Aug 5, 2019
Ray Tyler farms and educates at Rose Creek Farms in Selmer, TN with his wife Ashley and their children. In this interview, we break down how Ray got started farming, their drastic shift into a much more focused production, their diverse marketing to make it in a very rural area of the country, and the challenges they have faced along the way.
In This Episode:
>> The big change that Ray made in 2015 to simplify his life
and give him back time on his farm
>> How they attract and keep high-quality help on their farm
and who Ray likes to hire
>> The niche marketing channels that Ray is seeing explode
for them and how they make that work for their farm.
>> The importance of a mentor and how to make sure you value
their input
Full Bio
Ray started farming full time in 2009. At first, it was a wide
focus with tractors, vegetables, animals and more which resulted in
an extremely chaotic lifestyle. Early in the spring of 2015 right
at transplant season, Ray and Ashley’s 6-year-old daughter was
diagnosed with a very aggressive life-threatening stage 4
cancer.
After a radical diet and lifestyle change that followed their
daughter’s health crisis they started to consume large amounts of
Vegetables, a lot less meat and in the fall of 2015 we made a leap
of faith to sell their meat business, stop using a tractor, and
farm using only one acre.
By focusing on creating better growing systems in their produce
operation and changing their farming practices, Rose Creek farms
now focuses on year-round production, a near weed-free farm and
being really aggressive and creative about their sales outlets they
have been able to live a sustainable and enjoyable life, rarely
working in the fields more than 8 hours a day.