Hometown: Brighton, Mo.
Family: Husband, Zachary; children, William (5) and Cassidy (1 1/2)
In Town: Taylor Funk is entering her first year as a second-grade teacher at Marion C. Early Elementary School, but she has been with the district for five years.
“I started off driving our special needs coop bus,” Taylor explained. “Bolivar has a cooperative school for special needs kids. Last year, a full-time sub position came open, so I took it and drove a district route.”
She contemplated leavening the district for another position, but then the second-grade position became available.
Taylor has a degree in agronomy but has gone back to college to finish her education degree.
In the Country: Taylor and her family are the third and fourth generation on Zachary’s family farm.
“In 2020 or 2021, we switched to commercial stock cows from dairy, and we do a lot of hay; hay is our main business,” she Taylor said.
While she has gone into elementary education, Taylor still has opportunities to utilize her agronomy degree.
“I teach my husband a little on plant IDs,” she said with a laugh, adding that Zachary is the agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor, also at Marion C. Early. “I’ve been begging him to let me coach and agronomy team, but he’s like, ‘I don’t know.’”
Raising their children in an agriculture environment is important to the Funks.
“Our kids have an amazing work ethic,” Taylor said. “I have an obsession with chickens, and we started selling eggs to friends, neighbors and some of our colleague. Our son got into it and said he wanted to make some money. We told him he had to gather the eggs, help water and feed. He’s doing all of that, he’s cleaning out the coop, he delivers the eggs, and we’re teaching him about currency and how to make change. He also takes the money he earns and buys feed with it. I was raised on a cow/calf operation, and we worked. We had a huge garden; when you got up in the morning, you pulled weeds. I wouldn’t trade that for the world.”
Additionally, Taylor operated a cut flower business for a couple of years, Mustard Seed Flower Farm, which is currently being restructured.
“My plan it to get back into farmers markets,” Taylor said. “We also did workshops, like making an evergreen wreath around Christmas time. Those were so much fun, and that’s where the teacher come out in me because I love teaching new skills. Right now, we’re taking a little breather, but it’s something I want to get back into.”
Taylor and Zachary are active on the Missouri Young Farmers/Young Wives Committee, a program by the Missouri Department of Education and Elementary Education. Taylor is currently service as the organization’s president.
