Author, Farm Family: A Solo Mom’s Memoir of Finding Home, Happiness, and Alpacas

This week, Ira spoke with Jane Lee Rankin, author of Farm Family: A Solo Mom’s Memoir of Finding Home, Happiness, and Alpacas. In this sheared episode of “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Jane talks about when she first fell in love with the mountains and rural living; first meeting an alpaca at the Kentucky State Fair; her dream of raising alpacas; shearing them once a year; why her farm is considered a fiber farm; the importance of agritourism (“farms plus people”); having a sense of humor to survive; how the book derived from customers’ questions during tours of the farm (Apple Hill Farm); why what started out as a story of the farm became a memoir; why a lot of her farm team are students; how alpacas have a spiritual energy; why there’s a heartbeat to a farm; and what she wants people to take away from her book (hint: real life on the farm).

Jane Lee Rankin is a farmer and the founder of Apple Hill Farm, an award-winning first-generation farm in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Lee is an advocate for farmers through her leadership and involvement in the North Carolina Agritourism Networking Association. She frequently speaks about farm tourism and the benefits of diversifying farm portfolios at conferences locally and nationally. In 2021, Lee won runner-up for North Carolina Small Farmer of the Year.

Jane Lee Rankin  Website