Humble Beginnings
I was raised on a dairy farm in Allegany County, NY. The cows were my friends, as were the goslings, barn cats, and trusty canine companions.
I feel so fortunate to have grown up with room to roam, in a place where I developed a reverence for life and death, a place where we whistled and sang while we worked and where the noise of the modern world was distant and muffled.
As a young adult, I studied Liberal Arts with a concentration in agriculture at Alfred State College, started a farmers market in Canaseraga, worked for my parents and other farmers throughout Allegany County, and had a flock of sheep that I grazed around the neighborhood and on my parents' land. I sold my sheep in 2016 but remained active in the agriculture community. I provided respite to farmers, looking after their farms and their families while they took a break from the farm.​
Coming of Age in Rural America
​Knowing firsthand and secondhand about the joys and challenges of farming, I returned to college and studied intergenerational farm transitions and aging in rural areas. I came to better understand the complex dynamics that impact rural communities. Upon graduating with a B.S. in Aging Studies, I worked for two and a half years in a rural community, serving as a care manager for older adults aging-in-place, deepening my fondness for rural folks and our incredibly resourceful and adaptive way of life, and learning what resources exist to promote rural resilience.​​
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Studying Rural America from
a Global Perspective
​It's been eight years since I've had sheep of my own, and I feel like, in their absence, a part of me is missing. I plan to start a flock of sheep in 2025 and offer contract grazing to nearby livestock owners. The number of sheep I keep will depend on how much land we are managing for the year, how much land and water we have access to in the coming years, what other things I am juggling in my life at the time, what income streams I have, as I know it's best for the animals, land, water, my family, my community, and me when we can achieve a healthy balance, refresh each other rather than deplete each other.​