Today we’d like to introduce you to Dayna Geraghty.
Dayna, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My now husband, Josh, and I met at a local CrossFit gym in 2014. We were both extremely invested in our health. Our free time was filled with training for CrossFit/weightlifting competitions, weekend hikes, day long bike rides and anything else we could think of to push ourselves physically.
After a few years of dating and now newly engaged, we both realized we longed for more. We wanted to take another step further in taking our health into our own hands. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we started looking for a piece of property to hopefully start the process of growing our own food. We had spent years watching homesteading vlogs together and felt really drawn to that lifestyle.
We stumbled upon a property that we instantly fell in love with. A blank slate if you will. All that sat on it was a brick rancher, a little bit of acreage with 360 degrees of open pasture & gorgeous mountain views.
We wasted zero time jumping into the homesteading life. We purchased our first chickens, cows, goats, tried….and failed to grow a garden. We experienced many failures. We battled frustrations with such a steep learning curve as neither one of us grew up on our farm, the long days that accompanied it & trying to decide which direction was best for us.
Josh and I are extremely similar in our outlooks on things we do in life. It’s all or nothing. It’s a trait I’ve adored about him since we met. No idea I have ever thought of was too crazy or too bold; same for all the ideas he brings.
Originally we thought we’d just share the process with friends and family on social media. It was shocking that we started receiving messages on how to purchase what we were growing. Starting a business was something that never crossed our minds… in all honesty.
Sleepless nights, hours of research, finding mentors & learning the hard way led us to today. From failing miserably to grow a single vegetable in our garden to providing 25 local families a CSA Share 20 weeks out of the year. To never owning livestock to raising a large flock of laying hens, meat chickens, beef cattle, KuneKune pigs & the recent addition of lambs. To holding workshops on the farm to help others learn to homestead themselves.
One evening doing chores I voiced to Josh that if we really wanted to get into selling our own products we’d need to figure out a different way to approach things.
I didn’t really think Josh would go for it. I pitched an idea to convert our two car garage into an on-farm market. His first questions was “But who would come buy our things?” I told him I wasn’t quite sure anyone would show up…. but I promised to try my hardest to advertise our farm and our story using social media outlets.
So, like the crazy people we are, we rushed to convert our two car garage that was full of storage into our very on-farm market.
I announced our very first market Sunday for August 29th 2021. To our surprise we were flooded with about 150 friends and family – some we hadn’t seen in years and several people we never met before stopped by the farm to learn about what we were up to. It was a day full of emotions as we didn’t expect to receive the support we did that day.
Ever since that first market day we have constantly improved our setup, the products we offer & expanded into supporting other local small businesses.
Since the first market Sunday we continue to open our garage turned farm market every Friday & Sunday of the year. we’ve also expanded to online ordering for contactless pick up here on the farm.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This road has been anything but smooth, it has been a very eye opening and humbling experience.
Generational farmers didn’t believe in our mission…. & for good reason. I was a little naive just how taxing (mentally, physically, financially) this journey would be. This lifestyle isn’t for your average family, it takes true grit and determination to get through those hard days.
In the beginning Josh and I both still worked full-time jobs off the farm. In 2020 we welcomed our first child. Sleepless nights, never ending to do lists, they all start to pile up on you. There were days that felt impossible. Truly. I always tell people if we didn’t truly love what we did and believe our mission of “your food deserves better” to our core, we would’ve quit a long time ago.
We had a shift in 2022 where something had to give. We couldn’t keep up. We were TIRED. We both still worked full time, the farm was expanding at a rapid rate (in the first 3 years we doubled what we produced every single year) & we were planning on having another child.
We sat down and had a serious talk. Was this just a hobby & did we need to scale back? Or are we going into this 100%?
Josh had a true passion for architecture, and worked in the field over 10 years. If we decided to keep expanding the farm, one of us had to say goodbye to a field we loved. It wasn’t an easy decision. In our hearts we knew this was our calling. Our purpose. Josh decided to leave a career he excelled at and genuinely loved because we both knew the potential for us, our children to stay right here at home, & what we could provide our community.
In 2023 that day came where Josh didn’t have to be away from the farm for 12 hours a day. His new title of stay at home dad & full time farmer brings him a sense of purpose he was missing.
There’s still hard days and a lot to juggle, as I still work off farm full time. With that said, that change has allowed us to manage the stresses better.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Josh and I started Geraghty’s Micro Farm because we realized we had a huge disconnect with our food. We had no idea what it was fed, it’s living conditions, or how it was treated. We realized our food deserved better. For us, we had the drive to do it all ourselves. We wanted to make every decision that went into the process.
We should all want to know our farmers. If you don’t currently get your produce, meats, eggs etc from a neighbor I urge you to reach out to one. Josh and I can’t feed the entire world but we can feed our local community. And that, I’m proud of.
What does success mean to you?
I understand that success looks different to everyone.
Josh and I both had very, very “successful” careers off the farm. We both continued to learn, receive promotions & earn a larger salary.
But for what? To spend your days away from your loved ones? Earn more money, just to spend it on materialistic things that we didn’t truly care about?
Our mindset shifted when we bought our property in 2017. We longed for more time together. Living a “slower” life on the farm. Doing more, with less.
Success to our family is driven by togetherness. Enjoying the mundane, repetitive tasks because that means we get to spend it together. Day after day we work towards better serving our community, our neighbors all while feeling an overwhelming sense of purpose. That’s what success looks like to us.
Pricing:
- https://www.gmicrofarm.com/onlineordering
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gmicrofarm.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geraghtysmicrofarm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeraghtysMicroFarm/
