How did you get interested in agriculture? And what are you hoping to gain from your apprenticeship?
May 2025
Imagine this: a young kid, around five or six, carrying a baby blue backpack with a horse embroidered on it (this was pre-bedazzle days, or it would have been covered with gems too). Inside were notebooks with colorful horses running through grassy meadows on their front covers, and horse sketches filled the pages where schoolwork should have been. To top it all off, that kid was wearing a bright yellow sweatshirt with, you guessed it, a horse on it, cowboy boots, and was probably spewing “fun” horse facts to anyone who would listen. This kid was me.
To my parents’ dismay, I never quite grew out of that phase. While I retired most of my horse shirts and notebooks, the passion remained. As I grew up, I continued to carry this unwavering enthusiasm into new spaces and passions like 4-H and FFA. These organizations gave me a window into the world of small scale conventional agriculture. Working with animals and using my hands brought me great satisfaction, but something was missing. As a kid, I spent a lot of time in the wild spaces of western Montana. These touching experiences instilled in me a deep respect and appreciation for the land around me. As I delved deeper into conventional agriculture, I found these lessons challenged. I thought it was just a matter of “toughening up,” so I continued to follow this path and wound up at Montana State University studying livestock management right out of high school.
This is about when my quarter-life crisis hit me. I dropped out of college after a few semesters basing the decision solely on a gut feeling that I was not on my true path. I filled my time with odd jobs, from waitressing to dog training. Even though things were generally stable, I still felt a persistent lack of fulfillment. Each day I questioned where I
was heading with all this. So I did what any young, lost 20-something should do – I went back to my roots.
Turns out, my “roots” took the form of a Craigslist ad calling for a seasonal guide for a nearby outfitter. I had nothing to lose and not much going for me, so I took the leap. It felt like I was resurrecting my horse-obsessed younger self, albeit with a few less horse-embroidered belongings. This job rekindled my passions and set me on a path back into agriculture, inspiring me to re-enroll in school, this time as a sustainable food and farming major, and find other jobs that fell into the agricultural realm. Gradually, doors began to open for me, every opportunity a step closer to who I wanted to be.
Looking back, the winding path makes sense. From a horse-obsessed child to a lost young adult with nowhere to turn but back. Now, as I learn and work within regenerative agriculture, I have found a profound sense of purpose – a journey that began with a blue backpack, and continues with a commitment to healing myself, my community, and our land.