Alan Wilson’s path to farming began far from the fields. Raised in the Bahamas, he joined the U.S. Army in 2003 and served for ten years as a scout, including two combat deployments to Iraq. He planned to make the military a 20-year career, but a medical retirement left him asking what came next. At 29, he found an unexpected answer in a backyard garden in Kansas. A few failed tomatoes and a battle with squirrels over strawberries eventually grew into a full-time farming operation. For Alan, cultivating plants offered something deeper, too:

a chance to find peace after his years of military service. “Here I was nurturing life and helping life along and watching something grow… There were some healing properties in that that I don’t even know if I recognized at the time.”

That small garden sparked a new direction. Using the GI Bill, Alan earned an agriculture degree from Kansas State University in 2014 and learned the practical side of farming from local farmers who mentored him in organic row crops. In 2016, Shelley moved from Florida to Kansas to join Alan. Her family has farming roots, and her passion for nutrition grew as she saw the difference in eggs from their own pastured hens, ducks, and turkeys. Together they grew their operation from 20 acres to nearly 600.

In 2020, the Wilsons made another big leap, moving their family to northeast Indiana and buying their first 142-acre farm. Starting new in Indiana meant rebuilding their organic operation from the ground up. Their property had spent decades in the Conservation Reserve Program and was overgrown with trees, thorny brush, and unmanaged vegetation. Restoring it to productive farmland took considerable work, but the Wilsons saw an opportunity where others might not have. 

But Alan knew that 142 acres wasn’t enough for a full-time operation. Starting from scratch a second time meant facing agriculture’s biggest hurdle again: access to land. After another organic farmer in the area introduced Alan to Amber, our partnership began with an 80-acre parcel that nearly doubled Alan’s land base. Amber later purchased another 130 acres nearby, providing the family room to grow without buying every acre themselves. The long-term security of the leases helps them plan ahead and invest in stewardship.

“Land access is essential,” Alan says. “Without it, you’re not going to go very far… Amber sees opportunity where other people don’t.”

Today, the Wilsons farm approximately 500 acres. About half are certified organic, and the rest are transitioning. Most of their organic corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, and hay becomes organic animal feed, including vibrant kernels grown for Vital Farms laying hens. Their three kids now point out “our eggs” in the grocery store. For Shelley, who balances full-time work off the farm with long days alongside Alan, those moments connect the family’s hard work to the healthy food they provide for others’ kitchen tables. 

For the Wilsons, farming is about more than growing crops. It’s about caring for the land, watching biodiversity return to their fields, and building something they can one day pass on to their children. Starting over in two states has tested their determination, but they’ve kept growing. When asked what he’s most proud of, Alan doesn’t hesitate: “That we’re still here. We started from nothing in two different places, and we’ve been successful.”