Boldly Grounded

Join Kylie at the Farm Wives Club: https://kylieepperson.com/farmwivesclubtheevent/

Kylie Epperson interviews Faith Pierson, a seed seller and agronomy consultant farming in northeast Illinois with her husband and in-laws, about her path from seventh-generation dairy-farm roots in Wisconsin and college basketball to building a consulting business now working in five states. Faith shares why she started her own seed business to add service and value beyond the product, and discusses women in leadership within a historically male-dominated field, emphasizing intuition, relationship skills, and detail-oriented support. She reflects on early entrepreneurship challenges—high-achiever pressure, difficulty delegating, and losing a major customer before Christmas—while describing how setbacks created new opportunities. Faith explains her "crunchy agronomist" approach: using soil and farm-specific data to reduce unnecessary inputs, lower financial risk, and help farms stay viable, with a broader goal of strengthening rural prosperity.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:41 Meet Faith Pearson

03:01 Farm Life and Illinois Move

04:52 Growing Up Dairy Farm

07:03 Basketball to Agriculture

09:16 Starting in Seed Sales

11:36 Women in Leadership

15:48 Entrepreneurship Challenges

18:23 Delegation And Growth

18:47 Losing A Major Client

20:29 Faith Through Setbacks

22:29 Identity Shifts And Alignment

23:56 Women Leading Agriculture

26:46 Rural Rising Community

28:15 What's Next For Faith

29:29 Crunchy Agronomist Approach

34:53 Changing Agriculture Vision

37:08 Where To Find Faith

39:09 Closing

Sign up for Farm Wifes Club here: https://kylieepperson.com/farmwivesclubtheevent/

Kylie Epperson, a fourth-generation Midwestern farm wife and entrepreneur, shares how planting season pressures reveal real marriage dynamics in her 12-year marriage while raising three kids and juggling busy schedules. She explains that couples don't need equal effort but aligned expectations as seasonal demands shift who carries more at work or at home. She emphasizes that clear, respectful communication matters most when exhausted, helping partners respond rather than react. Kylie notes that support may look practical—handling responsibilities without adding pressure—rather than long talks or date nights. She encourages giving each other (and yourself) extra grace, remembering love remains even when both are running on low energy, and that hard seasons pass and can strengthen connection if both partners stay open, aligned, and present.

00:00 Farm Wives Club Invite

01:23 Podcast Intro

02:12 Planting Season Life

04:34 Marriage Under Pressure

08:01 Aligned Not Equal

11:19 Communication When Tired

15:11 Support Looks Different

17:05 Grace And Perspective

22:47 Hard Seasons Pass

25:02 Stay Present Closing

Join us at Farm Wives Club - https://kylieepperson.com/farmwivesclubtheevent/ Kylie Epperson hosts her husband Jordan for a candid catch-up during mid-April planting season, sharing how rain paused fieldwork and how pumping hog manure helps as a cheaper fertilizer option. They talk about their 10-year-old son suddenly becoming passionate about hunting and fishing, including a youth-season turkey success and a supply run to Bass Pro, plus Jordan's memorable past turkey hunt where he forgot his calls but still tagged a bird. The conversation shifts to gratitude for involved, local grandparents and how farming can offer kids the option to return to the family business if they choose, emphasizing the need for intentional couple communication amid busy family life. They also mention delays in moving to the farm, Jordan's growing construction work, and Kylie potentially helping more hands-on—possibly running a second planter. Kylie closes by inviting listeners to Farm Wives Club, highlighting a new venue near Boonville with outdoor space and a farm setting, and directs people to kylieepperson.com for tickets.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:40 Catching Up in April

01:16 Planting Pause and Manure

02:53 Rhett's Turkey Season

03:34 Kylie's Hunting Husband Joke

06:07 Jordan's Kubota Turkey Story

09:48 Grandparents and Growing Up

11:54 Talking About the Future

13:30 Still Not Moved In Yet

15:49 Kylie Helps on the Farm

19:28 Farm Wives Club Tickets

22:22 Event Details and Wrap Up

Follow Kylie on Instagram @boldlygroundedpodcast or @kylieepperson_

Sign up for Farm Wives Club here: https://kylieepperson.com/farmwivesclubtheevent/ Kylie Epperson talks about adult friendship and how lonely life can feel for women juggling caregiving, motherhood, work, and rural schedules. She shares her experience of friendships changing after high school and college, moving back to a rural area, and how divorce, drifting, and life transitions can disrupt friend groups. She emphasizes that connection is essential, citing studies that strong relationships increase survival rates by 50%, loneliness is comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and relationships are the top predictor of happiness. Kylie suggests the issue is often misaligned friendships and encourages seeking friends with shared values, lifestyle understanding, and ambition. She explains this motivation behind Farm Wives Club and invites listeners to attend the two-day event August 28–29 in Boonville, Missouri to build community and meaningful friendships.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:48 Why Adult Friendship Hurts

01:48 The Lonely Mental Load

05:03 Farm Wife Schedule Struggles

06:48 Friendships Change by Season

09:04 Why Connection Matters

10:29 Finding Aligned Friends

13:03 Why Farm Wives Club Exists

15:16 Event Details and Speakers

16:22 Your Nudge to Show Up

18:13 You Weren't Meant Alone

19:43 Final Invitation and Wrap

Follow Kylie on Instagram @boldlygroundedpodcast or @kylieepperson_

Or check out her website www.kylieepperson.com

You can find Kylie Gray Eilers on Instagram @graygirlfarms or head to her website to see all she has going on www.graygirlfarms.com

Host Kylie Epperson interviews Kylie Gray Eilers, owner of Gray Girl Farms and Nursery in Royal City, Washington, a fifth-generation row crop background turned first-generation dahlia tuber and flower root farmer. Gray Eilers describes farming in the irrigated Columbia Basin, taking major losses as a first-generation renter, and pivoting by applying potato-production methods to dahlia tubers. She explains scaling from about one acre and 2,000 tubers to roughly 10 acres, shifting from flower delivery to farm pickup bloom buckets, and making most income by digging, dividing, storing, and shipping tubers nationwide, alongside peonies and flower seeds. The conversation also covers postpartum depression, using daily time outdoors as a key support, setting non-negotiables for work and motherhood, social media boundaries, volunteering in local communities, and her recent purchase of a pot-in-pot tree and shrub nursery run as wholesale with pop-up events.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:45 Meet Kylie Gray Eilers

02:30 From Row Crops to Dahlias

03:38 First Gen Farming Reality

06:36 Going All In on Growth

09:27 Selling Flowers and Tubers

10:21 Farm Visits and Expansion

13:15 Postpartum and Baby Steps

16:21 Motherhood and Perspective Shift

17:39 Burnout as a Young Mom

18:38 Chasing More vs Contentment

19:44 Social Media Exhaustion

22:41 Breaking the Phone Habit

24:32 Boundaries Create Not Consume

26:08 Volunteering and Local Impact

27:33 Ripple Effects and Civic Duty

29:14 Seasonal Posting and Limits

30:26 Buying a Wholesale Nursery

33:14 Building a Legacy and Wrap Up

You can find Kylie on Instagram @boldlygroundedpodcast or @kylieepperson_

Go follow Kayla @thefarmstyle Or check out her website for her recipes www.kaylazenner.com Kylie Epperson talks with her friend Kayla Zenner, a former rural math teacher turned farm wife and entrepreneur, about leaving full-time teaching after childcare challenges and an unpaid maternity leave. Kayla shares how postpartum life and the loss of local daycare options pushed her to seek flexibility at home, while also struggling emotionally with not earning her own income for the first time in years. She describes starting sourdough baking, selling loaves, and teaching in-person classes, then realizing scaling an in-home bakery would recreate a stressful full-time job. Kayla shifted to sharing family-friendly recipes online, experienced rapid follower growth from viral videos, and began monetizing through a recipe website with ad-network revenue, plus paid brand partnerships managed with help from a brand manager. She explains her focus on quick, practical meals and the joy of hearing followers add her recipes to their family rotations.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:40 Meet Kayla Zenner

01:25 Leaving Teaching and Daycare Struggles

05:09 Postpartum Pressure and Identity

06:37 Sourdough Hobby to Side Hustle

07:59 Money Mindset as a Stay Home Mom

11:55 Scaling Back for Flexibility

16:27 Going Viral and Growing Online

18:04 Monetizing with Website Ads

20:03 Brand Deals and Staying Authentic

24:45 What Kayla Creates Now

28:05 Family Meals and Picky Eaters

33:33 Where to Find Kayla

34:13 Final Thoughts and Sendoff

Kylie Epperson talks with her friend Kayla Zenner, a former rural math teacher turned farm wife and entrepreneur, about leaving full-time teaching after childcare challenges and an unpaid maternity leave. Kayla shares how postpartum life and the loss of local daycare options pushed her to seek flexibility at home, while also struggling emotionally with not earning her own income for the first time in years. She describes starting sourdough baking, selling loaves, and teaching in-person classes, then realizing scaling an in-home bakery would recreate a stressful full-time job. Kayla shifted to sharing family-friendly recipes online, experienced rapid follower growth from viral videos, and began monetizing through a recipe website with ad-network revenue, plus paid brand partnerships managed with help from a brand manager. She explains her focus on quick, practical meals and the joy of hearing followers add her recipes to their family rotations.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:40 Meet Kayla Zenner

01:25 Leaving Teaching and Daycare Struggles

05:09 Postpartum Pressure and Identity

06:37 Sourdough Hobby to Side Hustle

07:59 Money Mindset as a Stay Home Mom

11:55 Scaling Back for Flexibility

16:27 Going Viral and Growing Online

18:04 Monetizing with Website Ads

20:03 Brand Deals and Staying Authentic

24:45 What Kayla Creates Now

28:05 Family Meals and Picky Eaters

33:33 Where to Find Kayla

34:13 Final Thoughts and Sendoff

Follow Kylie @boldlygrounded or @kylieepperson_

Or check out her website www.kylieepperson.com

Kylie Epperson shares how a weekend trip with her kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City prompted her to try "bricking" her phone using the Brick app to block distracting apps like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Amazon, and others while keeping essentials like texts and calendar. She explains how constant scrolling affects her mental health through a dopamine drip, an escape from boredom or overwhelm, and a habit loop that's hard to break—especially since social media is tied to her business and community. After three days, she notices feeling less rushed, being more present, and getting more done at home. She outlines ideas for returning with boundaries: asking why she's opening an app, setting timers, replacing scrolling with walking, chores, reading, journaling, or time with kids, spotting trigger moments, and starting with one clear boundary focused on family presence.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:51 Quiet Morning Check In

02:09 Family Trip Recap

04:00 Why I Bricked My Phone

06:11 What I Blocked and Why

08:05 The Real Cost of Scrolling

09:36 Three Parts of Addiction

14:20 Why It Feels Hard to Stop

16:49 Early Wins Without Socials

18:56 My Plan for Boundaries

22:54 One Boundary to Start

26:33 Final Thoughts and Goodbye

Folllow Kylie @boldlygroundedpodcast or @kylieepperson_

www.kylieepperson.com

Host Kylie Epperson shares her ongoing journey of self-discovery, faith, and recovery from intense mental and physical burnout that deepened after the emergency C-section birth of her third child, in December 2020. She describes severe postpartum struggles, feeling overwhelmed by caretaking and motherhood demands, and reaching a point where she admitted she wasn't okay, began low-dose anti-anxiety medication, and later pursued therapy (including EMDR) and functional medicine testing. Kylie recounts a major anxiety spiral in 2022–2023 when she feared she had a brain tumor, leading to an emergency MRI that showed nothing serious. She reflects on repeated "fix it" patterns, disappointment when test results didn't show dramatic improvement, and a new perspective: healing may not be the endpoint, but a lesson in slowing down, replenishing, and trusting God's timing while continuing to grow in faith.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:48 Why This Episode Matters

01:07 Emergency C Section Story

02:56 Postpartum and Hormones

04:14 Caretaker Weight of Motherhood

06:33 Burnout and Needing Space

08:28 Admitting I Was Not Okay

10:15 Medication Therapy and Testing

12:48 Health Scare and Anxiety Spiral

14:41 Stepping Back to Recover

15:23 Repletion Era Not Perfection

17:41 Maybe Healing Is the Lesson

20:29 Closing and Next Steps

Listen to Kylie's full Postpartum Journey here

Kylie Epperson shares why she took a week off the podcast after a hectic February and uses the episode to process a recurring challenge in rural communities: how to handle rumors and knowing others are talking about you, especially when you or your farm business are doing things outside the norm. She explains how her response has shifted over time from defensiveness and shrinking back to caring less about others' opinions, particularly when integrity feels questioned. Kylie outlines three reasons people talk negatively—insecurities and comparison, projection of their own "not enough" feelings, and discomfort with disrupted social order when someone changes. She shares a friend's reminder that what someone says about you reveals more about them than you, and encourages listeners to keep growing, trust themselves and God, and not let criticism reinforce their own insecurities.

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:43 Back After a Break

01:58 Small Town Rumors

05:06 Why People Talk

06:41 Insecurity and Comparison

08:06 Projection Explained

10:30 Disrupting the Norm

13:42 Sally and Susie

15:55 Keep Growing Anyway

18:41 Closing and Farewell

To connect with Kylie @boldlygrouded or @kylieepperson_

Follow @Bouldygroundedpocast or@kylieepperson

Kylie Epperson talks with interior designer Tara Miller, founder of Heartland Interior Design, about building a commercial and residential firm in Nebraska that now has national and international projects. Tara shares her path through UNL's interior design program, graduating into the 2013 recession, learning sales as an architectural/design rep, and eventually going full-time in her own firm as client work grew. They discuss entrepreneurship realities like backend operations, hiring support (like bookkeeping), sticking with business long-term, and why social media and founder-led branding matter today. Tara also расскаunts how an Instagram connection led to designing Boot Barn's corporate headquarters, including a fast timeline and material-themed floors (stone, leather, iron, timber).

00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded

00:48 Meet Tara Miller

02:05 Design Passion and Roots

04:32 Tubing Nebraska Style

08:06 Why Start a Business

09:03 Interior Design School Path

11:47 Early Career and Pay Reality

14:10 Bootstrapping the Firm

20:51 Entrepreneur Strengths Mindset

24:27 Social Media as Sales

25:16 Social Media Burnout

26:20 Founder Led Branding

29:15 Follow to Grow

31:04 Internet Overload

33:15 Dopamine and Mental Health

35:52 Postpartum Reality Check

39:19 Boot Barn Design Story

47:45 Designing by Materials

50:52 Where to Find Tara

51:56 Closing Message