Tell me about yourself.
Danielle – I’m from Oklahoma, a state with more cows than people, so I grew up around agriculture, but I lived in a neighborhood until I was in high school when my parents moved us to a more rural location on a small hobby farm. I graduated from Oklahoma State University with an Agriculture Communications and Agriculture Economics degree and was working in Kansas as the editor of a weekly four state (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas) agriculture newspaper when I met Daniel at an OSU vs Texas football game in 2012. We married in January 2014 and I packed up and moved here. For most of the past 10 years, I’ve been running my own business as a wedding and portrait photographer as well as the self-proclaimed Hayden Farm Communications Manager. Right before our son was born we launched DaniSquared Meats, or D2 Meats, a retail, direct-to-consumer beef business, and after the birth of our daughter this past spring, we made the decision to shutter my photography business while our children are small so I can be fully present with them and take a more active roll in the day-to-day of the farm.
Daniel – I was born and raised on a tobacco and cow/calf farm in Knottsville. My parents, seeing an opportunity to grow our farm, built our first set of chicken houses in 1997 to raise chickens for Perdue. Taking advantage of that opportunity set me on a lifelong journey to pursue what would become my passion – farming. I graduated from Owensboro Catholic High in 2007, then graduated from Murray State University with a BS in Agribusiness in 2011. After college I then came back to the farm where I started running it full time and trying to grow the operation. I then got set set up to meet a girl from Oklahoma by my brother in 2012, as I was attending a Texas vs Oklahoma State University football game in Stillwater. This beautiful woman I was introduced to just so happen to later accept my proposal to head east to journey this world together as we got married in 2014.
What impact has agriculture had on you as a parent?
Danielle – I appreciate this way of life so much more. It’s a different way of living, but it’s a privilege to raise children on a farm. I’ve realized raising farm kids how capable, and how much more children understand, at a much younger age than what we typically give them credit for. When my son was 2 he “helped” my husband (by helped, he mostly napped in the excavator or played in the grass beside where he was working) replace the culverts at water crossings in several of our pastures. Still to this day, I’m not sure you’ll find a person anywhere as enthusiastic as him about culverts. He’s ready to tell anyone who will listen what they are and how they work.
Daniel – From the start, agriculture began shaping me to my foundation. From teaching me the value of hard work, to understanding that family working together is the only way farming can ever be successful. Agriculture has made me, in every way, the parent I am today, it has shown me, no matter what others say, no two situations are the same. One way of doing something that produces the ideal outcome will not produce the same outcome just by simple copy and pasting the same process, farming is the brick wall of reality that can show someone this. Everyday is different, no one season is the same from one year to the other, no flock of chickens, no herd of cattle and no hay field is the same. This is how I approach parenting, what works for one child will not work for the other, just because I remember something working for me as a child does not mean it will work at all for my kids. It has taught me not to be rigid in my way of thinking and my approach to parenting.
How has agriculture helped shape your family?
Danielle – In the literal sense, being in agriculture during the pandemic drew the attention of Amazon Prime. We struggled with infertility for 5 years, they highlighted both the farm and our infertility journey during an episode of the show Regular Heroes. With their help we were able to connect with specialists who found the reason we had been unsuccessful trying to grow our family and now we have two beautiful kids. In a big, crazy circumstantial way, being in agriculture is how we were able to ’shape’ this family.
Daniel – Shaped, more like sculpted our family. If it weren’t for agriculture and its community, I’m not convinced we’d look anything like the blessing I call our family today. All of the blessings we’ve graciously received over the years were only because of the mercy of God, that have come to us through the for of agriculture. From struggling with infertility, to financial turmoil, to not knowing what to do next but having the faith that God is always there and the encouragement from our agriculture community both to keep us going.
What is the best piece of advice you can give other parents?
Danielle – Almost all problems can be cured with water, sunshine or a snack. That goes for adults as well.
Daniel – Don’t take for granted that you are your child’s first hero, be a hero worth having.