08/07/2026
Hi, everyone. 💚🌿
With almost 700 of you following along now, I realized I’ve never properly introduced myself or shared the story behind The Little Farm That Could…
I’m Makenzie, the wife, mama, bonus mama, gardener, baker, canner, label maker, dish washer, dough mixer, and everything in between behind this little farm stand.
Over the last several months, life has been wonderfully busy. While opening the stand, I was also finishing the final semester of my Master’s of Public Health. My graduate work has focused on child safety, specifically developing a systems-level framework to help identify risk factors for child maltreatment in split-custody and multi-household family situations. It has been one of the most meaningful—and emotionally challenging—projects I’ve ever worked on, and it’s required countless hours of research, writing, and refinement.
At the same time, I’ve been balancing family life, preparing the homeschool curriculum for our youngest daughter, walking through some unexpected family emergencies, and somehow trying to figure out how to bake for far more people than I ever imagined. 😅
So first…
Thank you.
Thank you for your patience.
Thank you for your encouragement.
Thank you for showing up every weekend.
Thank you for supporting a dream that was once just a quiet prayer in a backyard garden.
Because that’s really where this story begins.
Years ago, our goal was simple.
We wanted to grow as much of the food we regularly bought from the grocery store as we could ourselves. It was a way to save money, spend more time together as a family, and learn something new.
Then one season became two.
The harvests became bigger.
The garden became larger.
And somewhere along the way, the garden became my happy place.
As the produce kept coming in, I started learning how to can, preserve, and jar everything we couldn’t possibly eat fresh. Every year there seemed to be more tomatoes, more peppers, more squash, more herbs… and somehow, less room in the pantry.
Baking has always been another love of mine.
I owe that to the incredible women who came before me. They taught me that food has a way of bringing people together unlike anything else.
I’m certainly not a professionally trained baker, but over the years my recipe notebook grew thicker and thicker. Around the holidays I’d gift homemade breads, baked goods, jams, and canned goodies to family and friends.
Eventually those gifts turned into, “Can I buy one of those?”
Then another.
Then another.
Before long our freezers, refrigerators, shelves, and pantry were completely overflowing with homemade food.
One afternoon, while standing in the middle of the garden feeling completely overwhelmed by another huge harvest, I prayed.
Not a fancy prayer.
Just an honest one.
“Lord… what am I supposed to do with all of this?”
The answer wasn’t immediate, but over time the idea of a little roadside farm stand kept finding its way back into my heart.
I thought about it for nearly a year and a half.
I talked myself into it.
I talked myself out of it.
Then I finally asked our local community what they thought.
The support was overwhelming.
So I prayed again.
Then came the hardest question…
“What would I even call it?”
I stepped back and asked myself another question instead:
“What matters most?”
The answer was easy.
My faith.
My husband.
My daughters.
My family.
Serving the people God places in our path.
One evening after bedtime stories, the name simply came together.
The Little Farm That Could.
Because we aren’t a thousand-acre operation.
We’re just one little family with a backyard garden, a whole lot of faith, and a desire to share what we’ve been blessed with.
Every loaf of bread…
Every jar…
Every cinnamon roll…
Every bouquet…
Every new idea…
…has been built from that simple foundation.
These first few weeks have been the biggest learning experience of my life.
I’ve never baked at the volume I’m baking now.
I’ve burned cookies.
Rolled cinnamon rolls too thin.
Had recipes that needed tweaking.
Learned how differently dough behaves when you’re making twelve loaves instead of two.
If you’ve ever purchased something that wasn’t quite up to the standard I hold myself to, I promise you—I noticed it before you probably did. 😂
I’m my own biggest critic, and every single weekend teaches me something new that makes the next one a little better.
And here’s the part I’m most excited to share…
I have officially wrapped up the final pieces of my master’s degree.
After months of balancing graduate school, family, homeschool planning, and launching this little business all at the same time, I’m finally able to pour my heart into this farm stand the way I’ve wanted to from the very beginning.
I have so many ideas that I haven’t had the time to bring to life yet, and I truly cannot wait to share them with you.
One idea I’ve been considering is opening the stand one or two weekday mornings with fresh coffee and grab-and-go breakfast items for those busy school and work mornings.
Would that be something you’d be interested in? I’d love to hear your thoughts! 💚
If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this post…
Thank you.
Whether you’ve purchased a loaf of bread, shared a Facebook post, prayed for our family, stopped by to chat, or simply followed along from the beginning—you’ve helped make this little dream of mine, possible.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in us.
Here’s to growing good food, making homemade things with love, serving our community, and seeing where God leads us next. We can’t wait to welcome you all this weekend 🫶🏻
With love,
Makenzie
The Little Farm That Could 🌿💚
