Meredith Bernard Uses This Farm Wife Blog to Share Her Farm Story

Some women love designer clothes, but not This Farm Wife blogger Meredith Bernard. She prefers her new hay rake.

“I name all my equipment, and my rake is Rita – she’s the best!” Bernard says, discussing one of her favorite gifts from her husband, Lawrence, a second-generation farmer in Milton.

Bernard calls herself “a perfectly imperfect mess of a farmwife and mama to two.” Through her insightful, funny and sometimes tearful content, she invites everyone to see what happens behind the scenes on a working cattle farm.

She now has hundreds of videos on YouTube, a hugely popular social media presence, and a successful website and e-commerce store. “People around the world experience what we’re doing,” she says.

See more: Social Media Helps North Carolina Farms Grow

Education Comes Full Circle

Growing up in New Hill, both of Meredith’s parents worked at North Carolina State University in adjacent Raleigh, so it was a given Bernard would attend N.C. State. There, she earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s in agricultural education with a plan to be a teacher. But after student teaching in nearby Durham, Bernard quickly realized she didn’t have the passion for that career. Instead, she was drawn to a feed sales representative role at a local agriculture company.

She moved to rural Caswell County and sold livestock feed to North Carolina farmers for more than 12 years, but by 2014, Bernard felt she needed a change.

“I was married and had two small children, and there were more demands on me to travel and grow my territory, and it became harder to do,” she says. “I miss the people I worked with, farmers and producers all over the state, but I took a chance and never looked back.”

Along with helping her husband on the farm, home schooling her son, Wesley, and daughter, Austin, is a main priority for Bernard. She found a great local home-school co-op and leaned on home-schooling friends.

See more: Cattle Connections: North Carolina Local Beef

“I would never have seen myself home schooling or farming, but I felt a strong pull towards both,” Bernard says.

In addition to giving her children an education, the farm itself provides useful lessons on a daily basis.

“Our kids are learning good skills,” she says. “Everything they learn on the farm will serve them well.”

Sharing Her Farm With the World

Before leaving her corporate sales job, Bernard started a small photography business. “Photography is a love of mine, but it became stressful because I was away from home shooting weddings most weekends,” she says.

When her photography business slowed down, Bernard began blogging about farm life and sharing her stories on social media, eventually including YouTube. Over time, her videos garnered a global audience, thanks to her big smile, natural demeanor, casual North Carolina accent and easygoing relatability.

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Viewers see the struggles on the Bernard farm as they experience flooding, tractor breakdowns and harvest challenges. The Bernards also capture the good times as they attend horse shows and feed new calves while making followers from around the world feel a part of what farmers do on a daily basis.

“They’re crying and laughing and sharing our experiences,” Bernard says. “We believe that we’re making a positive difference.”

She’s the first to admit that farm life isn’t easy. Her family’s farm consists of a cow/calf operation, which means they keep a permanent herd of cows and produce calves for sale. They also grow corn, soybeans, barley and hay, and raise around 15 calves a year for freezer beef.

See more: One-Dish Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Many This Farm Wife videos involve cooking, but Bernard doesn’t consider herself a chef.

“I like throwing ingredients together, nothing fancy,” she says. Her favorite recipe is her cast iron steak, and most of her meals involve beef, including cubed steak, beef stew, beef tips, beef fajitas, beef short ribs and Bernard burgers.

“Everything is in a skillet, and everything is beef!” she says.

This Farm Life of This Farm Wife

Caring for the cattle they raise is part of a day’s work. Each morning, Bernard helps feed the cows, then has school time with her kids, which is often done by early afternoon.

The family’s newest venture is getting an equestrian education when it comes to their five quarter horses.

“We’re learning how to put our new horses into practice, and it’s really cool that we’re doing it as a family,” Bernard says. Horse shows are now part of the family schedule, where they participate in ranch riding, trail classes, cattle sorting and roping.

Public speaking is a new passion, too, and Bernard enjoys meeting people face to face. “It’s really cool to hear how our farm story inspires others and brings back memories for people of living on a farm,” she says. “I also love connecting people to their food source.”

Looking ahead, she may go from a digital presence to a printed work about her many experiences.

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“It’s been in my heart to write a book about life lessons from the farm,” she says.

Until then, Bernard is happy to wake up early to feed the cows, rake hay with Rita and share her daily life on a busy cattle farm.

Find Bernard online at thisfarmwife.com and thisfarmwifeshop.com, or on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Her popular videos can be seen at youtube.com/ThisFarmWifeMeredithBernard.

– Danielle Rotella Adams