Balancing Act: Parenting, Farming, and Advocacy with Anna Pesek

This week, Caite and Arlene interview Iowa farmer, Anna Pesek of Over the Moon in rural Delaware County, about what she’s “growing”: farrow-to-finish purebred Berkshire hogs, pasture-raised chickens and turkeys, a meat business, alternative supply chains, and a two-year-old. Anna describes scaling from two to 21 sows, finishing about 100 pigs a year with hopes of 200+, raising a couple thousand birds, aggregating meat with other young farmers, and balancing an off-farm remote job. She shares her Massachusetts-to-Iowa path through ag education, policy work, and advocacy organizations, and highlights Practical Farmers of Iowa’s Savings Incentives Program and Chop Local’s role in building direct-to-consumer meat sales before moving to overthemoonmeat.com. They discuss how parenting changed farm priorities, childcare supported by nearby family, mom guilt and travel for advocacy, and concerns about USDA cuts to land-access training programs, plus a host’s uncertainty over a potential high-speed rail route.We're glad you're joining us for another episode of Barnyard Language. If you enjoy the show, please tell a friend (or two) and be sure to rate and review us wherever you're listening! If you want to help us keep buying coffee and paying our editor, you can make a monthly pledge on Patreon to help us stay on the air.You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok as BarnyardLanguage, and if you'd like to connect with other farming families, you can join our private Barnyard Language Facebook group. We're always in search of future guests for the podcast. If you or someone you know would like to chat with us, get in touch.If you have a something you'd like to Cuss & Discuss, you can submit it here: speakpipe.com/barnyardlanguage or email us at [email protected].