Livestock farmer stories, tips, and resources for success.
Choosing to Farm: New Generation Stories

Recent Episodes

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Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting Climb Mountains and Diversify
April 13, 2024

Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting Climb Mountains and Diversify

I describe farming as really just one long extended expedition. It's very much like a mountaineering expedition where you wake up every day, you're working outside. You have problems, often new problems that crop up at least…
Haley Goulet Educates Her Community
April 6, 2024

Haley Goulet Educates Her Community

Watching them [kids] come to the farm; at first, it can be quite challenging. There is definitely an arc of sort of comfortableness just with being outside doing chores, hard manual labor. That takes a minute for a lot of ki…
Toby & Melissa Malandrinos Pick Their Battles
April 3, 2024

Toby & Melissa Malandrinos Pick Their Battles

I remember being seven or eight years old and drawing… having construction paper, big rolls of paper all over the living room floor, drawing pictures of where my cows and my sheep and my chickens would go on my future farm.—…
Zan and Kimberly Walker-Goncalves Circle Back to their Roots
March 27, 2024

Zan and Kimberly Walker-Goncalves Circle Back to their Roots

We had bought this house in Brattleboro. We'd bought the truck. We bought the sheep. We bought dogs. We did all of this long before COVID hit, but then we were like, okay, this is our pandemic project.—Kimberly Kimberly and …
Nicolle Ferrier Breeds Fowl for the Future
Feb. 15, 2024

Nicolle Ferrier Breeds Fowl for the Future

I've wanted to quit about a hundred gazillion times, a lot- a lot. But I want to do what I love. So that is the key, right? To do what we love. And this is what I love to do. It comes with difficulties and it comes with rew…
Jon Turner Helps to Heal
Feb. 7, 2024

Jon Turner Helps to Heal

There is a legacy throughout my family of having at least one member who served in all major conflicts back to the Revolutionary War. The other side of that coin is they were all farmers, homesteaders and innovators of their…
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Recent Blog Posts

March 14-Vision Quest! A Live Online Opportunity

Do you feel like you’re putting one step in front of another in the same line every day, with no change in sight? Do you wonder what you might want to do differently…anyway? You’re not alone. Many of us want a dif…

Five-Stars Farmstay Course is Open!

Have you been thinking about adding overnight stays to your farm or ranch business? Here’s a way to help you host Five-Star Farmstays WITHOUT reinventing the wheel. You can add a steady stream of income to your farm or ranch that does not de…

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About the Host

Jenn ColbyProfile Photo

Jenn Colby

Founder/Host

Jenn Colby has spent over 25 years helping livestock farmers find success and quality of life through non-profit, academic, Extension, and community roles. She writes, farms, consults, and hosts the Choosing to Farm podcast from her home base of Howling Wolf Farm in Vermont.

Reviews

Great, easy to listen to podcast

"I’m a new listener and I am really enjoying Jenn’s guests and her interviewing style. Authentic and very listenable."

Rebekah | Jan. 11, 2024

Legendary Interview

"This was Jenn and Brent Beidler on choosing NOT to farm--his leaving farming, at least for now. I have known him as a superb farmer, bought grain and flowers from him--was startled to hear he'd left…"

Josie Carothers | April 24, 2023
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