We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Eady a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Stephanie, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Resilience isn’t something you inherent. It is learned. I wholeheartedly believe that the resilience I do have has come from surviving all of the bad days and all of my failures. We all have them. I have been brought to my knees more times than I can count. I just try to keep reminding myself that these moments are necessary for growth. I have always been a strong willed and determined person, but I am still human. When things go all wrong, when it feels like life is kicking you while you’re down sometimes you just have to embrace it and appreciate it. Give thanks for those moments. It’s okay to have bad days, give yourself a short period of time to accept it. Then use it as fuel to rise up and overcome. Keep getting up even you it feels like you can’t. When those failures or bad days knock you you down, take a little break and prepare to come back even better.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
After spending many years as registered nurse I decided I needed a change. I really just struggled to find contentment and purpose. My nursing career had left me burned out. After a lot of soul searching and even more praying, I said goodbye to my career and took a huge leap of faith.
Together with my husband, Rich, and our family we own and operate Legacy Farm and Cattle Co. in the thumb area of Michigan. For many years it was just a hobby. Our kids grew up in 4H and FFA and we also loved growing our own food. As I began searching for myself and my new path, the garden we grew kept getting bigger. I do can and preserve a lot of food, but we had grown much more than we could use. It just made sense to share it with family, friends, and neighbors in the community. I never imagined that people would come down our dusty dirt road to grab a couple of tomatoes and zucchini. But they did! What started as a free will donation on a wood table has turned into a new career.
We are passionate about providing locally grown food options for our community. By raising beef cattle, chickens, and growing a wide variety of produce we are able to know exactly what is in the food we eat and sell. Now, more than ever, people are realizing the importance of knowing where their food comes from and also joining the movement of supporting local small businesses. It has been such an amazing journey and we love sharing part of our life with our local customers through social media.
In addition to our small farm stand and farm market appearances, our CSA (community supported agriculture) program is something we are immensely proud of. We have just launched our third season. The program invites consumers to become part of the agricultural process. The idea behind a CSA program is that members and farmers partner together and share the risk of growing food as well as all of the benefits of the harvest. Our members receive a box filled with fresh, locally grown seasonal produce once a week throughout our growing season. They also have opportunities to get eggs, baked goods, fresh cut flowers, and other farm goods. Throughout the season we share with our members the updates on success and failures of our crops and some of the adventures of farming. We build a small community with our members coming together to share recipes, tips for using ingredients, and even asking advice. I love helping people discover new food, but even more, helping them discover the difference of fresh local food grown with passion and love.
While I do casually work as a nurse to stay active in the medical field, my heart is at home on the farm.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Faith, perseverance, and the desire to learn.
Have faith in God and yourself. Doing new things is scary, so is following the little voice in your heart when it doesn’t always make sense. Don’t be afraid to walk blindly and trust that things will work out even when they don’t seem to be working out.
Be strong and persevere. Learn from your mistakes and failures but don’t give up. Don’t listen to the negativity. Not from your mind or the mouths of others.
Never stop learning. Whether it is practicing, training, studying, or trying a new way, it is all necessary for continuous growth and future successes. Fully surround yourself, whenever possible, with where or what you want to be and achieve in the future. Learn everything you can from those doing what you want to do. Don’t settle for mediocrity.
On my personal journey I have spent countless hours learning and experimenting with different way to grow things, watching videos from experts in the field, and attending conferences and classes. I didn’t grow up on a farm and had never run a business. There has been so much to learn in several different aspects. But, I’ve had to learn the most about myself.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
My parents raised me to believe that I could do anything if I put my mind to it and worked hard to achieve it.
From a young age if I wanted something, I had to work for it. This created a sense of not only responsibility for what I accomplished, but the ability to value what I had earned. A sense of entitlement is an ugly and dangerous attribute.
They have always encouraged and supported me in my crazy ideas but gave me a voice of reason when I needed it. One of the best things that my parents did for me was to let me fail. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t with cruel intention and I know it wasn’t easy to do. We learn so much more from our failures than from our successes. They let me get things wrong, sometimes really wrong. But, they were always there for me to help me find my way out of it. I truly believe that without them, their unconditional love, and strong parenting I wouldn’t be half the person that I am today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.legacyfarmandcattle.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legacyfarmcc?igsh=bjNrMGk3MTJseHYz&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15wL7rqqZz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Image Credits
Twisted Peep Media
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