Hometown: Clifty, Ark.
Family: Husband Brent Tupper and son John Russell
In Town: “We were a military family until 1995, which means there are eight different colleges on my transcript.
“I eventually earned a master’s of Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages (TESOL). I came to Springdale, Ark., in 2007, first teaching at a middle school and then where I am now, at George Junior High. I serve as the instructional facilitator of English as a Second Language, which means I’m a teacher coach and help design strategies for English language learners.
My husband Brent earned an MBA in finance at the University of Connecticut and retired early from Walmart Global Financial Shared Services to take over our small hobby farm and cattle ranching operation.”
In the Country: “We have 20 acres outside of Clifty in Madison County that we purchased in 2001. Soon after we purchased our land, my parents retired and also moved onto the property. They, too, were rural people, which meant as a kid I worked on our cotton farm and drove a tractor. We now have a small cow/calf operation with purebred and registered black Angus cattle. The size of our herd varies from a minimum of five cows and a bull to 20 cows and two bulls. We sell about half of our calves at the market and half as breeding stock. We use a spring-calving season because I feel the grass is better and because I really don’t want babies going through the winter. We grain our cattle according to pasture quality and supplement with loose mineral. We typically wean at 6 months and cull for temperament, changing bulls often to keep our bloodlines clean. The beginning of our herd started in 2001 when a neighbor called because a pitifully weak but beautiful heifer was without a momma. We called her Agnes because it rather sounded like Angus. She became the matriarch of our herd and, eventually, a pet. All of our animals have a name and we name them alphabetically A through Z. Sadly, and ironically, Agnes died of old age the exact same day that Ace, the bull calf that restarted our alphabetical system, was born.”
Future: “Brent was a city boy and has been learning how to be a farmer and rancher since he retired. One of his first challenges was learning how to adapt to rural life. Our son, John Russell, currently lives a city life but loves coming back to visit and perhaps someday will have more interest in the farm itself. We are currently looking to purchase additional land very close to ours.”
