We bought a farm!

Many have asked us, so how did you get here. Well it’s sort of a long story. But let’s start at the beginning.

A Chance Trip

We decided to spend the week of the 4th of July taking a road trip to visit our friend Jojo who lived in Louisville, Kentucky. While on this trip we decided to head further south together to check out Nashville/Tennessee. It was pretty much love at first sight!

Don’t get me wrong we really enjoyed Kentucky too but there was just something about the gorgeous lush green hills of Tennessee that just had our hearts calling. This was back in 2010 and as soon as we got back to Milwaukee we both knew that our long term goal was to get to Tennessee. We both felt this pull to get out into nature, buy some land and start homesteading.

Our Health Journey

A year before this trip we had started a journey to wellness. Through some health scares and careful research we began making changes in our household to a healthier lifestyle. During this process our eyes became open to the craziness of the food industry. We felt called to learn how to grow and produce our own food; to get back to the land and back to nature.

Fast forward to 2013…Brittany had just finished up her last season as a wedding photographer and was working on a horse farm while going back to school for holistic health and nutrition at The Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Working on the horse farm was the perfect experience to solidify the dream of needing to move to Tennessee and buy our own farm.

A New Addition

That January we found out that after years of healing Brittany’s body from severe adrenal fatigue, hormonal imbalances and digestive immune issues; of trying to get pregnant, we had succeeded! So our plans of moving to Tennessee that summer got put on hold.

Our darling baby girl was born at home in our tiny 2nd floor apartment in the city with our midwife that October. With the craziness of being new parents we sort of forgot about our dream until we both started to feel the frustrations of having Tony working 8-5 Monday through Friday and missing out on so much of Peppers life. It just wasn’t fair. He wanted to be home with us. He wanted to help with caring for her, and to see all her special “first” time moments, we felt stuck and trapped. We had over $50,000 worth of student debt that was debilitating and keeping us from the life we wanted. We couldn’t afford to buy a home. We lived comfortable, but felt like we could never get ahead. Our dream of getting out of the city and moving to a farm felt impossible.

A Rebel?

Brittany is a rebel at heart. She don’t like being told what to do, and especially doesn’t like being told she can’t achieve or do something. In fact when she is told NO, it only makes herwant it more. The summer before 6th grade we had to meet with the band instructor to “trial” some instruments to determine which instrument would be best suited for us. Brittany had her heart set on the flute. But she couldn’t get the flute to make one noise when tried. The band instructor told her ” The flute isn’t your instrument, I think you better do clarinet.” But of course Brittany said, “No thank you I’m doing the flute.” He wasn’t happy, he told her that she didn’t have the right shaped lips to do flute. But Brittany wasn’t daunted and being a determined and stubborn kid just said “well I’m doing the flute whether you like it or not.” She worked hard and learned to play the flute and while she may not have been a award winning flutist; she did what she had set out to do.

Brittany decided she was determined to find a way to get us a farm; to get Anthony home from his 9-5 job and to carve a life less traveled for our family. We had no idea how we were going to do this, but it was going to happen!

A New Business

Right after Pepper was born our family started using Young Living Essential Oils. After making herbal potions, infusion and tinctures for 2 years we loved the ease of using oils. It was great how we could support our health with ease and didn’t have to be brewing up all these crazy concoctions with herbs which was hard to make time for. When you are a mom it’s hard to find time to shower and put on cloths other then yoga pants let alone find time to make herbal wellness potions…. Brittany fell head over heals in love with the oils.

Oils combined with our eating and wellness changes contributed substantially to our health. Pepper never got sick as a infant, in fact her first illness wasn’t until 18 months old. She is about to turn 6 and she still hasn’t had a fever over 100. Oils have been great, and if you don’t believe it just gotta try them for yourself.

Brittany naturally started sharing the oils with her friends; a lot of her friends saw her as the “crazy” crunchy witch doctor often coming to her asking for advice or looking for more natural ways to combat everyday issues with their kids. She soon realized that you could do Young Living as a business. It seemed crazy that you could make money sharing and educating friends about oils, eventually turning into a full blown business. It seemed too good to be true. But It would be silly not to try given that we truly loved the product and saw the amazing results with my own family and others.

When you believe in something you share it.

Hard Work

I saw Young Living as our way out, a way to the farm, a way out of student debt! The best part about my business is that I’ve grown an amazing community of friends who are all on the same journey of wanting to be well naturally. My friends and I have changed lives together. We’ve changed the course of health for many families. What is better then that, knowing that you’ve made a difference in the lives of others for the better.

Having my own business has been one of the hardest and most rewarding, joyful experiences ever. Fast forward to 2017, 2 years after starting my Young Living business full time we’ve been able to pay down our student debt and we was now shopping for a farm! In February of 2018 we became 100% student debt free.

The Move

We moved to Tennessee in the fall of 2017 after 8 months of searching. We’ve now have been here for 2 years and it is honestly crazy how fast time goes. It’s been one wild ride! Looking back on it, we wouldn’t change a thing. Becoming home/farm owners, moving to the country, continuing to figure out how to keep growing our business, and owning animals hasn’t been easy. It’s definitely had its challenges, hardships, and it’s joys, but it’s all been worth it.

In February of 2018 Anthony quit his job to be home full time. Going from being a 2 household income back down to 1 again has been hard. But for us it’s so worth it. Our families priority was togetherness. We wanted to be together, and if that means projects on the farm will take longer to get done or not move as fast as we like, then that is ok.

And here we are 2 years later after we bought our farm finally telling our story. We’ve learned a lot in the last two years, and experienced some crazy stuff. You really just never know whats going to happen when you live in a old house and on a farm with 100+ animals. Every day is truly an adventure. And we are excited to share with you all that we’ve learned!