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Laura "Farms" Joins Preston · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, good morning friends, ruminators, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: males and females. It's the Morning Show with Preston, Scottie's
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Osia and Preston. It's Tuesday. Good to be back with
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: you have to take on a long weekend. It is
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  Speaker 1: show fifty six forty four and we need this, friends,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: We need this, We need this next half hour. The
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: stuff we talk about, we just need to push it
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: away for a while and talk about something else. And
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: when I got this email with the opportunity to interview Laura,
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  Speaker 1: Laura Wilson is our guest, I jumped at it because
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  Speaker 1: the story fascinated me and because I just love seeing
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  Speaker 1: young people gravitate back to things that were fundamental to
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  Speaker 1: the building of this nation and are fundamentally vital to
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  Speaker 1: the future of our nation, and that is farming. She
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  Speaker 1: is known as Laura Farms. Laura, welcome to the program.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: How are you this morning?
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for having me. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing wonderfully, especially since I woke up this morning.
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  Speaker 2: We got a half inch of rain, which doesn't sound
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  Speaker 2: like much, but at this point in the summer, we
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  Speaker 2: will take anything we can get, so I'm doing great
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  Speaker 2: this morning, so happy to be here.
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  Speaker 1: The last time I checked your YouTube channel, it looked
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  Speaker 1: like the corn needed some rain. Is that what we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about here?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely? Absolutely. We are a corn and swabean farm in
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  Speaker 2: central Nebraska and we will always take any.
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  Speaker 3: Rain that we can get.
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  Speaker 1: You know, my wife grew up in the farm country
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  Speaker 1: of northern Ohio and they did feed corn and soybean
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  Speaker 1: and raised hogs and had the fifteen hundred acres and
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  Speaker 1: all that. Where did that start for you?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I am actually a fifth generation farmer and married
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  Speaker 2: to a sixth generation farmer, So to say that farming
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  Speaker 2: is in my blood is kind of an understatement. I've
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  Speaker 2: been a part of my family's operation since I mean
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  Speaker 2: ever since I can remember farming with my dad and
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  Speaker 2: my grandpa, and now I have the pleasure of farming every.
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  Speaker 3: Day with my husband.
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  Speaker 2: And then not only you know, working every day on
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  Speaker 2: with corn and the soybeans outside trying to feed the world,
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  Speaker 2: but I also have the pleasure of sharing what life
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  Speaker 2: on the farm is like with millions of people every
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  Speaker 2: single week through Laura Farms, which is how I tell
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  Speaker 2: my story on social media. And then all the exciting
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  Speaker 2: things that we get to talk about later. My hope
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  Speaker 2: is that with my story and just truly what I
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  Speaker 2: do every single day, I can inspire people to maybe
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  Speaker 2: someday come back to the farm or do exactly what
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  Speaker 2: you just did and reflect on the connection that they
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  Speaker 2: have with real communities and farming. Because more people than
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  Speaker 2: you think have that connection that you just mentioned.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that we have a generation, at least
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  Speaker 1: a part of the of a generation that is longing
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  Speaker 1: to see that pendulum swing back to that type of
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  Speaker 1: lifestyle and that part of the American culture. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I was going to ask you, Laura Farms. It's it's
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  Speaker 1: a place, it's a person, and it's like an action statement.
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  Speaker 1: It's all rolled into one, isn't it. Absolutely?
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  Speaker 2: It's absolutely the best thing. I love to tell people.
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  Speaker 2: If Laura Farms, who am I and Laura? And what
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  Speaker 2: am I doing? I'm farming, Laura is Laura is farm.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's just in this really incredible community that
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  Speaker 2: has really come together over the past It's been about
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  Speaker 2: six and a half years now since I started posting
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  Speaker 2: what I do every single day on the farm, and
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  Speaker 2: I really do think that people today are longing for
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  Speaker 2: not only a sense of community, but kind of a
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  Speaker 2: sense of grounding and maybe a slower paced lifestyle, something
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  Speaker 2: away from all the hustle and bustle, but a place
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  Speaker 2: to see where in Middle America, here on the farm,
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  Speaker 2: people are still driving tractors everywhere. My plan for today
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  Speaker 2: is just harvested a bunch of sweet corn filled the
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  Speaker 2: bed of a truck, and I'm headed into the nearest
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  Speaker 2: small town next to me, place where.
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  Speaker 3: I grew up, and.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to be giving away all of our sweet
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  Speaker 2: corn for free. But it's just a really beautiful place.
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  Speaker 2: And it's been so fun to hear other people's stories
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  Speaker 2: and how they're connected to agriculture. And one of the
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  Speaker 2: coolest things that I just started working on is actually
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  Speaker 2: writing a children's book because through Laura Farms, I've seen
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  Speaker 2: more and more disconnect where not only are people not
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  Speaker 2: coming back to the farm, they don't even really know
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  Speaker 2: where their food comes from. So through this book, my
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  Speaker 2: goal is to create some curiosity and hopefully start inspiring
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  Speaker 2: the next generation farmers, or just start inspiring kids to
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  Speaker 2: start asking where their food comes from.
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  Speaker 1: Back with Laura Wilson Farms with her husband and the
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  Speaker 1: YouTube channel is Laura Farms and the book is Rogers
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  Speaker 1: Heyday and you can learn more at Laura farmsbook dot com.
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  Speaker 1: What caused you to write the book? I mean, we
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  Speaker 1: heard a little bit about the desire to create curiosity
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  Speaker 1: and all that, but taking that to the step of
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  Speaker 1: actually doing a book is a whole nother adventure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, talk about almost kind of a scary step, if
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  Speaker 2: you don't mind me being a little bit vulnerable here.
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  Speaker 2: It seemed like a really big project to take on, honestly,
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  Speaker 2: But once I started to look through really how many
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  Speaker 2: eyeballs are on Laura Farms every single week, I started
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  Speaker 2: thinking that it could be a little scary, honestly, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And it's one thing I do all the filming and
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  Speaker 2: editing and everything like that, so it's just myself and
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  Speaker 2: my husband here on the farm, and I've still used
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  Speaker 2: an iPhone to film everything, so it's not any kind
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  Speaker 2: of fancy operation. But when I was looking at some
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  Speaker 2: of the numbers and seeing the millions of people that
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  Speaker 2: were watching me farm every single week, I thought, well,
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  Speaker 2: I suppose it can't be any scarier to try and
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  Speaker 2: get some four to eight year olds to read a book.
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  Speaker 2: So this is I've always really loved reading and writing,
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  Speaker 2: and this just seems like a natural extension, kind of
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  Speaker 2: the next step to next step to do. But I'll
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  Speaker 2: be honest with you, it's a little bit a little
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  Speaker 2: bit scary.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, my wife is a children's book author
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  Speaker 1: as well as a curriculum writer and all of that,
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  Speaker 1: and so I know that it's a very difficult world
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  Speaker 1: to work in. But I want to talk a little
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  Speaker 1: bit about Roger. Roger's not who people might expect Roger
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  Speaker 1: to be.
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  Speaker 2: No, you are You are so right, So you realize
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  Speaker 2: that this is a radio program, so we're not able
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  Speaker 2: to be looking at each other or any visuals. Coming
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  Speaker 2: from someone who does a lot of video stuff, this
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  Speaker 2: is a little different for me. But we've actually don't
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  Speaker 2: We just have the pleasure of releasing the cover of
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  Speaker 2: our book. And on the cover you see a very
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  Speaker 2: nostalgic looking farm set up, a red barn, some grain bins,
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  Speaker 2: and then you see a red tractor, and sitting on
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  Speaker 2: the red tractor is a grandpa and a granddaughter. And
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  Speaker 2: then the title is Roger's Heyday. And so people might
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  Speaker 2: might think that Roger is the elderly gentleman sitting on
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  Speaker 2: the tractor with his granddaughter. But that is not true.
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  Speaker 2: Our tractor's name is Roger, and so what you're you're
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  Speaker 2: well exactly, So what we're missing out on this.
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  Speaker 3: Bitch, all, is that our tractor is alive and comes
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  Speaker 3: to life through this story. So Roger is Roger is
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  Speaker 3: the tractor. That's what this story is about here.
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  Speaker 1: I love the I love that, by the way. I
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  Speaker 1: think that's that's brilliant too, because my wife names everything,
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  Speaker 1: and so our vehicles have names, and I guarantee you
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  Speaker 1: the tractor having a name is endearing to her. But
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious this merging into the taking farming into the
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  Speaker 1: world of YouTube. Could you have anticipated where this would
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  Speaker 1: lead and what that would mean for you?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely not, absolutely not. I mean I started specifically the
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  Speaker 2: YouTube channel right in the middle of COVID. So if
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  Speaker 2: you if you transport yourself back into that time, you know,
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  Speaker 2: everyone this was very very beginning early early March, middle
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  Speaker 2: of April, and it was very scary. People were staying inside,
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  Speaker 2: no one was going to school, no one was going
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  Speaker 2: to work, but life on the farm continued pretty much
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  Speaker 2: as normal. You know, I was quarantined inside a tractor
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  Speaker 2: cab instead of my living room, right, and I wanted
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  Speaker 2: to share what was going on every single day with
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  Speaker 2: my family, specifically, no one was going to work, no
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  Speaker 2: one's going to school, and I thought, well, why don't
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  Speaker 2: I just show them what I'm doing on the farm.
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  Speaker 2: And it was planting season, so I just popped my
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  Speaker 2: iPhone up in the corner of the tractor cab and
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  Speaker 2: posted it on YouTube and really had no idea where
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  Speaker 2: it was going to go. But what has come out
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  Speaker 2: of that has been honestly the biggest blessing of my
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  Speaker 2: whole life and really changed the trajectory of what I
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  Speaker 2: do every day now, even six and a half years later.
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  Speaker 1: Final segment here with Laura Farms that I feel like
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  Speaker 1: that's like her name, and it is, but it isn't.
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  Speaker 1: Her name's Laura Wilson. It feels like it's the name
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  Speaker 1: of a place, and it is, but it kind of isn't.
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  Speaker 1: And it's a YouTube channel, Laura Farms on YouTube. And
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  Speaker 1: we've got the book of course, Rogers heyday, Laura farmsbook
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  Speaker 1: dot com. You can get the book there. Laura, I
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  Speaker 1: want to I want to talk about the serious side
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  Speaker 1: of farming for just a second. Because it is. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it's not for it's not for the weak need, it's
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  Speaker 1: not for the people that do not have a work ethic.
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  Speaker 1: Farming is different, it's difficult, it's challenging, and you were
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  Speaker 1: just talking about the loneliness and now YouTube kind of
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  Speaker 1: breaks that down. Has YouTube made it more likely that
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  Speaker 1: you can stiff arm the big egg companies out there?
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  Speaker 1: Because honestly, one of the reasons why I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: talk to you is because big agriculture is taking over
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  Speaker 1: the small farms of America and farms like yours that
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  Speaker 1: you and your husband grant do they are so valuable
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  Speaker 1: to our country. Is YouTube helping that?
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  Speaker 2: That is a fabulous question. Well, I'll start off by
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  Speaker 2: saying this, I cannot strong arm anyone. Unfortunately, that would
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  Speaker 2: make my career a lot easier. But no, nothing is
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  Speaker 2: faked for the videos. We are really out here as
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  Speaker 2: fifth and sixth generation farmers, really just trying to make
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  Speaker 2: our go of it. But then also, you know, carry
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  Speaker 2: on kind of the enormous weight of you know, all
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  Speaker 2: the generations of people that came before us and sacrificed
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  Speaker 2: absolutely everything to make sure that we could be farmers.
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  Speaker 2: And so it comes with every single day comes with
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  Speaker 2: this big responsibility of Wow, okay, don't you know, don't
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  Speaker 2: mess it up, don't screw it up for the whole
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  Speaker 2: you know, five generations that came before you. Yeah, we're
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  Speaker 2: based in Nebraska. Nebraska's motto is Nebraska's not for everyone,
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  Speaker 2: and I think I think that's a good motto for
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  Speaker 2: farming too. Farming it's really not for everyone. We're at
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  Speaker 2: a point in the year where absolutely every dollar we have,
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  Speaker 2: and I mean that literally is out in the field.
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking out my living room window right now and
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  Speaker 2: I see a whole section of ground six hundred and
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  Speaker 2: forty acres f's planted to corn. And right now we
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  Speaker 2: have planted it, watered it, fertilized it. Everything out there
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  Speaker 2: is what was in my bank account from harvest last year.
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  Speaker 2: And so it's a really all or nothing type of game,
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  Speaker 2: and it's pretty stressful. But I'm so grateful for YouTube.
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  Speaker 2: While it has not allowed me to strong arm any
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  Speaker 2: ad companies, it has allowed me this wonderful opportunity to
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  Speaker 2: create a community where I get to share farming with
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  Speaker 2: an enormous group of people every single week. And so
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  Speaker 2: my hope is if I even inspired just a few
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  Speaker 2: people to kind of take that leap of faith and
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  Speaker 2: you know, go start working for a farmer in their
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  Speaker 2: community or maybe even carry on their grandparents or parents
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  Speaker 2: or uncle's farm. That's my hope. That's my goal, along
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  Speaker 2: with raising a.
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  Speaker 4: Good corn crop right there, is that That's what I
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  Speaker 4: was kind of driving at, is that YouTube has afforded
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  Speaker 4: you because there's no doubt that your story and just
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  Speaker 4: the enthusiasm in which you approach the YouTube channel and
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  Speaker 4: sharing what's going on on the farm every day has
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  Speaker 4: got to be encouraging a generation of young people that
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  Speaker 4: might not know that it's possible because big farm agriculture
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  Speaker 4: out there is buying up all of these small farms
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  Speaker 4: and I hate to see it.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we really would not be where we are today
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  Speaker 2: with rural communities and farms and people who really stick together.
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  Speaker 2: And that's one of the things I'm trying to show
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  Speaker 2: with my YouTube channel is it fuels kind of like
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  Speaker 2: a desperate situation and like it's like farms are disappearing,
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  Speaker 2: which they absolutely are. The average age of the American
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  Speaker 2: farmer is well into well into your sixties, and so
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  Speaker 2: my goal is to show young kids that while this
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  Speaker 2: maybe isn't always the most glamorous lifestyle. Even with all
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  Speaker 2: the advancements in technology. You know, my tractor has iPads
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  Speaker 2: and monitors and computers all over it. There is still
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  Speaker 2: a good amount of manual labor involved. But this can
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  Speaker 2: be a viable career path. You just have to be
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  Speaker 2: willing to scramp during some certain times of the year.
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  Speaker 2: We're really holding out for harvest here.
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  Speaker 1: Laura Wilson my guest Laura Farms on YouTube is the channel.
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  Speaker 1: She's a Nebraska farmer, a content creator, an entrepreneur, and, oh,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, a children's book author. It's Rogers Hey Day.
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  Speaker 1: Laurafarmsbook dot Com is the website. Laura, thanks for carving
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  Speaker 1: out a little time for us before you get started
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  Speaker 1: in your day. I appreciate it very much and I'd
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: love to have you back sometime.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, thank you so much for having me. I hope
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: you have a wonderful.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Day you as well. Laura Farms with us this morning
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: on the Morning Show with Preston Scott