Laura is raising her first bottle calf at age five on her family farm in North Iowa. Meanwhile, Aaron is racing off the school bus as fast as he can to jump in the tractor with his dad on his family farm, also in North Iowa.

Laura graduates from ISU with a degree in Ag Business, focusing on Entrepreneurship, Agronomy, and Animal Science. Meanwhile, Aaron earns his degree from NIACC in Ag Operations and Management. Don’t worry—Laura’s dad takes care of her herd of Angus cattle, which she’s had since childhood, while she’s away at college! 

Soon after getting married, we decide to start our own cattle operation on a farm just a few miles from where we both grew up. This feels like the easiest decision in the world. We are so excited to bring our herds together and start our own!

We are absolutely committed to producing all-natural, premium Angus beef raised without the use of growth hormones. Every day, we’re figuring out and learning more about how to raise a product that tastes incredible, is as natural as possible, and makes us proud. 

We’re selling beef directly to local consumers because they’re asking, and it’s our favorite thing to do.  

Bluntly? Cow dung hits the proverbial fan in the world. Grocery stores are experiencing shortages, and more people than ever are looking to buy local food.

Every week, we receive tons of emails and calls from people looking for local beef, eggs, pork, dairy, produce, and dry/baked goods. 

Laura starts making a list of local farmers and connecting everyone she can with people who are looking for local food. The list grows longer and longer, and it’s not easy for anyone—not the farmer or the customer—to find each other or keep up with it all. 

We start asking ourselves: How can we make buying local food more straightforward for everyone in the community? 

We welcome our first son (and another a few years later in 2023!). Suddenly, we’re thinking BIGGER about what we want to do for our farm and our community. 

It’s not just about us anymore; it’s about making sure our boys have something they can return to someday. 

Meanwhile, the idea of how to make local food more accessible to more people, is still brewing …

We realize that if real, busy families are going to buy local, then buying local has to be SIMPLE. 

Who has time to spend their entire Saturday running one place for eggs, another for beef, and still another for bread? Farmer’s markets are amazing, but it’s not always easy to put together weekday meals with what you find or know what will be available before you go. 

So, with help from a grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture Choose Iowa Program, we renovate a 1902 dairy barn on Cty Hwy S70 and open SkyView Market – an online and in-person all-local ‘grocery’ store! 

We start asking ourselves: How can we make buying local food more straightforward for everyone in the community? 

SkyView Market started as a hope and a prayer and has grown into more than we could have imagined. 

Our customers can order our beef in small batches or bulk, plus local goods from 50 (and counting) additional local vendors online anytime and have their order delivered or picked up within a week. 

We’re open weekly for pick-up orders and in-person shopping, monthly for Fresh Market Saturdays, and during various special events each month. (To see our most-recent events calendar, click here!)

Life is busy – raising cattle, running the Market, giving farm tours, speaking, volunteering where we can, and chasing after two boys. But we wouldn’t want it any other way.