"Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
-Mary Oliver
We are often asked, “Why?”
“Why did you leave the beautiful home you built on Long Island and move to Asia?”
“Why did you leave your life of adventure in Hong Kong and move to Wyoming?”
“Why did you leave your mountain sanctuary in Jackson Hole and move back to New York?”
“Why…after all those transitions…did you start a farm?”
The answer to why we moved around the world and back is as complex as it is long, but we said, “Yes” to adventure, and watched our lives transform from the inside-out.
Our farm in Bedford, New York manifested from the desire to plant deep roots and raise our kids close to the earth—guiding principles gleaned from a renewed perspective on what we choose to do with our “one wild and precious life.”
I notice that, the “Why?” question is always followed by the “How?”
“How did you become farmers who are stewards of animals and nearly 60 acres of land — with ALL those children you are raising?”
“How?” is the question I don’t have a clear or direct answer for. Rather, many times I had to remind myself, “Don’t worry about the how,” beginning with the day we boarded an airplane with a one-way ticket to Asia and four little kids in tow. It seems our journey was always led by our intentions and the influence of something beyond—Universe, God, Source—that has had a hand in the co-creation of our unplanned adventures and the intentional life worth living we’ve settled into here at La Suvera Farm.
Now, I could start at the beginning to tell you the “before we were farmers” story—about how a Radio City Rockette fell in love with a Hedge Fund Manager in NYC. Which is to say, we are far way away from our urban beginnings under those neon lights of accomplishment when we are out feeding chickens, mucking a stall, or tying up tomato plants. Since we are not generational farmers, we do spend a lot of time wondering what we are doing and if it’s going to work.
We’re always willing to try, drawing on our individual strengths to give it a go—from a mudroom filled with baby chicks to a paddock of rescue horses and the sheep who now graze alongside them. Eddie quietly manages the bigger vision and financial structures while I tackle the details as the creative nurturer with a passion for storytelling. It’s not always ideal, but when we’re not failing forward, we’re celebrating small victories—like when we figured out how to change a tractor implement and rode around the property laughing while blasting the country song, “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” Then, we got to work tilling the field for our first season of planting, which would make our vision to grow and give at La Suvera Farm a reality.
In hindsight, I can see how the path that led us to farm life had as much to do with letting go of what no longer served us as it did with listening to and following inner wisdom—the quiet voice of Knowing—that seems to eternally guide us into the great unknown. There, the only way to transcend the familiar constriction of fear is to take one small conscious step forward, with the expansiveness of love, and then the next. At least, that’s “how” we created a work-in-progress farm selling flowers, eggs, produce, and a growing line of products.
Although the creation of La Suvera Farm reads like a manifestation manual, the other half of the story is about the harder things of life that pushed us in the direction of where we are now—further away from all the things we “think” we should do and closer to alignment with what we are “meant” to do.
The challenging and competitive nature of the farming industry led us to reevaluate our plans and cultivate our foundational belief that there is room for all of us to thrive with a little creativity and a willingness to gather the goodness in every moment.
A simple shift in perspective transformed my grown + foraged flowers into unique arrangements; a long-abandoned garden became a chicken coop where our ladies have room to wander while making our free range + organic eggs; and the overly abundant tomatoes stretched us beyond our partnership with local markets to doorstep deliveries of our homegrown + biodynamic produce.
Our meditation oils will soon be available for purchase, and we’ve begun to research YouTube videos on “how to shear a sheep” in preparation for our spring expansion when the lilacs, cherry blossoms, and tulips usher in another season of beauty and adventure.
With eternal gratitude, we are loving the questions and living the stories of perspective + possibility you’ll find here at La Suvera Farm as we continue to grow and give, flourishing in our sovereign way of being.
This is our legacy of love.
