We’re Josh and Mary Swafford. A family of nine, 150 acres in Tennessee, and a firm belief that you don’t have to choose between the life you have and the life you want.
Faith. Family. Food sovereignty. And a corporate career running alongside all of it.
OUR STORY
How a Corporate Family Ended Up on a Farm
It didn’t start with a vision for 150 acres. It started with a question we couldn’t stop asking: do we actually know what’s in our food?
The more we looked into it, the harder it was to look away. The industrial food system isn’t built for your family’s health. It’s built for volume, consistency, and shelf life. We’re not people who scare easily, but what we found unsettled us. And as a family of faith, we felt something shift. Not guilt. Responsibility.
So in 2019, on 2 acres outside our home in Tennessee, we did the only honest thing we could think of: we started raising our own food. We got chickens. Just chickens. We had no idea what we were doing. We read everything, called everyone who knew more than us, and made every mistake available to first-year farmers. Some birds didn’t make it. We kept going anyway.
From chickens, we added pigs. From pigs, cattle. Each animal taught us something the last one didn’t, and each season gave us just enough confidence to take the next step. Two acres became 10. Ten became 150. Today Rising Oaks Family Farm raises beef, pork, poultry, and dairy on land we feel genuinely called to steward.
We named the farm from Isaiah 61:3, the promise of oaks of righteousness planted by the Lord, beauty rising from ashes. That’s not poetic license. It’s what this journey has felt like. Hard and worthwhile at the same time.
“We built this alongside a demanding corporate career, seven children, and a faith that kept asking more of us. We are still figuring it out. That’s the honest truth.”
Josh leads a team in financial services and brings 20 years of leadership experience, an MBA, an ICF coaching credential, and a Scrum Master certification to a life that also includes early mornings, muddy boots, and animals that don’t care about your calendar. Mary holds the center of all of it. This is not one person’s story. It never was.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
The Convictions That Drive Everything
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Families have the right to know what they’re eating and to take ownership of where it comes from.
FAITH AS FOUNDATION
Stewardship of land and body isn’t separate from our faith. It flows directly from it.
FAMILY AS MISSION
Everything we build here is for our children, and for the families who come alongside us.
NO GATEKEEPING
You don’t have to be a purist to start. You just have to start. Imperfect steps still move you forward.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHOOSE
A career, a large family, and intentional land-based living can coexist. We’re living proof.
THE FARM TODAY
150 Acres, Seven Kids, One Week at a Time
Rising Oaks today is a working family farm on 150 acres in Tennessee. We raise beef cattle, pigs, chickens, and dairy animals, all on pasture, all managed with the kind of care that comes from knowing exactly whose table this food ends up on.
A typical week doesn’t have a typical look. There are early morning chores that happen before anyone at the office knows we’re awake, evening checks that happen after the kids are in bed, and a whole lot of problem-solving in between. Josh manages a corporate team by day and farm decisions alongside that. Mary manages what most people would consider two full-time jobs without blinking.
It works because we’ve built systems and because we’re honest about what we can and can’t do ourselves. It’s not romantic every day. But it is real every day. And that, it turns out, is exactly what we were looking for.
WHY WE SHARE THIS
Because Someone Needs to See It’s Possible
We didn’t start sharing our story because we had it figured out. We started because we kept meeting families just like us, professional, faith-driven, drawn toward something more rooted, who assumed it wasn’t available to them. That it required quitting a career, or moving somewhere remote, or having skills they didn’t have.
We wanted to show them otherwise. Rising Oaks is our attempt to document the real, unfiltered version of this life. The wins and the losses. The first calf and the animals we’ve buried. The systems that work and the ones we rebuilt from scratch. If we can show one family that the gap between where they are and where they want to be is smaller than they think, this is worth every post.
“To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
ISAIAH 61:3
Come walk this road with us.
Download the free Rising Oaks Starter Guide and take your first real step toward the life you keep thinking about.
Your First 90 Days on the Homestead | Free at risingoaksfamilyfarm.com