Amie Burnham and her husband were tired of the city life and decided to make a change during Covid.

“Before all this, we were living in a tiny, cookie-cutter neighborhood,” Burnham, the owner of Willow Creek Ranch said. “It was right around the time covid hit, and i looked at my husband and said, ‘Our three kids are bouncing off the walls, they need more space.’”

However, farming wasn’t in their original plans.

“I remember Jeremy coming home and I said, ‘Did you know this house came with chickens? We have chickens, these are our eggs.’ and he was like, ‘No.’”, Burnham said about her discovery of what came with her family’s new home.

Little by little, they slowly grew their farm. Amie had a background in corporate wellness and made it her goal to provide healthy, sustainable food options to Baton Rouge residents.

“Our animals, whether it’s beef or pork, they’re slow-growing. We’re doing it the way they were designed to do. You look at their digestive system, they were not made to eat grain. They were made to eat grass.”

A recent study from the Center for Biological Diversity shows that “More than 200 million pounds of pesticides in the U.S. are applied to crops grown to feed animals on factory farms.”

But providing the community with healthy options is a process that requires all family members to help out.

“The kids get up in the morning before school and do chores. Even the pigs and the chickens, getting the eggs in the afternoon, even the cows.” Burnham said. “It’s all hands on deck, a family affair.”

A family effort to give the community healthier options, and with no prior knowledge of how to farm, Amie said YouTube has been her guiding tool, and they plan on expanding their farm by adding more cattle and pigs throughout the years.