The Stevens family is raising their family connected to nature
MARSHFIELD, MO. – In 2020, Laredo and Whitney Stevens, both 37, settled down in the countryside surrounding Marshfield, Mo. It was here they constructed their house and began their homestead, Flint Rock Farm. Named after the road on which they live, Flint Rock Farm provides the Stevens the pastoral life so many dream of.
“We live right down the road from where Laredo grew up, which is so wonderful,” Whitney said.
The Stevens have agriculture experience in their blood – Laredo’s father, Larry Stevens, raises Missouri Foxtrotters, and Whitney’s father, Mark Day, was raised on a dairy farm.
Together, the couple have five boys, all under the age of seven. Whitney manages the homestead and homeschools the children, while Laredo works as a business owner, a realtor, and, more recently, as a home contractor.
“He’s also a homesteader by default,” Whitney said. “He builds fences, dispatches chickens, and anything else that I need help with.”
Flint Rock Farm is not a large-scale operation by any means. But it is a labor of love.
“I put a lot of love into the care and life of my animals and land,” Whitney said.
She recalled that, when designing house plans in 2020, the idea of purchasing a milk cow suddenly occurred to her.
“My boys have only ever drank raw milk, and when our wonderful milk lady moved away, the only reasonable thing to do was to buy a cow,” she said.
When the Stevens’ third son turned three months old, Whitney became a milkmaid – something she said she felt was necessary.
The farm’s pasture-fed Jersey cows – Fern and Stella – possess the A2A2 genotype. This means that the proteins in their milk are more easily digestible for humans. Folks with lactose intolerance often report being able to consume dairy products from A2A2 cattle without any adverse side effects.
“I hand milked for three years, and recently got a surge bucket milker,” Whitney said. “They don’t make [the machines] anymore, so it’s cool to use a refurbished machine that someone used years ago.”
She said her particular milking machine was invented 1922 and is unique due to its belt-bucket feature: the user places a belt around the animal, and an attached bucket hangs beneath its stomach.
“The weight of the belt is calming to the cow, and if the teat cups are knocked off, they hang right off the bucket instead of falling to the ground.”
Whitney stated that, in the past, it took her approximately 30 minutes from start to finish to hand milk a cow. Now, it only takes 10 minutes maximum.
“I enjoyed hand milking,” she pointed out, “I loved the peace in the morning and the sound of the milk hitting the bucket. But the ability to be done quickly is a wonderful thing, especially with small children.”
Flint Rock Farm has begun to attract attention, primarily from customers who are in search of “real” milk.
In addition to the cattle, the homestead also raises meat chickens in mobile chicken tractors. The poultry are allowed to forage fresh grass twice a day for 10 weeks, which promotes soil and pasture health.
In the future, Whitney hopes that Flint Rock Farm will become a destination where patrons can purchase milk, heritage pork, pastured chicken, honey, baked goods, and eggs. Whitney’s parents have renovated an outbuilding, which will become Flint Rock Farm’s “milk house.”
Whitney said she plans to have a grand opening for the milk house – a time for customers to come together on the farm, perhaps meet the animals, and enjoy a fresh-baked cookie and a glass of milk.
“I think it’s important to be involved in the community one way or another, and this is a way I’m able to do so in this season of my life,” Whitney said.
“It’s important to me for my boys to be connected to nature and where their food comes from.”
