand to combat her allergies, Claire returned to the farm, started building a company called Tenera Grains and created Teffola, a granola snack using the family’s teff and buckwheat harvest.

Now available in a variety of flavors, Teffola is regeneratively grown, non-GMO and gluten free, using no artificial flavors or sweeteners. Customers can order it online or find it at health food stores in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. Not that the road to success has been without its share of obstacles.

“I’ve been through some rollercoaster hills and valleys,” she says. “Like any good business owner, you have no idea what you’re doing when you start it. But we’ve learned a couple of tricks of the trade.” Those tricks have led the family to expand beyond just teff. “We’re pivoting into the alternative grains space, specifically gluten-free grains, and we also clean and process grains.”

So a farm started in 1837 finds itself on the leading edge of alternative grains while continuing to create new versions of their original product, including Teffola Bites — for people who want a healthy snack while on the go.

To grow-getting farm folks thinking about starting a business to augment their ag operations, Claire says, “Feel the fear and do it anyway. Things will unfold. You might make a wrong decision but you’ll adjust and take a different path. There are just beautiful things that happen when you take a chance.”

Watch the full interview on Grow Getters

Visit the Teffola website: https://eatteffola.com/

Get a free Teffola snack pack with this special Grow Getters offer: https://eatteffola.com/pages/growgetters2024

Your Next Read
Three North Dakota Farm Sisters Are Making Pasta That’s Good for the Gut

An Infant’s Miraculous Recovery Inspires South Carolina Farm Couple To Start A Blanket Business

Three Iowa Farm Wives Escape “the Grind” By Grinding Beans And Selling Coffee