Deanna Sand, co-owner of Prairie Soul Meats, talks starting a value-added agriculture business, balancing family and business, and the lessons she's learned as a woman entrepreneur.

Transcript
Jodi Bruns: Welcome to “Thriving on the Prairie,” a podcast exploring issues concerning families and communities that inspires North Dakota movers, shakers and community difference-makers to engage in lifelong learning. Hi, I’m Jodi Bruns, leadership and civic engagement specialist with NDSU Extension. Today, I will be visiting with Deanna Sand from Prairie Soul Meats. Deanna took a leap of faith and left her career and city paycheck to be an entrepreneur in a livestock industry.

Jodi: Alright, so thanks for joining us today for the NDSU Extension podcast. So we're kicking off this inaugural podcast in celebration of women's entrepreneurship week and our guest today is Deanna Sand. And Deanna is from the Ashley area, and I'll have her introduce herself. Good morning, Deanna.

Deanna Sand: Thanks for having me. Well, I ranch west of Forbes in between Ellendale and Ashley, so we have every address and phone number possible. So we ranch in the hills, and we raise grass-fed beef, all home-raised. It’s lived here it’s whole life. We have also sheep and pigs, and we have a business called Prairie Soul Meats where we direct-market our beef.

Jodi: So you guys have been, you ranch with your husband Cody, and I know that your three kids...here’s a disclaimer, Deanna and I have known each other I would say most of our lives through 4-H, and then our kids were in school together. So, I've watched you on this journey here. And when, when you quit your job, I thought you were a brave soul. So how did you decide to take that leap of faith to quit your job and really embrace this entrepreneurship venture?

Deanna: We had taken an holistic management class in 2011, so we kind of changed over from conventional ranching, really doing everything the hard way, to really learn about more holistic and different grazing. So when we did that there was a grant available for fencing and water infrastructure. And anybody who knows my husband knows he’s like  all in on everything so instead of putting up like one cross fence we did like seven miles of pipeline and 27 water tanks and 65 primitive pastures. And so it was a lot of work and a lot of things. So he asked me, he's like would you consider quitting your job and I’m like No… (laugh) ...Pretty scary.

Jodi: Yeah, right.

Deanna:  Yeah so I quit my job and then that changed into just grazing different and doing more things and then 5 or 7 years later all the sudden we have a grass-fed beef business. 

Jodi: Well that's exciting. You had quite a commute everyday and you know I did that too, and fought bad weather and roads. And you know I don't miss that but do you miss the interaction with people every day, and going to work or any regrets with that?

Deanna: Not anymore (laugh) 

Jodi: Yeah good. That's good. 

Deanna : I worked for an optometrist for twenty years, and that’s what I went to school for. I was an optometric assistant. So I drove an hour one way every day for roughly twenty years. I miss the patients but then I get to run into them at farmers markets and things like that. And it’s funny... when I call down to work it's still my voice on the answering machine. So it’s like I’m still there and never left. 

Jodi: Nice.

Deanna: 6 years of not working and when I quit, all three of the kids were still at home. Our oldest was probably a junior….a sophomore or junior, so it was fun to be able to be around for that chaos and not have to drive.

Jodi:  You know thinking about you know what's the best part about being an entrepreneur and maybe the worst part? Is there a worst part? Or is everyday like ``Oh, I'm so glad we did this?”

Deanna: Well it is super fun once we’ve gotten into the meat business. It’s really such a  blessing to be able to provide a good nutritional product to people who are looking for it. There's people who have issues like fibromyalgia and some other kind of internal issues and they literally cannot eat beef anymore and whether it's for whatever reason they can eat our beef.  We don't use any chemicals on the land or the cattle. And they're always on grass so there's just something about it that's more natural and it doesn't bother them. So it's fun when you find those people who you're really helping and and that's a blessing.  The entrepreneur part I mean it's sure fun when you go to work and then somebody gives you a paycheck all the time no matter what you do…. you show up and then you get a paycheck.

Jodi: Yeah there’s that. (laughs)

Deanna: So this is different for sure. And then when COVID hit that was great and horrifying at the same time. We had already had some beef processed and in the freezer, planning ahead for farmers market. And then we had got approved to go to Fargo farmers market and at the same time we had butchered it... set up luckily hoping we could get in there. But then COVID hit and everything is just in chaos and you can't get in. So we're fortunate we still have stuff set up for next year. But then do you go bigger and find a different bigger plant? Do you stay where you are? Do you just hope it’s fine? So yeah, all that stuff. It’s a lot of moving parts.  

Jodi: So your business has expanded. I mean when you when you first started this, I mean you now you're like you said, you mentioned the Red River Farmers Market and I saw you there this weekend. And I was shocked at how busy... you know...  people were just asking you... it was so many questions and I could hear people asking you about your ranch and about the beef and the process and so what is,  what are some of the things people ask you? What do they want to know about your ranch or your process?

Deanna: They want to know how it’s raised. If it’s always ours or if it comes from somewhere else. So people usually want to know that. You know it's funny when you get in an urban setting, like Fargo. There's so many people that just if you're at the market, they just assume that what you say is what it is and they expect it to be a certain caliber. You know they expected it's not going to be the same stuff they're getting from a random grocery store. There’s some people very happy to have us there which is really pretty cool like they're seeking us out and that's pretty neat 

Jodi: Well I think part of that is the reputation you’ve built. And you and Cody have been very approachable. What would you say is your business philosophy?

Deanna: I don’t know if we have one. Maybe that's a problem. Maybe we should get one of those.  

Jodi: (Laughs)

Deanna:I think just really being pretty transparent and really welcoming to whatever. The first week we were at the market, there was a young girl in her twenties and her and her mom, I think were there, and we were super busy so I didn't actually get to meet her that day and Cody did. She emailed a day later and said, “It was great. It was amazing. Can we come tour your place?” And they came just a couple weeks ago for like an all-day tour. And it was you know... they wanted to see what we do, what the place looks like, how they're raised? You know all kinds of food questions and that is like so fun. That's the b...