My goal is to start small, learn the skills I need through hands-on experience, and grow food sustainably in a way that supports my community and ensures that land stays in agriculture for the next generation.

I grew up in farmland areas around Minneapolis, much of which has since been developed into suburbs and townhomes. While I didn’t live on a farm myself, I often helped school friends with chores like collecting eggs, feeding animals, stacking hay, and pitching in during planting or harvest. My fiancé also has an agricultural background. He worked summers locally here for pioneer hi-bred, helping in corn pollinating, and his grandfather who we are still close with grew up on a 100-acre family farm with 15 children. That farm was eventually sold because none of the family felt prepared to take on the responsibility of managing so much land.

Seeing both my own childhood farmland vanish to development and my husband’s family farm slip away has deepened my conviction that farmland needs to be protected and cared for.