“One of my absolute favorite things? Picking dinner. Are you even a farmer if at some point, you haven’t harvested something, strapped it in, and let it ride shotgun in the truck back to the house?”
This wholesome question is posed by Christine Bailey – farmer, writer, dreamer. A former music industry gal turned social entrepreneur turned sustainable produce and flower farmer, Christine is currently growing deep roots (in addition to food) with her chef husband and two young daughters on their seventeen-acre farm in the hills of Santa Fe, Tennessee.
Christine didn’t always choose the farm life but the farm life sure chose her… eventually. An Italian American Jersey girl, she left the northeast to attend college at Belmont University in Nashville. Immediately following, she worked in the Christian music industry for several years on tour promotions, new album releases, and films. Upon meeting her husband, Steven, Christine moved to Dallas and pivoted to help found an Africa relief non-profit called Mocha Club, which equips African leaders to develop stronger communities.
In 2009, she and Steven became interested in the local food movement and started Urban Acres, an organic produce co-op that grew to over 2,400 families, along with a market and urban farm. In 2015, she and her family began their own farming journey when they moved to Tennessee to start Kindred Farm and have been welcoming people to the land and their table at unique farm-to-table events called Kindred Dinners, using food they have grown.