Ashley Shupe and her husband, Jordon, reside in Indiana on their third-generation family farm. She hasn't always been driving tractors and milking cows in rural America. Ashley was born and raised in the coastal metropolis of Miami, FL. Searching for a slower pace and more organic lifestyle she landed in the Midwest in 2017. Seeing the sprawling landscape fed her fascination with farming and grew into learning more about modern food production.
Rather than ease into producing food with a small garden that expands over time, she jumped into dairy cattle full force. Her focus is on Midsize Jerseys that produce A2/A2 milk. She's taken courses on bovine artificial insemination, farm management, dairy processing, and production. She's also expanding her Ag knowledge by working in the family farm's freezer beef and grain production. |
With strict Raw Milk laws in NC, Sabrina decided she needed a dairy cow. She researched and Guernsey cows were the best marketed for A2/A2 with yellow colored milk from high beta carotene. She had never owned a cow, or milked, but got her first Guernsey on Mother’s Day. She was the sweetest old cow and let Sabrina learn to milk without any fuss.
Sabrina was selling raw pet milk. In a few years, she wanted to expand but was held back by her acreage. She happened onto Mini Jerseys and learned she could have twice as many calves each year with the same amount of acreage. And, they convert to grass-based much better than larger dairy cows. Plus, their size made them easier to work with. She was sold! |
Miranda Johnson knows homesteaders! In her Executive Staff volunteer position for the not-for-profit, National Ladies Homestead Gathering, she’s tasked with establishing chapters. Miranda talks to women across the United States about their journey that led to the desire to connect with other homesteaders. She’s mastered building community and many of the tech resources available for that purpose. She’s the force behind our monthly newsletter.
She spent countless hours on her grandparents’ homestead where they raised beef and chickens along-side a Jersey family cow. Now, Miranda lives with her husband and son in the original log cabin on a historical homestead in North Idaho. |
Tracy Howe is the oldest of three children and grew up in Saskatchewan on a mixed farming operation. Of all the family farm endeavors, cattle were always her passion. She worked in the cattle industry in many capacities, including commercial livestock hauling, on feedlots, in auction barns, and as a veterinarian assistant while raising her children. In 2010 Tracy and her husband, Wally, returned to cattle ownership. He runs a small beef herd. The dairy and Miniature cattle are “her thing” and she operates Mother Howe’s Little Cows. She’s been instrumental in starting the Canadian Miniature Jersey Association.
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Sarah Milcetic and her husband, Peter, started Better With Thyme, a holistic farm located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, after relocating from NYC to the eastern panhandle of WV. As a young couple in the city, neither imagined they would become farmers (he was an accountant and she was a website developer).
The journey to farming began with their first child, whose reactions to the food they were eating made them want to distance themselves from the industrial food system. After realizing their child could safely eat chicken eggs from their backyard hens, they began to wonder about adding milk back to their diet. After several failed trails with milk from local farms and more reactions in their second baby, the idea went to the back burner and 8 years went by with a dairy-free family diet. |