Live from the Farm

Meg White was a long-time employee of Bumbleride. Back in 2018, she and her family moved to a farm in Oregon...from an urban farm they started in the Barrio Logan neighborhood of San Diego, CA. 

We watched her become married and have her first-born baby girl while at Bumbleride. Since leaving to pursue life in Oregon on a farm, we've seen her crew and farm family continue to grow. 

Q&A with Meg:

What inspired you to want to be so adventurous, to pick up your life and move from an urban neighborhood in San Diego to a farm in Oregon? 

My husband and I had always talked about eventually leaving California and buying some land. We would take annual camping trips up the coast of California into Oregon and thought we would love to be in a more wooded, rural area.  It happened faster than we thought once we had our first baby. An incredibly bittersweet decision - we met in San Diego, got married there, created a tight community of folks, bought our first house, and had our first baby. It was hard to leave, but also exciting! We had transformed our downtown home into a little urban farm with some raised beds and small flock of chickens. We wanted to expand, and also escape the city. In the summer of 2018, we purchased a fixer upper on almost 60 acres in Southern Oregon. The property included a year-round creek, forest, pastures, barn, and lots of outbuildings. It's hard to imagine our very different life before our PNW slice of paradise. 

Tell us about your daily life now with three kids on your farm.

Life on the farm with three kids is chaotic let me tell you! Marley (6), attends a small local charter school and is a huge help with the younger two. Juniper (3) is my comedian and chore helper, and Sonny (10 months) is along for the ride. There is always something that needs to be fixed or tended to - children, animals, plants, fences, etc. We currently raise pastured chickens for meat, free range chickens for eggs, turkeys, and goats for milking and brush clearing. Some of our fields we lease out for cattle to graze. We have 2 Great Pyrenees dogs, Bo and Doc who keep unwanted visitors away. We spend a lot of the day making sure everyone is fed, watered, and clean. Spring has finally arrived in the PNW which means we are preparing our garden, rotating animals in different pastures, pulling chicken tractors, and gearing up for chicken processing. Summer and Fall brings lots of harvests from our giant garden and tons of fruit trees among our property. We can a lot of the food we grow, dehydrate some and participate in local food swaps - where we trade items with other farmers. 

What are the new fury friends being born this Spring on your farm? 

We have already had 11 calves born, 2 baby goats, over 150 meat chicks, and I currently have some eggs in an incubator. These will be added to our 30ish egg laying chickens. We may have some piglets in our future too! 

To say the daily chores on a farm seem like a lot, is an understatement. All while raising your three kiddos. What do you find most challenging? 

So much! Sometimes it can be very overwhelming to manage kids, farm, and home. But at the end of the day, you do what you can and somehow it gets figured out. The weather and time is my biggest challenge. There's not enough time in the day to accomplish some things and having small kids add a lot of extra time to chores and errands. It's hard to have a set routine with school, farm, kids, etc. There are lots of interruptions and plans change quickly around here. The weather in the PNW can be rainy and cold, which can be tough on the kids. It takes a lot of time to get them dressed for the weather and keep everyone in good spirits while doing chores and projects. Snacks and warm fires help. Sometimes they just don't want to do it, and I can't blame them. I bribe a lot with hot cocoa and s'mores 😄

We know you have some close friends from our Bumbleride team. It is special that you all became friends before having children and now your families travel to spend time together and your kids are all close. That is so charming. 

Working for Bumbleride was one of my greatest jobs! I met so many wonderful people, from coworkers to customers, and others in the industry. I am still very close with some of the team, and we try to see each other a few times a year. One of them lives in the PNW with her family and kids so we get together every few months. Another just took a road trip with her family and came to visit us a few weeks ago. I'll be traveling back to San Diego soon to see the rest of them! They bring me so much happiness and laughter, I am truly lucky to have met them and continue our friendship. When you join Bumbleride as a customer or employee, you really do become part of a family - it is pretty special. 

We know your history with Bumbleride and the people behind the brand that you must be biased, but how is your Bumbleride Era doing with the farm life?

The air-filled tires that all Bumbleride models have is a game changer. For city life, and farm life. The cargo basket on the Era is gigantic, which is great for holding all my kids' stuff out in the field. The reversible seat is amazing (such a great feature!) and so easy to switch. I also love the brands commitment to sustainability, which falls in line with our values as caretakers of the land.

Thank you, Meg! And thank you for reading.