Hometown: Mack’s Creek, Mo.
Family: Children Talia (4), Fletcher (1) and Fisher (1)
In Town: Nathan and Laurel Leurquin are the owners of Lake Ozark Real Estate Photography.
The couple started the company in August 2020. They work with real estate agents to capture still and video images of their listings.
In addition to Lake Ozark Real Estate Photography, Nathan is an assistant project manager at Thomas Construction, and Laurel does internet marketing.
In the Country: Nathan, Laurel and their children live on Windblown Farms near Mack’s Creek, Mo.
They started off with 20 acres in 2016, and now have roughly about 30.
Laurel is a native of the Ozarks and Nathan grew up in Wisconsin. Laurel said growing up, they both had some agriculture experience, but nothing large scale. Laurel’s grandfather raised cattle, and Nathan’s family had a hydroponic greenhouse and he enjoys learning about plants.
The primary operation on their farm is the production of Khaki Campbell duck eggs.
“We have a pretty good market, mostly in Springfield (Mo.). We make arrangements to meet people and take 15 dozen at a time,” Laurel said. “We picked Khaki Campbells because they are extremely prolific layers. They generally lay five to six days out of the week.”
She added that people with chicken egg allergies can typically eat duck eggs, which are higher in protein and calories.
“They are also better in baking,” Laurel said. “In the Asian communities, duck eggs are much more common. We are also close to a missionary training center (Ethnos360, formerly known as New Tribes Mission) at the Lake of the Ozarks. We sell a lot of eggs there because they have people who come from communities from around the world where duck eggs are prolific. We have found they enjoy having a connection to home.”
Last year, Nathan and Laurel sold some eggs to an individual for hatching, who reported a 95 percent success rate back to Nathan and Laurel, and it is something the couple is evaluating for the future.
In addition to their ducks, the family has mound and raised garden beds, with plans to start a produce stand this summer. They also hope to have on-farm events.
“There are always little things we are testing out,” Laurel said.
