BLUFFTON, Ind. – Although neither Sara nor Josh Smith grew up on a farm – Sam was actually a city kid – they liked the farming lifestyle. So, in the spring of 2014, they got some land, started farming, and never looked back. They call the farm Wholesome Meadows.

Now they farm about 130 acres that they own and rent. Their main focus is on livestock. They have 1,100-1,200 laying hens and raise around 2,000-3,000 broiler chickens every year. They finish a dozen beef cattle and 25 to 30 hogs a year.

“We also raise a couple acres of pumpkins, around a half-acre of produce, and 90 acres of non-GMO grain, corn, soybeans and wheat,” Josh said.

When they wanted to add more row crops, they found a farm close to their home farm that would have allowed them to expand. So they went to Iroquois Valley, an organic, regenerative farmland finance company that provides farmer-friendly leases.

“They purchased that farm for us, and they are letting us rent it from them,” Josh said. “They have very good terms and a long-term contract, so we have that security. In the future, we have the option to purchase the property. It has helped us be able to expand without having the resources to purchase this farm on our own at this time.”

They are transitioning to organic on the home farm and the rental property and should be certified next year.

Sara added that they have always farmed organically; they just weren’t certified.

 “That’s what we feed our family, so we want the food that we sell to be food that we would feed our family,” she said.

Their kids, Isaac, age 9, Sadie, 8, and Cora, 5, help with farm chores.

“We started paying them a little bit so that definitely helps with the motivation,” Sara said. “We are teaching them, okay, how do you handle the money that you are making? And now that you’re getting paid, here are some requirements that need to be met. We are kind of preparing them for when they get older and get a job, they will already know the expectations.”

They can definitely help with the eggs, probably the farm’s biggest seller. Those layers produce about 500 dozen eggs a week. That’s a lot of eggs to wash.

“We get compliments from our customers that our eggs are the best they’ve ever had,” Josh said. “We get a lot of word-of-mouth advertisement that way.”

They market their products at the Fort Wayne Farmers Market, at their farm, and online through an organization called Market Wagon.

“They have a hub in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne,” Sara said. “The customers go to their website and they order our products and every Thursday we go to those two hubs and drop off everything they ordered. Then they have drivers who deliver the bags to the customers. We just pay them a percentage and they do all of the work for us.”

That’s just one way that the family builds a little more freedom and flexibility into their schedule, and that freedom and flexibility is one thing they like about the farming lifestyle.

“That, and being able to work with your family,” Josh said. “We love being outside, the fresh air, the sunshine, the dirt.”

Sara added that since they homeschool, Josh can sometimes be there for part of the school day.

The downside of farming is that with livestock, even on Christmas Day, there are chores, and they never get to take a vacation. Yet they have no regrets about their choice to farm.

“We were looking for a better way of life for our family and a good environment for our children to teach them the value of hard work,” Josh said. “We were also looking for a career change, a way to earn money working at home with the family. We are blessed to both be full-time on the farm. I do a little bit of contracting work in the off-season, but we could wholly survive on the farm.”

Iroquois Valley is a real estate investment trust (REIT) and a public benefit corporation that is in the business of helping farmers like Josh and Sara to be successful. Founded in 2007, they have invested in more than 70 farmers in 20 states, covering 36,600 acres of farmland. Most of that land is in the Midwest, largely in Indiana and Illinois.