Keira grew up in Princeton, Massachusetts. Her grandparents and uncle live in NWA and have a small hobby farm. During a visit, she expressed an interest in farming while the family sat around the dinner table. They immediately encouraged and supported her, offering a farming plot and a tiny home. It was everything needed for Keira and her fiancée to relocate and try it. After moving, she discovered that there was just a month left to apply for the CAFF Farm School, so she decided to dive in.
Keira worked on a farm back in New England for one season, and loved it immediately, feeling grounded and peaceful. It brought a sense of fulfillment. She describes it as energizing, even when working hard, exhausted, and dirty. The farming folks encountered were all very friendly and lovely to be around. She appreciated the direct correlation between producing something and the work you put into it.
Keira remembers the day when she realized farm life was definitely for her. Her farm crew had been working in sweltering heat, harvesting all day to pack CSA boxes and get them out. The last task was to trellis overgrown tomatoes. There wasn’t even a path through them. It was hot, and everyone was run down and tired. They decided to put on music and then started competing over who could trellis tomatoes the fastest. Next, it began to rain, and they were all getting drenched. “It was a moment when the situation was tough, but we made the best of it,” says Keira. “That‘s when I realized that a bad day farming is better than a good day anywhere else I had worked at. It was the day I decided farming was for me.”
Afterward, she seriously considered farming as a future life path. Her boss, Jacob, explained crop planning and what it took to run a farm business. She was fascinated and eager to learn more. Unfortunately, the seasonal position had reached its end. But the farming experience stayed with Keira.
“I was a bit restless early on when it came to careers. I bounced around looking for a good fit,” she says. Initially attending tech school, she learned to build houses. Then she enlisted in the army, learning to drive large trucks. Afterward, was a long-term substitute teaching position for a lower-income community and worked with children on the autism spectrum. However, farming kept returning as a passion to explore with potential and the lifestyle she wanted. So, when her family offered the opportunity to try farming, it was the clincher. Keira and her fiancé moved to Arkansas and are now excited about the future opportunities in farming.
Initially, there was only one hesitation about the CAFF Farm School. Keira never envisioned herself as a small business owner when imagining farming. Marketing and business finances were a mystery. What if she hated that part? But CAFF has shown her how interesting and engaging even those aspects of farming can be. It’s given her a different perspective on what she is capable of. That’s why she thinks the CAFF program is so valuable. “Words don’t do it justice,” she says, “the instructors genuinely care about each student and the ideas they bring to the table. They want to help us succeed and achieve our goals and vision. There is much to learn about running a farm and just as much encouragement in this program.”
Keira also recommends CAFF for the general farming knowledge and practical fieldwork skills. She advises anyone considering it to get some farm experience first to see if farm work is for them. “You can tell if it’s something you want to do long-term when you are in the worst of it. When it’s busy, hot, and the equipment breaks down. Sometimes crops fail. Failure is inevitable in farming and is the best way to learn. You won’t know if you are cut out for it until you try. Get some experience and don’t be afraid of failure. You’ll know pretty quickly if you love it or not.”
This is one of the reasons that CAFF offers several volunteer days throughout the year. It provides people with an opportunity to see if farming is for them. These are listed on the CAFF Events page, or you can sign up to receive our monthly newsletter or texts about upcoming events. CAFF also has the FarmWorks program, which matches job seekers with farmers who have open positions.
One thing that surprised and impressed Keira was the strength of the farming community here. “Networking and support are so valuable,” she says. “We tour farms and meet established farmers, who are so willing to be supportive. They share their knowledge and experience.”
Keira would like to provide saffron to the regional markets someday. Currently, it’s primarily imported from the Middle East. “It’s such a valuable and health-forward crop. I’d love to help people get healthy again through the foods they are eating. Saffron is good for anxiety, sleep, and many other things. I’m passionate about finding a way to produce it here. It’s difficult but not unachievable.” Keira’s interest also extends to other Middle Eastern herbs like cardamom. “These herbs are often priced out of the budgets of many who could benefit from them, “ she says, “I’d like to change that.”
Keira’s fiancé is also passionate about herbs and food. He works as a chef at an upscale French restaurant in Fayetteville. “I’m so thankful for my fiancé Joe. I was apprehensive about moving here and going for this. But he encouraged me. None of this would have happened without his support. He uprooted his life for us to come here. Thankfully, he loves it here just as much as I do.” Keira says they’d like to someday combine their passions with a farm-to-table restaurant, serving what they grow on their farm.
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