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Corinne Wilson-Miller, 4, helps her mother Natasha Wilson collect eggs during morning chores at West Fork Farmstead in West Chester on Aug. 13. The farm, which sells food directly to consumers, is run by the Wilson family, including Natasha’s parents and sister. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

Natasha Wilson sets out buckets of water and feed for her chickens while doing morning chores with her family Aug. 13 at West Fork Farmstead in West Chester in Washington County. WIlson and her parents and sister are converting a traditional farm to one selling pasture-fed meat, eggs and honey directly to consumers. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette) — Natasha Wilson sets out buckets of water and feed for her chickens while doing morning chores with her family Aug. 13 at West Fork Farmstead in West Chester in Washington County. Wilson and her parents and sister are converting a traditional farm to one selling pasture-fed meat, eggs and honey directly to consumers. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

WEST CHESTER — West Fork Farmstead is a family-run business selling pasture-fed meat, eggs and honey directly to consumers.

Natasha Wilson, 39, works the farm with her parents, Brian and Nancy Wilson, and her sister, Claire Wilson, 27.

“My parents are career farmers who farmed conventional corn, soybeans, and pigs,” Natasha Wilson said. “For many years, they weren’t sure what the future of the farm would be when they were ready to retire. I have four siblings, and none of us planned on farming. We all embarked on other careers after college.”

But that all changed in 2018 when Wilson began wondering about following in her parents’ footsteps.

“For a long time, I’d been very interested in the future of the farm and had been trying to figure out how I could be ‘farm-adjacent’ in some way. I wanted to be part of the farm, but for a variety of reasons, I’d never really thought of myself as a potential farmer.”

After a lot of conversations with her parents over a year and a half, Wilson moved her family to West Chester so they had time and proximity to fine-tune plans, get rolling, and figure out how to live and work together on the farm and carry it into the future.

The business model

The family decided on pursuing pasture-based meat, eggs and honey, a decision based on several big factors, Wilson said.

“First, my parents had been doing a lot of reading in the years before I came back, and they wanted to get animals back on the land in order to be the best stewards of the land we could be,” she said.

“Second, they were already raising a bit of grass-fed beef, outdoor heritage pork, pastured chicken and eggs, and honey for themselves because that was the food we wanted to eat. We wondered: If this is what we want to eat, would other people want it, too? We decided to try scaling up those tiny enterprises to offer pasture-based meat, eggs and honey.”

The transition “started very small,” Wilson said.

“We've been transitioning little by little, working to build the infrastructure and markets we need in a sustainable manner,” she said, noting that it helped with her sister moved back to join the family farm in January 2023.

“We started sales in spring of 2020 and had to figure out how to establish our new business in the start of COVID. We’ve been very fortunate. Over time, we’ve come to have a wonderful community of people who buy our food regularly, as well as other local farmers and businesses we partner with.”

The Wilson family farmers are (from left) Claire and Natasha with their parents, Nancy and Brian Wilson. They run West Fork Farmstead in Washington County, selling pasture-raised meat, eggs and honey directly to consumers. (Submitted)

Division of labor

Today, Wilson runs the business side of the farm.

“I do the logistics, bookkeeping, record keeping, inventory, sales, marketing, planning, customer communication, locker scheduling and so on,” she said. “My dad and sister lead on caring for the cows and pigs and on, equipment and repairs, crops, and projects.

“We are DIYers and usually have some major project going on, like a mobile, pastured chicken shelter my dad built last year. My mom is the lead right now on our chickens and eggs, which are very time-consuming ventures on pasture.”

Teamwork is key.

“We all help each other,” Wilson said. “We do a lot of chores together, and a lot of tasks require more than one person, so everyone does some of everything. I also have two very young kids at home with me, and my mom pitches in to help with them.

“It’s a work in progress.”

But it’s a work in progress they all seem to be enjoying.

“I love working with my family,” Wilson said. “Right now, we have three generations together almost every day. I get to learn from my parents and have a whole new appreciation for their expertise and all their very hard work over many years to build their farm to a point where this transition is even possible.

“I get to hang out with my sister. I get to have my kids with me every day. My daughter is old enough that she’s started coming with me to collect eggs and check on animals, and it’s just so special. It’s amazing to me that I didn’t see this as a possible career for so many years, because now I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

‘Meaningful’ work

The Wilsons are proud of the work they do.

“We offer a different choice than what you’ll find at most grocery stores,” Wilson said. “We raise our animals outdoors and on pasture, in small groups, and have been working to implement regenerative farming practices.

“We’re working all the time to try to figure out how to do the best we can for the environment, the animals, and the quality and health of the food we’re producing.

“And we aim to offer people access and transparency to know how their food is raised. … It means so much to me to have the opportunity to produce food I’m proud of and to have direct relationships with the people eating it, so they can be part of it, too.”

Wilson said she’s gotten lots of ideas — and recipes — from the farm’s customers.

Also, she said, she enjoys working with food pantries and community organizations “to get food to as many people as we can. I love the food we produce and … knowing we’re part of feeding and nourishing people around us.

“For some people, our farm’s meat is the only meat they eat. For some, we are part of special occasions and family get-togethers. For some, we can provide foods they can’t find elsewhere that are important for their health or dietary needs, cooking heritage, culture or religious practice. All of that is so meaningful.”

West Fork’s products are delivered to customers by family members, with meat and honey also going to the Cultivate Hope Corner Store in northwest Cedar Rapids and other retailers.

Why do it

Wilson said she has also come to understand what a gift it is to have a shared vision for the farm.

“People often ask me how I convinced my parents to transition the farm in such a big way,” she said. “The answer is I didn’t have to convince them. … We all care deeply about trying to take the best care of our land and animals and produce the healthiest, most delicious food possible.

“I am very open to learning from them and know how much I need their guidance. They’re the farming experts. They’ve been very generous in focusing on building something that’s meaningful to me and giving me space to make decisions and chart the path forward, as the one who will be doing this in the future.

“I feel very fortunate — for what they’ve built, for their openness, for their willingness to work even harder than they were before to help me build something for the future.”

Know a business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing mary.sharp@thegazette.com.