Current job title: Full-time farmer at Need More Acres Farm.

Hometown: While I have lived in southcentral Kentucky for nearly 30 years, my formative childhood years were spent in Vista, Calif., just outside San Diego.

Family: I was raised by a single mother and didn’t have siblings. While I did have a lot of extended family, and loved hanging out with my younger cousins, I always dreamed of having a large family. My husband, Nathan, and I have made that dream come true with five children: Carter, Elizabeth, Lilah, Adaline and Sterling. We consider our friends and the farming community family, too.

The one thing nobody knows about me is … I was a dance minor in college. My plan was to use my agriculture degree to become a high school agriculture teacher and an FFA adviser so that I could teach dance during the summer months. That plan changed, but I still love to dance!

My dream job is … I’d love to write a book, and believe that I will one day! Until then, I practice my writing on our website, social media and for print publications.

My first job was … working at Jackson’s Orchard and Nursery. The day after I got my driver’s license I drove up the long hill to the orchard that hadn’t even opened yet for the season and asked Shirley Jackson if they were hiring.

I started the next week and continued working there for nine years.

The best advice I ever got was … my husband, Nathan, says, “Always do the right thing because it’s always the right thing to do,” and he’s never been wrong.

My heroes and why are … the women who are on the front line making our community stronger, not only during a pandemic but each and every day. Women like Dalla Emerson (Bowling Green city schools), Susan Warrell (Community Farmers Market), Brie Golliher (Boyce General Store), Rhondell Miller (HOTEL INC), Sarah Widener (The Medical Center), Carolyn Richey (Allen County Health Department), and Robin Herrington (Allen County-Scottsville schools). These women encourage me to keep doing the work even when it gets hard.

If I could do it all over again … I would have hired professionals to do the tasks I tried to take on myself while balancing full-time farming, community organizing and motherhood. Hiring tutors, bookkeepers, photographers, graphic designers and organizers to do what they are skilled at and enjoy doing has been a life-changer. When I lean out of the things I don’t have the skills for, it makes room for those things I can do well and give me joy.

Part of my job I could have done without is … there are thousands of reasons people experience hunger. The simple act of growing food, cooking and finding time to eat has become difficult enough on its own. The real, and often hidden challenges are politics, policy, strategy, funding, competitiveness, access and distribution. There are days I wish the work was easier, but I’ve learned not to give up because with vision, commitment and hope – anything is possible.

The thing I carry with me all the time … a notebook. Farming, raising children, managing my home and organizing our farm work is how I spend most of my days, but in my spare time I write. While I try to wake up early to carve out time to write each day, the most realistic method has been carrying a notebook with me nearly everywhere I go so that I’m prepared whenever inspiration strikes!

The best meals I ever had … I can still remember my first meal after each one of my children was born. A deli sandwich with Carter, corn flakes with both Elizabeth and Lilah, lasagna after Adaline was born, and zucchini bread with Sterling. There’s something very satisfying about food after a long day (or night) of hard work!

At the top of my bucket list … my faith and building rituals for daily prayer are very important to me. I am currently in a Year of Formation to become an ecumenical benedictine oblate with the sisters at Mt. Tabor Monastery in eastern Kentucky. My oblation (formal commitment to the monastery) was scheduled just as the pandemic hit, but it’s been the best lesson in surrender and patience. Once public gatherings are safe again, visiting the sisters at the monastery with my family for my final oblation ritual is at the very top of my to-do list!