Reclaiming Your Hue: A Podcast for Women Rediscovering Themselves in Motherhood & Entrepreneurship

Ep. 61 with Sarah Fisher | Owner of Nature's Pantry

• Kelly Kirk • Season 1 • Episode 61

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Dirt, Determination, and Divine Guidance

What happens when a nurse starts questioning why everyone around her seems to be getting sicker? Sarah's journey from healthcare professional to regenerative farmer reveals how one mother's concern for her family's wellbeing sparked a complete lifestyle transformation and thriving business.

Sarah never planned to be a farmer. Growing up on a conventional dairy farm, she saw firsthand how demanding the work was and deliberately chose nursing as her career path. But after having her first child and hearing her Father ask, "Why is everyone so sick?", everything changed. When the World Health Organization classified glyphosate (commonly found in conventional foods) as a probable carcinogen, Sarah made a pivotal decision: she would raise food the way she believed it should be raised - without chemicals, hormones, or confinement.

Now the owner of Nature's Pantry Farm, Sarah serves approximately 250 families with raw milk, grass-fed beef, and pasture-raised pork and eggs. Her transition wasn't just about business; it was about addressing the root causes of health issues rather than simply treating symptoms. Through personal experience and customer feedback, she's witnessed eczema disappearing, digestive issues resolving, and families thriving on nutrient-dense foods produced in harmony with nature.

The daily reality of farm life is demanding - 4am wake-ups, endless chores, and the emotional weight of making difficult decisions about the animals in her care. Yet Sarah finds profound purpose in this work, involving her three children in the process and teaching them responsibility while connecting them directly to their food source. Her family sits down together for dinner every night, enjoying meals grown entirely on their own land.

Sarah's story captures the essence of the growing "MAHA" (Make America Healthy Again) movement - mothers taking health into their own hands by questioning conventional wisdom, demanding transparency, and seeking out food produced with integrity. Whether you're curious about regenerative agriculture, the truth about raw milk, or finding purpose through meaningful work, this conversation offers powerful insights about faith, family, and following your heart despite challenges.

Connect with Sarah:

Contact the Host, Kelly Kirk:

  • Email: info.ryh7@gmail.com

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Credits:

  • Editor: Joseph Kirk
  • Music: Kristofer Tanke


Thanks for listening & cheers to Reclaiming Your Hue!

Speaker 1:

Welcome Sarah. How are you?

Speaker 2:

I'm good Thanks, Kelly. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing very well. Thank you. I'm so honored to have you on here, really excited for us to dive into what it is that you do exactly for business and the transition into it, and how you're harmonizing that with motherhood too. But before we just dive full head into all of that, can you share with the listeners how it is that we got connected and how we know one another?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so my sister-in-law, jessica Laguerre I'm not sure how you two know each other, but she is the one who connected us. I know she was on your podcast last year. I believe Listened to that interview. That was great and she, just as far as I know she just said that you need to connect with Sarah. So you reached out and here we are, discussing all things motherhood and business.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, you know I love the heart of Jess so much and when she gets something stuck in her craw, she's going to do it.

Speaker 1:

Even if it takes like months and months on end for her to get to it. Because I swear to all things, holy Sarah, she was like I'm going to connect you to Sarah. And then the next year she's like, oh my gosh, I'm going to connect you to Sarah. Like Sarah has to be on the podcast. And I would just giggle Cause, like I know it's an eventuality with Jess, and when we were, you know, before we hit record, we were talking about no secret sauce to what it is that we're doing here in motherhood and entrepreneurship, but grace is one of them, like giving grace Right.

Speaker 1:

So I just like I've been given grace by Jess and Jess has been given grace from myself. So I love her to pieces and really thankful, truly, Sarah, that she got us connected so that I could get you here on the podcast to share what it is that you're doing in business and how motherhood folds in with that as well. So one of the questions that I always love to ask is what really came first for you? Was it motherhood or was it entrepreneurship?

Speaker 2:

For me it was motherhood. And then, yeah, go ahead. I was going to say and from there, that mama bear that's lit inside you is what ended up turning into entrepreneurship, which obviously we'll dive into a little bit further in this conversation.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so let's. I actually want to just elaborate on it now, if you're okay with it. Talk to me about what exactly you mean when you say that.

Speaker 2:

So just a little backstory here. My background is actually in nursing. I went to school, graduated with my RN, worked I ended up working for 12 years as a registered nurse. Through that we had our first child after we were married. I grew up on a farm, a dairy farm like a conventional dairy farm. So like farming is in my background, but I never, ever, wanted to have anything to do with the farm. I saw how much work it was and the commitment that it is and all of those things. So I'm going to go, I'm going to be a nurse and I'm going to do my own thing, right? So then we had our first child and my dad ended up selling the cows because he had some health problems and then nobody was here to take over our farm. So, like every other small farm in rural America, that was going to be the end of our legacy.

Speaker 2:

I'm fifth generation on this farm. My kids are six, so it was like a pretty big deal. And then my dad is the one who posed the question of why is everyone so sick? Like he doesn't remember this when he was younger how many people do you know that have cancer? And just the rates of chronic illness? And he said what is going on? So he's the one who started researching and once I don't know if you've gone down the rabbit hole of health and food and all things wellness.

Speaker 1:

Sarah, get me to Jess myself in a room and open up a can of worms.

Speaker 2:

Like the rabbit trails never end. And so, anyway, started research. And I have a one-year-old baby and at that time, like, the World Health Organization came out and said, glyphosate or Roundup is a probable carcinogen. So what that means is it probably causes cancer in humans and it's in everything that we eat, right? So as a mom, I'm like, well, I can't feed these kinds of foods to my kids. Yeah, so we move out to the farm and then we started raising our own food the way we wanted it to be raised, and then we get into raw milk, and then we get into grass fed beef, and then we have pigs, and now we have 500 and some chickens, and it's just like it just keeps, keeps growing. So what started as my desire to want good food for my family, because I truly believe that health starts with what we're feeling our bodies with it turned into this business that we now I left my job as a nurse. It'll be three years working full-time on the farm and growing this business.

Speaker 1:

So I'd love to dive into some of those like intricate, woven details that I feel like we're skipping over.

Speaker 1:

Right, like the because yes, I'm sure there's.

Speaker 1:

There is this moment in time for many of us as mothers where we find out this like one solidary piece of information and it it does kind of like we start to do this, like what, so that means this, and then that impacts my child this way, and then it impacts their behavior, and then this and this and this, and we do start to go down the rabbit hole, but we, we do back up as well and do the well. What does that mean for me, like in terms of my core values? Right, like, if we really get to the bottom of it, it's like we as mothers just want the best for our children, but we understand that at the foundation of all of that is the core value piece of it. And so I do want I want to take a step back to when you were working in the healthcare space as an RN. Were there, were there like red flags even back then that you started to see, that started to lay some of that groundwork for you in developing those core values.

Speaker 2:

And then, all of a sudden, there was obviously that like moment where you're like I'm done, I'm done, so let's build up to that, yeah, and when I look back, of course you know 18, 17, 18 years old, going to college, your intent, my intent, was I want to do good in this world, I want to help people, and what better way, you know, than being in health care and being a nurse? And it was, it was fabulous. I remember one of my college professors saying and it like I still remember it to this day and I was not at all interested in like food or anything, or farming, and she said, yeah, we just have what did she say, like we just, we just accept that our patients are sicker. These days, people just have multiple comorbidities, like it's just normal that people are sick like this, right, and so I remember that that was like 15, 16 years ago.

Speaker 2:

But then it's like you're taking care of people in the hospital, right, and all we're doing is giving them medications to cover up symptoms. It's they're like band-aids, like nobody's actually heal. I shouldn't say nobody's not healing things, but it's, it's not like you're not giving your body the tools it needs to heal itself. So these pharmaceuticals are just a cover up for, you know, things that are imbalanced in our bodies. It got to the point where I was like this. And then at that point I was having like moms email me, like my son can't drink regular milk, but he can drink your milk because, like of constipation issues like, and like changing lives that way and like eczema disappearing after drinking raw milk and it's like okay. So at this point my food is probably doing more than the pharmaceuticals or the creams that we're putting on all of these things. So what's really going on and how can we actually get to the root of um, you know, like serving our bodies and giving it what it needs to to thrive.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, out of curiosity, you may have noticed, I was kind of fiddling around on my phone and it was because I wanted to be able to pull up this particular resource and, um, give the exact name of it. But have you heard of the book? You probably have, um, maybe not the book, good energy. Okay, this is where I and it came. I don't know how or why, sarah, but it came into my purview what felt like almost the right time, right, like most things in life, like everything kind of happens at the right time, right place, um, but that really was where my like aha moments started to come from.

Speaker 1:

After listening to the book. I listened to it on Audible and I was like something's not right here. You know, like much like what you're thinking and what you're saying years and years and years ago. You're like something's not right. Your father was saying this years and years and years ago, also like something's not right, and years and years ago also like something's not right. And how can we just as human beings on this earthly planet, go? It just is what it is. No, it's not. And I loved what Casey means like delved into within that book about like no, actually, fundamentally, the foods that we are eating are not providing the energy that we need to be able to truly survive, like, truly, truly survive, and so I just like that I've talked about that with Jess and this is what I'm saying for the listeners like, get Sarah, jess and Kelly in a room together and I'm sure hours and hours and hours talking about just some of the logistics of, like, what actually is good for your body versus what nonsense we're being fed.

Speaker 2:

I have never felt so vindicated, as like during this Maha movement of, like these moms. It's like, yes, this is what we've been after for like the past 10, 12 years. Like this is it. We want people to be healthy. You deserve to be healthy. Nobody should have to to suffer like people are suffering these days, and it's this movement of moms that truly are what's going to change this. So it's so exciting.

Speaker 1:

It really is Honest to goodness, like I've been seeing a lot of what you're speaking to, but I didn't realize that it was called the Maha movement.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, make America healthy again. Yeah, we just want to be healthy. That's it. It's so simple. Well, it really should be simple.

Speaker 1:

It really so simple? Well, it really should be simple. It really should be. It should be like if we're healthy, if our bodies are healthy, then we can perform better, we can live longer as well. Idea that if our, if we're, if we're eating like truly good foods, drinking truly good liquids, then why wouldn't we be able to outperform ourselves in terms of that lifespan but also remove the disease like truly remove the disease?

Speaker 2:

so you know why right follow the money oh yeah, it's all about money.

Speaker 1:

My husband on the other side of this, kelly is always says, like, follow the money, so always answer Yep, you will. So this, this podcast, is all about motherhood and entrepreneurship, so we're going to start to hold some of that in entrepreneurship. So we're going to start to fold some of that in. I do want to get a better understanding of, like when you were working in the healthcare system. What was, what was that harmonization like for you when you, like, had your first child, cause I'm assuming, timeline wise, that was still when you were in the healthcare system. Is that correct? Yeah, okay, and how many children do you have, sarah?

Speaker 2:

I have three children. Our oldest is 13, and then we have a 10 year old and then an eight year old. Okay, wonderful, I was working as a nurse when I had all of them. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Wow, wow, okay. And when you decided to jump into entrepreneurship, when did that happen?

Speaker 2:

Well, I mean, we've been like I said, we started off. We moved out here. I just wanted to raise food for my family, so that started. Our daughter was one year old when we moved out here, so 12 years ago. At that time, I had like three pigs and 20 chickens and we bought six of our own cows, and that those numbers have drastically increased since then. So, um, you know, starting, we actually, like made an official business.

Speaker 2:

Um, it was the. I think it was the day after I got home from the hospital after having my son, so that would have been eight years ago. So I was like, all right, let's do this, we're going to make this work. I was on maternity leave and I was like, it's the grit that you need to have as an entrepreneur, right? So that's when we like officially filed a business. So that was 2016. So that was 2016. But, truly, I feel like it really took off. Covid helped it just like blew up our business and people were starting to question things and food, and you know, there was food shortages and scarcity and it created this whole nother level of awareness that people had around food. So, 2020, 2021, we really amped up our production. Um, and then it's, you know, just wearing all the hats that a small business owner has and trying to juggle, juggle all the things, um, and do them with grace.

Speaker 1:

Right. So what has that, what has that looked like for you? Because when you, when you started the business, you were on maternity leave, I, I gotta, I gotta help the listeners understand, like what, what was that experience for you in terms of time management, um, balancing at all. I don't love to use the word balance, but it literally just slipped like harmonizing that with having a newborn as well.

Speaker 2:

So, just to clarify, I didn't actually leave nursing until 2022. So I worked part time as a nurse. I you know I had the flexibility to work. I think I was like point six or point seven or something like that so you know, 24 to 30 hours like a true, nurse, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I did did that and then, um, and then obviously you have work every day on the farm. It's like there's no days off when you have a farm. It's every day's Monday. So working both of those jobs and honestly, it's I'm not going to sugarcoat it it's a lot. It's being a mom trying to cook good food for your like that's healthy and going to nourish them.

Speaker 2:

And then raising the food that's going to nourish them. Yeah, it's a lot like, you know, and chasing after them and running a business. It's. It's not easy, but I think um like for following our purpose and what we're here, what we believe we're here to do, um we just one step in front of the other. You know, each day at a time. But in terms of time management, I went through a course. I had to learn marketing. I didn't know how to sell anything. I mean, I can raise all the food in the world, but if nobody buys it, you know, how are you going to pay your bills? So I took a marketing course. I'm still like in that.

Speaker 2:

And then a lot of mindset coaching, because I've learned that we can be, you know, we can get in our own, in our way, the most, more than anything sometimes. And it's that mindset and um and all of that. And then through her program it's Charlotte Smith. I don't know if you've heard of her, but she does a time management like boot camp and it's really like getting down to blocking your time. And here's what I'm working on and focusing and here's what I need to accomplish Setting free time for yourself so you can take care of yourself. You know scheduling in your personal things and just really making sure that you're using the most of your time, you know productively and that sort of a thing. Not that it always goes according to plan, but that's been really helpful for me as well.

Speaker 1:

You know, sarah, I would not consider myself by any stretch of the imagination. Actually, let me rephrase what I was going to say. I am as far away as you could probably imagine from that lifestyle, but I think I know something to be true about farming, and it's that there's systems that you have to have in place, right, like there's systematic approaches to how you handle the day to day and the week to week and the month to month and the quarter and the year, Right. And so how has that all fit in with what you do with within the household as well?

Speaker 2:

So, in terms of like schedule, every day starts at 4am. We milk cows, so we sell raw milk every day, so that starts at four and then we go down a bottle milk about six o'clock, after the milk is chilled in the tank and stuff, and then it's morning chores. You know you have to. We have to move our cows, our milk cows, in the morning and then feed the chickens in the morning. In the afternoon there's a few hour break, is kind of when I do like my mommy things, meal prepping, picking up the house things, things like that and then it's time for afternoon chores again.

Speaker 2:

So moving the beef cows, making sure the pigs are fed, feed the chickens again, picking the eggs, and then all of the eggs need to be washed, so it's washing eggs. It's getting freezers restocked in the barn, so I mean we just kind of have a flow restocked in the barn. So I mean we just kind of have a flow, um, and we just you just make sure all the work gets done. I don't know, some days I think how do we do all of this every day? But we do, it's just yeah.

Speaker 1:

But it's, it's. I think that there are many listeners who are probably shaking their heads right now, going, yeah, I, I don't know how it is that any of us, as mothers, who decide that we want to take on this venture of entrepreneurship, like how we do it in each respective industry, is just it's. There are a lot of key themes, right, like there's no doubt that, like, having some semblance of time management is important. Having your SOPs in place, your systems, your ops and your procedures like those are all really important to keep the business functioning as well as the household functioning as well. And so, for each one of us respectively, it's just going to look different and we go no, I don't know how the heck I do it, but by the grace of God, I do it.

Speaker 2:

Friday is the cleaning day. Yep, it's just like you're just blocked that day off to clean the house and get all that done. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Do you ever feel like you're playing a little bit of reaction to things like, instead of being proactive, that there's a reactiveness, or do you feel as if you've got some some really good semblance of that habitual like system in place that you're never really on the defense, you're always on offense?

Speaker 2:

For the most part, we're pretty much we've got our routine in place. Now, that's not to say like right now it's calving season, so we've got about 30 moms who are having babies between now and the next 30 days. So it's that can add an extra layer of okay. Here's another wrench that's going to be thrown and if a mom needs help delivering or you have a you know, a stillborn calf or whatever it might be. So in farming there's always when you have livestock, there's always a chance that something extra can pop up and just be unexpected. But otherwise, for the most part, we're a pretty well-oiled machine on what we do here. I mean, I can't imagine not having a routine in place. It would be absolute chaos.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, all the more important, right? Okay, so something that I just thought of, is it? I'm sort of reading in between the lines that there may be a lot of hands on deck. What does that look like during the school year with the kiddos Like how does that support shift and priority shift when the school year is in place versus not?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so then a lot more of it will fall on me. So my we, we farm with my parents. However, tom and I just bought the farm from my parents January 1st, so they're kind of like semi-retiring, you know, taking a step back, slowing down a little bit, which they have absolutely earned that right to do so. So, and my husband still works full-time off the farm. He that right to do so. So, um, and my husband still works full-time off the farm. He has the power lineman, so he works um off the farm.

Speaker 2:

So a lot of it will just fall onto me then. Uh, and I'll be doing that work. But like today, my 13 year old she was down in the barn sanitizing our milk jars. For me, like, that's a huge job. My 10 year old is out picking eggs right now, moving our egg mobiles, feeding the chickens, so they can do a lot of those jobs and truly I think it's creating a great work ethic for them as well. Responsibility, and you know just, you can work. You're going to have to work for the rest of your life. So I just have to giggle.

Speaker 1:

I want to actually give the reality of what the circumstance and the situation is, with us zooming right now and the beauty of it too. This is motherhood. So for the listeners, just going to just fill you in a little bit, Sarah and I are zooming right now and she, you know, as she's zooming, she has her kids kind of buzzing around her and my gosh, are they just ever so incredible at not bothering her? And she's just kind of doing the like little hand wave, little finger wave, like yeah, yeah, yeah, the head nods and stuff, and I'm like this is the essence of motherhood and entrepreneurship. And then all of a sudden, Sarah God bless her heart she's like sure, I'll do this podcast.

Speaker 2:

I got a lot of stuff to do. It would have been easier while they were in school. It would have been just me here, but it's fine. Yeah, all your listeners are moms, so they totally understand.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, do we ever? This is just the reality of it and I, like I said I had to giggle about it because I'm like I can't go without saying something. So I hope you're okay with me, just to everyone's attention, because these are the realities. But it's so cool that you, you have this ability and the capability of the hands on deck. The kids are helping, your husband is helping when he's not at work. Um, have you guys ever talked about, like, what it would look like for him to come full on in with the business, or is that something that probably wouldn't be the circumstance?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, that is our dream to do. There's just so much expense that comes with farming. And you know me walking away for my paycheck, that was it. It took quite a bit of convincing for him for me to do that, but at the end I was just like, well, I'm doing it, so either you can get on board or not. So here we are and now he thanks me like every day, like yeah, you were right, like you made the right decision. But it's really hard to walk away from that, that security of a paycheck. You know we could lose everything, but we're in our faith and trust in the Lord that this is his plan for us. So, yes, our goal would be to get Tom home to be able to farm full-time with me and not have to go to work every day. But we're working towards that. We just invested in the entire farm, so we've got to kind of get some ducks in a row before that would ever be an opportunity.

Speaker 1:

So I got two different avenues that I really want to go down right now. So I'm just going to choose the one that I feel a little bit more convicted in, and it's what has faith looked like for you in all of this, like guiding principles, you know, like God, universe? What has that looked like for you and your family?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I grew up as a Christian, um, and so did my husband. He went to a Catholic school, um, so we both, we both believe in God and we both are Christian. And, um, we as a couple have never felt more connected to each other and connected to God and like truly trying to pay attention to what he's asking of us. Like he's put all of this opportunity in front of us None of it is by chance. We don't believe that and it's just us, you know, trusting his lead. This is what you are here to do. And now, like I can see it, 10 years later, and like maha, like here we are, it is coming to fruition, like we are here to serve.

Speaker 2:

There's all these moms who are like about this, what we're doing and, yeah, I can just see it and working out in nature, working with nature instead of against it, with all of the chemicals and all of the things that kill and, in my opinion, poison our food instead of instead of that, now we're working with nature and it's just like the beauty of what we see out here, with all of our animals running around, all the wildlife that's coming back, like knowing we are producing good, healthy, nourishing food, like it's just, it's been a very spiritual journey for us as well. Through all of that and when the times get tough, tom and I often have to remind ourselves like okay, well, god is trying to teach us something with this and we try to like put it into perspective. So, just keeping that realization that you know we're trusting the plan.

Speaker 1:

I have to giggle, because I just had a conversation earlier today with a dear friend of mine who's also been on the podcast, jasmine McCormick, and it was about like really surrendering to what is happening around you and surrendering that to God and just going I trust you, like I truly trust what it is that you're putting in front of me right now good, bad or indifferent Right and so I love hearing that this is certainly the case for you and that that's sort of been your guiding principle through all of this. Now, did you feel like when you decided you were going to hang up your hat for um working in the healthcare system, to to move into this movement, that there was some of that guidance from God for you?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I could feel it Like so the I worked in an assisted living. That was my last job and like one of my best friends now was my boss and it was so, so hard to walk away from her. And she's still like one of my best friends and I. We talk all the time and and whatever. But walking away from that it's like. But I could feel it in my heart Like I can't do this anymore, like this has to end right now, like I have to do what I'm being called to do and I did it. It was hard and you know it was. There was no doubt in my mind that it was time.

Speaker 1:

I love it. The other avenue that I was thinking about, sarah, is like what has your support network looked like for you through all of this?

Speaker 2:

So our customers are our number one supporters. They are amazing. I'm just truly supporting us in the work that we're doing and keeping us going. We have, like, honestly, the best customers.

Speaker 2:

And then it's just, you know, we did this with my parents and Tom and I and our kids, and just it's just been everyone's working together and just, you know, following, following this dream and trying, trying to figure it out as we go, and I just want to back up a little bit, like just to be a little realistic too. Want to back up a little bit, like just to be a little realistic too. Part of the reason that I left nursing as well is because motherhood, entrepreneurship, working another job, like you can't do it all and at some point, like the dam just breaks right and it's like, okay, I can't physically do all of this anymore either. So just being realistic about the amount of work that goes with all of that too. So these super moms who can do it all I was apparently not one of those super moms who can work three jobs at one time, so, but now I can solely focus on the farm, which is what I wanted anyway.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we obviously have alluded to what it is that you're doing in business, but let's really give the full-on paint, the picture of what's the name of your business. How are you serving people through this? You've talked a little bit about it, but let's dive full-on head into it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we own Nature's Pantry Farm and we are down by Lafayette, which I don't know if you've heard of New Ulm. We're about 15 miles from New Ulm, so about an hour and a half from you guys up in the Twin Cities, and we serve about 250 families right now. So I like to consider myself the grocery store for about 250 families of pastured. We do grass fed beef, pastured pork, pastured eggs, um, and raw milk, so meat, milk and eggs kind of the staples of of your diet. Uh, we do all of that, it's all you know. Uh, our beef cows are they only eat grass Um, we have non-GMO, um, pigs are outside. You know, it's just like what we think how animals should be raised no hormones, no chemicals, no vaccines, no, any of that stuff. So let's, yeah, that's what.

Speaker 1:

I would love for you to talk the listeners through the difference and why that is important versus what the reality is of the products from from where they're sourced to the grocery shelf. Let's talk about that because for me, I've got some idea of it, but I still think that selfishly. I want to be educated on it as well.

Speaker 2:

So I think the big thing with the grocery store is companies are very smart and marketing and they have figured out if they can slap a pretty label on something and make it look really good, they can entice you to buy that product, and there's a lot of. I think it's pretty lax I don't know if it's gotten any better about like grass fed labeling and you know, like in terms of eggs, I know like the chickens just have to have the door open for like 30 minutes a day or something and then they can be considered free range or something like that. Like it's very there's not a lot of regulation around any of that. So in my opinion, if you want to know what you're eating, it's best to just know your farmer and know exactly how they're raising your food and those sorts of things. I won't bore you with like the health part of it, but in my opinion the research I did was showing that grass fed beef is healthier compared to like grain fed beef.

Speaker 2:

Just for like omega six fatty acid ratios in grain fed beef compared to grass fed, which is the omega three fatty acids. Omega sixes cause inflammation. Omega threes, you know, kind of level all of that out and help with healing. And then you get into like conjugated linoleic acid found in grass-fed products, which can help with like cancer prevention and there's all sorts of health benefits to that, and beta carotene, like there's just a lot more in your pasture-based products and all of that comes through in nutrition in the food that you're eating. So we used to farm like everybody else, just did corn and beans and all that and never questioned any of this. But it's like once you realize that I mean, when you know better, you do better. That's kind of like my saying right. And so now we've transitioned our whole entire farm to pasture and we're just raising the animals this way. You know animals deserve to be outside, they deserve to have fresh air and sunshine, and healthier animals, in my opinion, makes healthier meats and yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love it. Okay, so thank you for sharing that. I, if you don't mind, I think you might have delved into it. I know you mentioned that you don't want to bore us with the health details, but I think that there's so many women who listen to this podcast that, yes, they, they want to have some semblance of understanding of how other women are operating, harmonizing their businesses and stuff, but they also want to understand, like, what does health really mean for me, for my children? So, let's, I do think that I want to dive a little bit more into that, if you're open to it, and how, in making this transition with the farm to what it is now, the benefits that you personally are seeing and why families are choosing your farm over other farms.

Speaker 2:

Well, why I think families are choosing our farm. Like there aren't many farms like ours, at least in my area. I mean, we're pretty much surrounded by conventional farms. So we definitely are, I would say, the oddball out in the neighborhood, which is fine. Someone's got to be that person, right? Um, of course you can buy pasture to meats and things like that from there's a lot of big companies that will ship nationwide and those sorts of things. But who really knows where that need is coming from? You know, this is like.

Speaker 2:

I have farm tours every year. I bring my customers to my farm like these are the cows that you are eating, these are the pigs you know. Like this is is how we operate and we want people to see that and we want transparency. So I think that is a big part of why people are choosing our farm is they want transparency. Moms are sick of, you know, not being able to trust the food that they're buying and you can spend a ton of money on food that's not even actually like good food at the grocery store because you're falling for that, that label on that product or whatever. So, um, trust is the number one thing. Our customers tell me they want to trust and they believe that their kids deserve, which they do, the best food that they can provide them. Um, what was the I'm? What was the other question that you had asked in? In part of that, there was a few of them in there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sorry, I was just I'm. I think for me, sarah, and where I was going with this is like the listeners also want to have an understanding of like health, how it's impacted you Like, okay. So, when you decided that the farm was making this transition, what it was before, right, the the um, how did you put it? The conventional? Conventional versus regenerative, is that right? Yep, yep. What were the health benefits that you started to see? I think that you actually had pointed out a few, like when a child started drinking your raw milk. Some of their health symptoms started to go away. Eczema was completely diminished, which, like I'm, a eczema survivor myself.

Speaker 2:

So my sister was as well.

Speaker 2:

She had eczema, like into adulthood and like there's a few things that will flare it up that she has figured out, but since starting changing her diet I mean, it all comes down to diet.

Speaker 2:

So, in terms of like health benefits, like number one, just getting rid of all the chemicals on our food, like that in itself, you know, just reducing toxin exposure is huge for overall health. My youngest two children granted, I made some different choices with my oldest than I did my youngest, but my youngest two kids have never even had an ear infection, like so, overall, I just think, like we're not at the doctor, we don't ever go to the doctor, like some kids. It's just the chronic yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, train in and out of the doctor and on antibiotics, and like we don't have that, thankfully, you know. So, um, yes, I've had customers tell me that they can't eat meat from the grocery store because they feel awful when they eat it. But they can eat our meat, they feel great when they eat it and things like that. So there's just, yeah, so there's, I just think, like I said, overall, just reducing your toxin exposure overall just reducing your toxin exposure.

Speaker 2:

This world that we live in is full of toxins, and why not fuel it with?

Speaker 1:

things that are good for you, right? I will ask you the next question here in just a second, but I want to share a fun story with you and I just want to double check are you okay on time? Okay?

Speaker 2:

perfect, I totally had to pick eggs at 1 45.

Speaker 1:

Okay, gotcha, I did hear that and I was like oh gosh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do all of this in 45 minutes. Okay, I know I can delegate. It's kind of nice. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

Speaker 1:

So the story that I want to share with you, sarah, the first time that we ever went to go and visit your brother, alex and Jess, at their home, um, my daughter, I think that she was she was about a year and some change old and so we were still feeding her like she needed bottles primarily. She was not quite to the point of like eating super solid foods and just I was like, shoot, I did not bring milk, like it's okay, I've got raw milk, and I was like I, okay, sounds good, and I'm assuming it was from your farm, it was she had mentioned like all of that stuff comes from your guys' farm. Sarah, when I say, maddie, my daughter gulped that raw milk down, she gulped it down and then she had another bottle, and then she had another bottle and just just kept like feeding her this raw milk. Like you would have thought that she was in a candy store with that. And I tried it for the first time myself and for all of you women who are listening right now.

Speaker 1:

Like seriously, I thought, oh my god, this is gonna be so gross. Raw milk. No way. Like forget, I didn't even. I hadn't even at that point in in where we were, at like I hadn't heard anything about this like thing about raw milk and how it's not good for you. Like I was like I don't know if I really want to try it, just because of like no right. Well, here's the deal. I don't know what the process of like fortifying milk looks like in the deep if that's even the right word, sarah but like I'm here to tell you, I'm here for raw milk.

Speaker 2:

I'm here for it. It is. I was the same way as you were. I did not grow up drinking raw milk, we had like a dairy. So we, like you, just didn't do it. When my dad said he wanted to start drinking raw milk, this would have been probably 14 years ago. My sister is also a nurse and we looked at each other and we're like we need to check this man into a mental institute, like he's officially lost his marbles. Like you, don't drink raw milk. It's so dangerous and it can't even taste good, right, and and here we are, like it is, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So what, what like? This is where this was not the initial, like next, question that I was going to ask you. But what is it about, like raw milk, that marketing wise we were fed Is it? Does it have something to do with the marketing or was it just like conventional, Like that's how they they sold to us, as, as people like you, have to have all this stuff in it in order for it to be safe.

Speaker 2:

So here's what happened during the great depression. So let me back up. People drink raw milk for like centuries, you know, prior and then the Great Depression. Exactly, you had to, you didn't have a choice, yeah, and now we at least have refrigeration, thank God, right, but anyway. So during the Great Depression, times were tough for everybody, including farmers, and like their cows were, they didn't have enough money or feed or whatever it was to feed them properly Like they should be fed, so they were feeding them like leftovers from grain distilleries. Anyway, that's not what a cow is supposed to eat. She is intended to eat grass. She has four stomachs. God designed her to eat grass and that's what she needs to eat to be healthy and to produce healthy milk and meat for you, right?

Speaker 2:

So the milk was of such low quality back then that it was actually purple in color and they were adding chalk to it to make it white. So at that time they also didn't understand like, cleanliness, you can't have poo in your milk bucket. You know they didn't have refrigeration, their cows were not healthy. So people, kids, were getting sick and were dying. So then they figured out hey, if we boil this milk, pasteurize it, kill the bacteria that's causing kids to get sick and die. We can save lives, and so it was absolutely necessary and needed at that time and it worked.

Speaker 2:

But now fast forward to today and you have your big dairy industry. Right, who kind of controls the food, part of it or whatever? Now all milk is pasteurized because they say it's safer. Say it's safer, but in my opinion, when it's produced the right way, like raw milk, grass fed, 100% grass fed raw milk is like a superfood and it's like nature's perfect food for your body and nutrition. But anyway, so the big dairy lobby is continuing to push for pasteurized milk because it's again follow the money. What does it all go back to? Um, that way? So, yes, people get sick from raw milk, but yes, people get sick from lettuce at the grocery store and cantaloupe and like you know, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, but if you're like my, my mind starts doing this like but if you are, if your farmer is doing it the right way, there's sanitation or sanitizing that's happening, sanitation all around, and there aren't the chemicals that the cow or the pig or the chicken are eating, then you should be able to override a lot of what the sickness is that happens down the line and it's not like a for sure thing. But at the same time, if those practices are in place, how could it not be like? We have to, we have to go back and have some common sense is what I'm really trying to get at Like. The common sense is like how did people survive before?

Speaker 2:

So here's the other thing, a couple of different thoughts here. So, yes, you are absolutely correct. Like I milk eight cows, these big dairies that are producing your milk in the grocery store, they're thousand plus cows, right? Like it is not safe to drink raw milk from a big dairy. Like that, there's absolutely no way. Like I said, I milk eight cows, right so every single cow I know exactly, I know everything about her, right? We do monthly raw milk testing.

Speaker 2:

So I'm checking my bacteria counts. I run a standard plate count and a coliform count. So those tell me overall, how is your cleanliness and are you keeping up on sanitizing? We know now that we need to change, like the rubber inflations in our milking equipment every quarter based on those counts that we're getting. Our counts are impeccable. Like my coliform count is less than one. Do you know what less than one is? It's zero. It's zero Like so, like that. Like what we're doing is working to produce safe milk. I'm not saying that you know something can't happen or whatever, but it goes back to knowing your farmer and being able to trust your farmer and that's why people are choosing. I think that's why there's such a push towards that. If you can't find a farmer, then raise it yourself If you have the the means. Not with just milk and meat, but, you know, like gardening and things like that, people are getting back to knowing what's actually in their food.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, well, and it all goes back to also what we were talking about initially, which is like We've had enough stuff happen now with either ourselves as mothers, our husbands, our parents, our grandparents and now our own children. We've had enough stuff start to like continuously happen that there's no wonder, that the doubt is there and that we're not trusting. And so to go back to like the roots of what, the roots and the foundations of what true eating looks like, without all the nonsense within it, and to Casey means point in the book good energy, like that's how we get our good energy, that's how we get our our like. Sustainability is to have good food, good stuff to drink from cows that are living on a pasture. That is impeccable, right, yeah, so I love it. What? Um, I'm going to do a little bit of a one 80 for our conversation. Um, I love everything that we've talked about so far and I'm kind of like how can I convince my husband to get stuff from?

Speaker 2:

Sarah's farm. It's always the husbands that need to be convinced every single time if you're not alone, it's always there.

Speaker 1:

Here's the deal. He was there, he saw like he had, he tried it, he tried it, he tried the raw milk, he tried the, and we've had the hamburgers too, like they served us hamburgers and it was like these are really good, these are really good.

Speaker 2:

So, unfortunately, most families come to me after there's been an issue like a health issue, like, and then the moms start to research, you know, like alternative things or whatever, and then they go down the rabbit hole with food and then it's like oh my gosh, where's my farmer? Like that's, sadly, that's how most people kind of end up at my farm. It's a health issue of some sort, A lot of autoimmune issues, cancers, those sorts of things, so and then they just learned to prioritize their food, which we're here for it.

Speaker 1:

Do you travel to Edina? I do, okay, so maybe we'll get. We'll get on the convincing train, but this is about you, sarah. So one of the questions that I always love to ask is like, what has self-care really looked like for you in all of this? And then I've got a business question for you after that.

Speaker 2:

I will say I am like the worst at self-care. Like as mothers, we just give, give, give. So and I'll be honest, like there's a little piece of me that if there's any downtime it's like, okay, well, what can I be doing, or what can I be cleaning, or what can you know? Like it's that constant. I struggle, yeah, yeah, and I don't know. I know a lot of that is mindset, but I think it's just the season of life. You know, like you said, it just takes grit to run a business. It takes grit to be a mother and there's not enough hours in the day. I have learned, unfortunately, but self-care for me is going to bed early every night. I mean, we start our day at 4 am every morning. I often have three hours of work in before people are even getting out of bed in the morning. So making sure I sleep every night like a full night's sleep I get made fun of all the time by Jess.

Speaker 1:

Jess is like up late, up early, and I don't know how she does it sometimes, but you know, again, it's we do it because we need to and we have businesses that we want to see thrive, because it feels a passion within us as women. But we also want to see this. You know, we want to see our children succeed too, and so there is this tug and pull that happens. But I love that your self-care is really simple, because you understand that in order like one for you, getting a good night's rest is highly important, because then that fuels what the business looks like. Yes, absolutely, which then supports the family and then also supports other families too.

Speaker 2:

Correct. Yeah, and this has been a tough season. We've remodeled our house, completely, gutted it. So since October we've had more work than we need at the moment, but I'm really hoping next fall, when the kids go back to school, self-care is a thing again, so that would be a beautiful home.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, If you're going to wave your magic wand. What would ideal self-care look like for you?

Speaker 2:

Ideal self-care for me would look like um finishing my chores in the morning, um getting up, having a cup of coffee, sitting down and reading my Bible, um my daily devotion, um taking a walk outside even though I walk plenty outside, but just like but just like just for myself, right, you know?

Speaker 2:

like not having to work, not having to worry about anything, just to walk, listen to a podcast, taking a nap on the couch for 15 minutes I'm a snapper, so just a short nap and then nap on the couch for 15 minutes. I'm a snapper, so just a short nap and then doing some food prep, so supper goes a little bit smoother every day, and then, yeah, I don't eat a lot, you know just a little bit of downtime.

Speaker 1:

Well, I was going to say here's here's something I want the listeners to go back to, because I caught it and it's it's something important to understand about entrepreneurship and motherhood. We have seasons that we go through, and to honor those seasons and Sarah's kind of alluding to a season of life that she's in right now, that is, things are constant, there's constant renovation. That that is, things are constant. There's constant renovation that's going on within the house. There's constant needs that need to be tended to within the business, on the farm, and there's our children too, and that's highly, highly important as well. And so sometimes there are these seasons of life that we have to go through as mompreneurs where perhaps, like, the self care is just a little bit. And if it's as simple as going to bed early so that you can wake up early, sarah's circumstance is a little bit different, right, right, sarah, like you're waking up at four o'clock in the morning because you have a farm to tend to. But there are listeners that are are a part of the 4 am 5 am club, where they're up because that's their time, that's their self-care time. For me, that's it. Like five o'clock, 530. That's my self-care time? Yep, absolutely. And so, you know, like, just remember that there are these seasons of life that you are going to be going through and whatever your guiding principle is, be it, god, the universe, yourself, like, understand, as you lean into that, that you're going to be able to get through it. And on the other side of it is these opportunities where you can, you know, wave the magic wand and have the ideal form of self-care. I mean, I seriously remember, sarah, there was this like small window of time where that self-care for me was perfect, like I was up at five o'clock in the morning and I was doing my workout, and I was in the Bible, and I would, you know, just have a little bit of downtime and be able to meditate, and then I would wake Maddie up and she would have her bottle or she would be nursed. You know, like it was so perfect, but it was a very short window. She would be nursed. You know, like it was so perfect, but it was a very short window. And so, and then here we are, you know, and so there's just this ebb and flow and malleability that has to come with being an entrepreneur while also raising kids. Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right.

Speaker 1:

So the business question that I was going to ask you is you alluded to serving two to 250, some families, correct? At what point do you have to scale like what does that? Like? I think I actually was talking to Jess about this. I'm like what is that going to look like for Sarah? And I think that she was like I think I actually was talking to Jess about this. I'm like what is that gonna look like for Sarah? And I think that she was like I think she's getting to this point, but like yeah, what is that gonna look like so that you, you honor, like how you want the farm to truly look, so that you can serve the families exactly the way that you have been right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we are there now, I feel like we are. I can add nothing else to my plate at this point, so like I am tapped out for what I can produce with myself and my husband and my dad helping what he does. So, unless we would hire employees, I did hire my first delivery driver, which is exciting, like freeze up one of my Wednesdays. It's like so, like baby steps, right, yeah, but in terms like I don't know, I don't know the whole like managing employees and all that and how that would look like business isn't my thing. So that's, that is my, my downfall of of running a business. I think demand is definitely there, right, but yeah, I don't know. It's my struggle. Maybe you can help me.

Speaker 1:

I actually I'm giggling because I, like, I think that there's for each one of us, respectively as mompreneurs, there's an area where we totally kill it right, like we just thrive in that area.

Speaker 1:

And then there's other areas where it's perhaps an area of opportunity. And this is the reality of operating a business right, like, like you said and I can't quite remember if it was when we were off air or if it was on air but, like you, you know how to run the farm right, like you know all of what it takes to run and operate a farm. But then there's the marketing of it, there's getting the exposure out there and the marketing that goes behind that. There is the, the pnl, the business operations of it as well. And so I think that what I want to talk about just a little bit here, sarah, is like how have you leaned? First question how have you leaned into learning more about it? And two, seeing that this is an area of opportunity, what does it look like? Leaning into other resources to help support you in the areas where you're like? This is not my area of expertise.

Speaker 2:

So, like I said, I learned still learning marketing. It's like an ongoing thing, right, Like email marketing and selling products and things like that. So that's something I've undertaken. And then it's, you know, running social media, and then it's cashflow and all of those sorts of things and honestly, it's just kind of learning by doing it, having to get your taxes together for the end of the year. Well, you get really good at QuickBooks, right, and like those sorts of things, like not necessarily things I love having to do, but you just kind of have to figure it out. I learned how to build a website. I never thought I would do something like that. So it's like being tech support and all of that, but you know, I would. In terms of, like other resources, I think it's been really on my heart, like if God would put someone in our lives or whatever that might be, and that would be his plan and the next step for our business. So I'm certainly open to those conversations, but Sure, sure.

Speaker 1:

The reason I wanted to go down this avenue, sarah, is because, like like I alluded to there, these are the realities of operating a business, right, like sometimes you are just going to have to lean in, either figuring it out on your own or utilizing resources like QuickBooks, which can be absolutely incredible and being like that quick go-to right, quick books, but understanding that you have two opportunities either you will learn and do, or you don't learn and you die. And that's a little hyperbolic, right, but that's the truth. That is the truth, and I think what's cool, sarah, is that you, you have kind of given us insight into like well, I just figured it out. I. I didn't know how the heck to to do some of the tax stuff, but I I had. I dove into QuickBooks and I did it. I didn't know how to build a website, but you know what, I learned it and I did it. I didn't know how to build a website, but you know what I learned it and I did it.

Speaker 1:

We've got a website that's up and running. I've been on the website, so I know there's proof of the pudding there.

Speaker 1:

So, oh yeah. So I'm glad that I asked that question Because I think that that was important for the listeners to really hear. Um, one of the things that I would love insight on is has there been a moment where I like to talk about like the peaks and the valleys? Right, and so I'm sure you experience on a daily basis high highs, low lows. It says high highs, low lows, but if you were to like, look back and it doesn't necessarily have to be when the rubber met the road for you taking everything full on with the farm but like, was there ever a moment where, after having your children, you had a true valley moment, and are you willing to share that with the listeners and how you worked through that?

Speaker 2:

You mean, like, in terms of motherhood and all of this? Mm-hmm, honestly, I don't think I have had that moment. There's been plenty of valleys with the farm, um, events that have happened, you know, but not with motherhood. I truly feel blessed to be able to raise my children this way. Um, we have a beautiful farm. They are free to run and learn and explore and I can nourish them with what we are doing. It's a lot of work, I mean the daily grind, but overall it's been more of a blessing than it has been Incredible. So no, I have not experienced that.

Speaker 1:

You're one of the lucky few. I have not experienced that. You're one of the lucky few, the blessed few, where you know day-to-day rhythms and routines. It seems as if you've, you've got, you've got your work cut out for you. No doubt about it, right? But I think that when you make a decision and a conscious decision of like this is how I want to raise my children and your spouse's incongruence with it and full support of that as well, and you can go hand in hand and how you approach that parenting your children, but then also how how things are supported in the household and then with the business as well, it's incredible, right, it's. The congruence is so incredible.

Speaker 2:

And, honestly, as crazy as the world seems these days, like I could not be more grateful that I we live where we live, when we are kind of like isolated out here and just let's just focus on us. You guys, like I cannot control the world around me right, like I can influence my family we can sit down together for supper and have a meal that was fully grown on our farm and it's like it truly is like a blessing. Even through all of the busy and the you know how chaotic things can be we do sit down together every night for supper. Like it's, it's like a non-negotiable for us.

Speaker 1:

So I love it, I love it, I, I can. I can say that probably about 95 percent of the time that is what it looks like in the Kirk family too, that we are very, very conscious and aware of making that a reality as much as humanly possible now enter sports and activities and recitals and stuff. It can throw things for a little bit of a loop, but we always try to ensure that at least a majority of the week that that is the case, that we're sitting down no phones in hand, that we're away from the technology piece of it and we're here as a family unit together. Can't even stress how important that is for us as our, as our family lives and breathes. That is so important for us and I love that you hit the nail on the head like let's be here as a family. Yep, it's so important.

Speaker 1:

I am going through a discipleship. I've been doing this discipleship for gosh the better half of a year and one of the things that we've talked about is like how are you finding joy and things and what's the lineage of what that looks like? And I've really tried to keep in mind, like if I am seeking what I need from God first, and then from my spouse, and then from my kiddos, and then from my kiddos, and then from my extended family, and then from my community, like that should always be what it looks like, and that's just my personal guidepost, right? But that is where joy should be sought from and everything else just sort of needs to go like this, like our family unit is so important.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yep, absolutely, we're going to start to land the plane, sarah, as I like to call it, we'll have a soft landing, I promise. I do want to just take a step to like. You had mentioned that there have been some dark moments with the business. Are you willing and open to sharing that, because I want the listeners to understand it's not all rainbows and butterflies, oh goodness.

Speaker 2:

No, I mean. No, it's not. You know, the highs are high and the lows are low. One particular instance I can think of we had. So we've been selling raw milk for like over a decade now, right, and then it's always super hard to like have just the right amount of milk to meet your orders and not enough leftover that you've got all this extra milk and then you dry cows off. They get like a lactation leave, I like to call it, before their next baby comes. So you've got high points of milk and low points of milk and we were at our lowest point of milk because we had so many dry cows, so we ended up buying another one from a farm.

Speaker 2:

She had never had a baby, so this was her first baby. And I am cutting my customers' orders left and right, refunding money, like it's really hard to run a business when you don't have income coming in right, and then customers aren't getting the milk that they want either. So she was due to calve and what ended up happening is she had a prolapsed vagina so her insides were coming out of her before the baby was going to come out of her. So we ended up calling the vet to come out here. We never have the vet out here ever, like we just, like I said, we don't vaccinate and we don't do the medications and all the things for animals, so we don't have a vet that we work with. So she ended up putting this cow down, delivering the baby c-section, you know, euthanizing the cow, and then I'm left with this dead cow, no milk, and I have like no plan for my farm. I just like walked away bawling like from this cow being put down and the vet was here and I was just like it was like a very, very low point. Um, and this cause you try to do everything right and it doesn't always. That wasn't God's plan for for us at that time. So, anyway, we've recovered and gotten our milk back where we need to be and all as well.

Speaker 2:

But there's always, you know, you get, we'll get a pig, like once a year it'll break its leg or somehow, you know whatever, and you got to put the animals down. It's like they're suffering and they're not going to get better and like those are, I think, the lowest points, um, and also, you know, bringing animals to the butcher. I am an animal lover, like I, just I love them and but I also understand that we are here to serve and to nourish families and but it's sometimes hard knowing I am that one making that decision to like end that animal's life. Yeah, god put them here for us to utilize in that way and we are honoring and respecting them through this process of raising them here and they're helping us heal our land and, you know, restore balance back to our soil and to our, our fields and things like that. So they have a purpose. But that is, that's always hard when we start our butchering season, knowing what they're for their ultimate purpose, but it's you were in my head, sarah, I literally was gonna ask you.

Speaker 1:

Initially I was thinking like how, how are the kids during that process like they get attached, but it sounds like it's you I would. Oh my gosh, I, yeah, I feel for you, like I can feel that energy, even through zoom, of the emotion that is evoked when that decision has to be made. And gosh, I mean, that's every single year, right. Like it has to be multiple times a year, right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, we make multiple trips to the butcher every year with a load of animals, so, but the beautiful side of that is this most beautiful healthy meat that this, you know, families will, will eat off of for a year and like it'll sustain us and it's just it. It truly is, and that's why we give them the best life that we can. Like they are here, they are in their element, they are outside, they are healthy, they are happy. I can promise you that, um, I would say it's a great life, with just one bad day, like and they don't even know. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, oh, my gosh. I'm starting to get a little teary-eyed like thinking about it, because gosh but that's the reality.

Speaker 2:

I mean the meat at the grocery store. It doesn't just magically common styrofoam wrapped in plastic that is. That is.

Speaker 1:

That is God's purpose for these animals, yeah yeah, I feel like you're convincing yourself by saying that, like this is God's purpose for these animals. It is, yep, I know I'm with you, sarah, I'm totally with you, okay, so you said it before. I want you you sort of alluded to it, but I want you to speak it out loud into the universe. What would be a good connection for you, what would be a good need for you?

Speaker 2:

you said before you gotta speak it to speak it Someone to help me run like the business side of this, to scale, to grow, to be able to serve more families Like cause, I am tapped out at what I can provide right now and, like I said, the demand is there. I have a waiting list. I think I have almost 200 families who are wanting raw milk right now and it's like I cannot serve them because I am not. I am one person Right, right. So scale would be my dream and to have like a resource to help make that happen, like a business coach, right yes, yep, love it.

Speaker 1:

You just spoke it out into the universe. Watch it. Watch, god deliver.

Speaker 2:

Watch. My phone ding right, no Watch.

Speaker 1:

God deliver, All right. I would love to hear, Sarah, what is, what's a piece of advice that you would give a younger version of yourself knowing all that you know now? Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man, I think I would tell myself you are capable more than you know. You know like, and you can do hard things like. You can do them and just stick with it like the end it's going to be worth it. You know just, and follow your heart. I mean, don't follow your heart in what you're being called to do and don't wait. You know, I waited years and years to to fully do this. Um, don't be scared and, yeah, follow your heart. It'll lead you where you need to be so good.

Speaker 1:

Sarah, would your advice that you gave a younger version of yourself be the same advice you would give a woman listening right now who is teetering on the edge of entrepreneurship?

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, I think God planted that seed in your heart for a reason, and I would tell you that it's not going to be easy, but but you can do hard things, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So good. I love the iteration of it too. So good you can. Yep, how can, how can that that future business coach find and get connected to you, Sarah? And how can our listeners find and get connected to you, Sarah? And how can our listeners find and get connected to you also?

Speaker 2:

So we are on. Instagram is where I post the most at nature's pantry farm on Instagram, and I really I love that because I can be as transparent as I can about what we're doing here. It's like people want to know the story of their food and what a gift that we have this access to free social media, right Like I can just pop a video on my phone. Here's your cows being moved today, so that is a great way to connect and like watch what we're doing. I share the hard things as well as the good things, because I don't like to paint a picture that it's all ponies and rainbows, like you said, because it's not Um. And then we have a website. It's naturespantry-farmcom and all of the information is on there. Um, you know address and cell phone. If you need to get ahold of me or anything like that, it's all on there. So one of the best ways.

Speaker 1:

We'll be sure to drop all of that information into the show notes for our listeners so that they can get connected to you.

Speaker 1:

Hopefully, for those of you who are listening, if you desire the raw milk that we were speaking to, that Sarah, if you have somebody that Sarah should get connected to, do not hesitate to reach out to her, because that is how, indeed, you can have the raw milk delivered to you at some point or another is if we can get Sarah to a point where her business can scale, and so I love that. Like what a wonderful problem to have you know what I mean. But it's an eventuality, sarah, to have you know what I mean. But it's an eventuality, sarah. It's just in God's timing, and I can't wait for the moment where it does happen. It becomes a true reality for you and for the farm and for the business in general. So what an honor to have you on. I feel like we could talk for hours seriously and we just skimmed the surface. But to honor and respect your time, we'll end it here and I hope that you have an absolutely incredible day and I'm sure that I will be seeing more of you here at some point.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, kelly, it was great chatting with you. Have a good day you too. Bye-bye.

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Kelly Kirk

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