Off-Farm Income

Our guest today is currently serving as the State FFA Reporter in Illinois.  Lauren Mohr grew up in Illinois with a strong legacy of farming and the FFA in her family.  In addition to watching her older brothers in their projects, she was working at home with the families sheep flock as well as their business of lambing out ewes for other owners.  Over time she developed a love for the animal live...

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Pat Hanson is the owner and creator of "Memory Lane Crafting Retreat" in Northwest Illinois.  This is a business that was built out of necessity and a love of the farming lifestyle.  Pat's father had a lifelong dream of purchasing his own land farming it, which he made come true in his 50's.  Pat and her family loved the lifestyle so much that they eventually moved out to her father's farm and bui...

Today is a replay that I think you will enjoy very much. It is the story of a remarkable young man who was injured and worked hard to not only come back fully healed but better than ever. He is giving back to the industry he was injured in as a volunteer fire fighter  all while serving as a missionary and running a custom haying operation with his brother. 

Today's interview teaches us a lot of different lessons about entrepreneurship, and our guest is just 15 years old. Trever Montgomery has grown up loving to fish.  Years ago, he had the thought that he might one day make his own "soft plastic" fishing baits.  Like so many ideas, it came into his head, never left but got put on a back shelf somewhere waiting to be pulled off at some point in the fu...

I really respect all of you that keep very tight calving windows and cull cows that fall outside of it.  That is some serious business discipline, and it is well beyond what I have in my own farm business.  My first potential due date for a calf was February 25th.  The first calf born on our place was on March 5th.  As of today, we have three calves on the ground, a bunch of cows that look like th...

Our guest today is just finishing up his sophomore year of high school, but the progress he has made in building his cow herd since beginning it during his freshman year is phenomenal.  Stetson Shook is from a family with a deep farming background in Oklahoma and Kansas, going back to the Oklahoma Land Rush.  His grandparents still farm the family ground in Oklahoma about 45 minutes away from the...

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Catherine Chmelka is an ag teacher and FFA advisor for the David City High School FFA Chapter in David City, Nebraska.  As part of her duties she teaches floriculture and agribusiness.  There was a time in her life that these courses were just necessary evils that she had to endure to move through the agricultural education that she was seeking, both in high school and college.  However, that even...

In today's episode, I replay an interview I did with an extrodinary FFA student who started his own business and then went on to start another. Learn about Hadden Powell and his floral and landscape design business.  Original Show Notes: INTRODUCING HADDEN POWELL! As you have heard me say many times, I really like it when things are efficient, they compliment each other and you see win/win situati...

There is no question that if you make delicious cookies and cupcakes that you have the ingredients for a business.  Who can deny treats like that?  However, how does anyone ever find out that you have the ability to make these items and sell them?  Social media is one really capable platform to make this happen. This is exactly what took place in the formation of Madi Springer's business, Madi's C...

Today is a farm update.  I wish it were a sunnier episode, but I found myself going down the rabbit hole of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the impending drought and shortened irrigation season in the West. More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald:        

Today is my final interview of a long list of very impressive national proficiency finalists and winners.  I couldn't think of a better or more inspirational interview to wrap this up with.  To begin, Ty Williams is a national proficiency winner in the category of "small animal care and production".  He has grown up on and lives on his families cattle ranch in Dawson, Texas, but he also has a pass...

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When I think of Virginia, so many things spring to mind - history, green pastures, beef, mountains, rivers, etc., etc.  I also think of thunderstorms, humidity and lazy evenings beating the heat on a front porch.  I realize that so many of the images that come to mind for me are concoctions of things I have read in books, seen on television or looked at in paintings, but for today's guest I think...

Today I bring to you a replay of an interview I did with an FFA member who is working hard to keep his 100-year family farm operating. They specialize in vegetable roadside stands. This is a fun interview you don't want to miss!

I can remember taking genetics in my senior year of college with my friends Tyler and Becky.  I had changed the emphasis on my animal science major a couple of times, and genetics was the last, really difficult class I was going to have to take in order to graduate.  All semester long I paid close attention to the lecture, took tons of notes and studied nightly to try and keep up.  Meanwhile, my f...

I was just looking at our month ending stats and am blown away by what all of you have done for us in helping to grow this show.  That got me thinking about how well this has been going, and that, of course, brought up thoughts about imposter syndrome and the upper limit challenge.  I want to revisit each of those obstacles to success in today's episode.   Imposter Syndrome Explained: LINK Upper L...

nly in the FFA will you find students who will go out and purchase themselves a bulldozer or a track hoe rather than a pickup when they turn sixteen.  It is part of what I love about interviewing these students.  These young men and women are so forward thinking and responsible that it makes me look back on my time in high school and blush with embarrassment. This is exactly the story of Kale Camp...

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What is your definition of being a teacher, and how do you think it is possible to follow your passion for teaching?  This is an interesting profession as it seems to only have one definition and two outlets.  Definitionally teachers are in a classroom having one one one interactions with pupils and providing them with knowledge.  And the only two outlets seem to be in conventional public schools...

Our guest today, Chris Dible, was a National Proficiency Finalist in 2021, and it is not hard to figure out why.  He understands all the inner workings of his families farm and has a passion for what he does there.  As he was telling me his story, there was an irony that really made me chuckle.  Chris was not allowed to drive tractor on his own until he about 13 years old.  His dad and uncles rest...

The main theme in today's show is that in order to succeed as an entrepreneur, you have to put in time and work. You have to be dedicated to providing a good product and sometimes your expertise is your product. This interview is worth a replay.  

The news broke last week.  Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, is coming to Kuna.  This news has serious implications for Autumm and my future as well as the future of our farming endeavors.  There are some pretty obvious implications as to what this will mean for the community of Kuna as well, and today's farm update is all about trying to farm on the rural/urban interface and in a rapi...

Kylie was a National Proficiency Finalist in 2021 in the category of Fiber & Oil Crop Production.  There is no question why the judges thought she belonged in that top four after hearing her story.  Kylie has been riding around with her parents in the cab of tractors and combines since she was very little.  As she grew up she started getting responsibilities of her own like routine maintenance...