Braly Farms - A Legacy of Growth - The NavCo Chronicle

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By Emilie Parten, The Reporter on The Rove

Wade Braly has farmed on his family’s land all his life.

The land in question has been in his family for well over a hundred years, tended to by past generations and grown into what it is today by all the hands that contributed to an ongoing legacy.

Three or four years ago, he decided to start a nursery, selling established seedlings to new gardeners. Two years ago, his wife, Kristi and their marketing manager, Sadye began bringing fresh produce to the farmers markets, as well as canned goods and baked goods to vendor markets. In the span of those two years, Braly Farms has grown exponentially into a brand that prioritizes listening to their customers and creating products that are requested such as no sugar added jams and jellies for the diabetic community. “I try really hard to find some way to fulfill a need, somewhere,” Sadye said.
Braly Farms operates nearly an acre of garden just for the family’s use, with the overflow sold at the farmers markets, as well as larger fields that are used to grow corn, wheat, oats, and hay on just about 250 acres of land.
The couple were not sure who would continue tending the land. The answer came in the form of Braly’s niece, Sadye, and her young family who put enormous value in the lessons learned and the extensive benefits of growing fresh food for their family and the community.
Sadye and Brandon Carroll joined the Braly family, learning from them as much as they could about agriculture and gardening. Sadye has a culinary degree and uses her learnings to become a pastry chef, helping Kristi can jellies, salsas, chowchow and more and adding baked goods to their list of available stock.

She became the Marketing Manager for Braly Farms, intent on growing their client base and making a trusted and reliable asset to the community.
She redesigned the farms logo, scheduled vender market appearances, runs the farms Facebook page and business accounts and so much more all while taking care of two small children.

Any items not grown on Braly lands are locally sourced and kept as fresh as possible to ensure top quality products. The entire farm is run by these two small families with only a small handful of familial volunteers who help harvest, weed and water.

The farm has no employees, managed entirely by these four people who enjoy the simplicities of working the land and surviving from what they grow.