Everyone has a story. Like most stories, the one about how our family got into farming took a few twists and turns along the way but eventually led us back home and back to a simpler and better way of life.
It eventually led us to Our Way.
Nichel (pronounced like Michelle, but with a “N”) grew up in Nassau, Bahamas and had no idea that she would eventually end up on a farm raising livestock. She came to the United States to attend college and pursue a degree in Graphic Design. Somewhere along the way, she met Justin and the two started talking here and there.
Justin grew up on a dirt road in Zephyrhills, a small town outside of the Tampa Bay area in Florida. As a teenager, he raised pigs and cows and showed them each year at the county fair. It was enjoyable, but wasn’t something that he thought he’d do in the future. After high school, Justin moved to the Clearwater area where he too pursued a degree in Graphic Design.
Nichel and Justin eventually started dating and were married a few years later. They both went into the workforce and began the ‘standard’ way of living. They had a nice house, with nice neighbors just a few feet away. They had cars that weren’t new, but were only a few years old. They had a beautiful baby girl that attended daycare while mom and dad both worked.
Moving forward- and moving back home…
In 2011 Nichel and Justin stumbled upon the opportunity to purchase seven acres of land on the same dirt road that Justin grew up on. It was literally next door to the house he grew up in, and the house that his dad lives in currently. Frustrated with the traffic in Pinellas County, and frustrated with the day-to-day grind of their jobs, they wanted more than what the city had to offer. They wanted to try things a different way, their way. It would take a few years, but they would eventually end up back on that ol’ dirt road.
In 2013, Nichel and Justin were blessed with their second baby girl. It was at this time that they got serious about making changes in their life. They sold their home in the city and moved to Zephyrhills. Nichel gave up her job so that she could stay at home with the kids and help shape their life in a more meaningful way. Immediately after moving to the property, Nichel and Justin started improving the land and building infrastructure to turn their raw land into a working farm.
The chicken came first, then the egg.
Shortly after starting their new life, Nichel and Justin purchased their first batch of layer chickens from the local feed store. Six months later, they had their first eggs from their flock. They quickly realized the difference that authentic, farm-fresh, and local food makes. After friends and family saw and tasted the difference, Nichel and Justin started to build a small but loyal customer base for their eggs.
In 2017 Nichel and Justin made things official and launched Our Way Farms, LLC with the intention of bringing fresh, high-quality food to their community. They expanded from offering just eggs and began offering pasture-raised chicken and turkey to their customers. This ‘real’ food was free from antibiotics and horomones. It didn’t use traditional methods where thousands of animals were crammed into confined feed-lot operations. It didn’t rely on GMO grains and feeds that were sprayed with dangerous poisons. It was a different way of doing things, and continues to be different even to this day.
It’s a different way. It’s a better way. It’s Our Way.