Hello dear friends! I’m finding it a bit ironic to be writing this blog when the last one we published was also an introduction blog. So much has happened between then and now that it seems necessary to take a brief walk down memory lane and let you know where we started and where we intend to go from here!

Our names are John and Emily Crain, and if you’re reading a blog or Facebook post you’re most likely reading my (Emily’s) handiwork. While John is the “boss” in the barn, I am the “boss” for our social media accounts. This works great for us and keeps us from having “too many cooks in the kitchen” as the saying goes. While we enter every new endeavor side-by-side, there have to be clear lines on who makes the final decision for each project or aspect of our business since we work as a team a significant portion of the time.

The journey that led us to today started and Michigan State University as college students. While we did meet in college we did not meet because of college. John has a certificate in Ag Industries and I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Animal Science. Both degrees help us do what we do but we are constantly learning from current experts in our industry to stay up on the latest and greatest information and techniques! We started feeding cattle at a farm in St. Johns and, at the time, figured we would live there all of our lives.

Fast-forward about 4 years and we were just thinking about expanding our horizons when we got the phone call that changed everything. We were offered the opportunity to buy a significantly larger operation in a way that we would be able to be successful and pay for it. Feeling like we were sprinting through life, the next couple of months were a bit of a blur. As the pieces fell in place, it became obvious our entire life would be relocating to Breckenridge, MI in a fairly short time frame. The perfect house became available and with lots of prayers, help from our parents, and a fair bit of determination we picked up our family and farm (including several hundred cattle, 1 horse, and 2 chickens) we moved up to our new house just a half-mile from our new farm in Breckenridge!

Adjusting to an operation a bit over four times larger than our previous one has not always been easy, we’ve definitely had a steep learning curve and are thankful for the help of the previous barn owner to make the transition that much easier. We are definitely where we were meant to be as we see our kids, our animals, and our business thrive and grow each month! Of course, we are realistic, we know there will still be tough times ahead but we also know we will make it through them.

Our future goals include building a business that we can hand down to our children or to another young farmer trying to make their way in the world. We know we wouldn’t be where we are without the help of both of our parents who are always willing to step in and lend a hand in any way they can, or from our friends who always have an ear open if we need to talk or advice. Many prayers have been said and answered by us and on our behalf and for that we are very thankful!

For the future, we are hoping to be able to expand our farm to table business to provide many people with quality and nutritious meat. I am hoping this includes an eventual brick and mortar storefront that we can offer our meat in and a variety of other artisan products! We are working on launching our professional brand for the new cattle barn and want to have a strong customer base so that our pens are always full. Before we retire, we’d like to be able to fill the barn with our own cattle but we might have to sweet talk some bankers to get there! Our cute goat herd is just starting and that may be taking us to a place that we couldn’t have imagined so we’re very excited to see the new opportunities arise from there. We have a lot to learn about goats but the best way to learn is with hands-on experience so we just keep diving in and working hard!

Last, but certainly not least, we want to see our kids thrive and grow into the amazing people that we know they are going to be! While we hope for them both to want to take over our business when it’s time, we know they might have other interests and we will fully support them wherever their lives might lead. As a family, we hope to grow in faith, trust, and each other so that during the lean times we know we always have a support system and a safe place we can go when the world gets too loud. We can’t wait to share our adventures with you and we hope that you enjoy reading and seeing what we’re up to on, hopefully, a more consistent basis!

Check back often and we hope to talk to you all very soon!