Welcome to my acre on the Internet!
Hi! I’m Stacy! I get awkward and weird when I have to introduce myself, but it would be strange if this page were blank, so here goes.
I’m an accidental farm girl, mom of three (ages 10, 8, and 5), wife, writer, and former high school counselor.
Years ago, I dreamed of big city life, but in 2013, I married a fourth-generation farmer and rancher and moved to his family's farm in the middle of nowhere, Montana. Today, we’re raising three kids—the fifth generation—with my husband’s family. Alongside raising one boy and two girls, we grow wheat, lentils, chickpeas, mustard, hay, barley, and black Angus cattle.
Shortly after getting married, I noticed that most of the captions and stories I read on social media from rural women often only highlighted the beautiful aspects of farming and ranching.
Was I doing something wrong that I didn’t love every second of farm life? Was I the only one struggling?
Since then, I’ve tried to be honest, sharing the struggles and challenges of rural life—all while honoring the beautiful parts, too.
Because I believe life is both/and.
About Me
My claim to “fame” is delivering our third baby in the front seat of our pickup on the way to town. Thankfully, it turned out okay and made for a good story. I co-founded StrongHer Together: A Conference for Women in Agriculture. I love reading, barre, growing zinnias, and eating cake.
Farm life often lends itself to beautiful metaphors, such as growth, seasons, harvest, and planting. I’ve found that those metaphors often tie into motherhood and marriage as well. Over the years, writing has been my way of making sense of a life I never planned to live. To borrow a cliché metaphor, I’m attempting to bloom where I’m planted.
Although planting season is only a short time on the farm, the rest of the seasons wouldn’t be possible without first sowing the seeds. And in motherhood and life, we’re not just planting once a year; we’re constantly sowing and watering the seeds, waiting for harvest. Only to do it again the next day.
My essays have been featured in Coffee + Crumbs, Her View From Home, Trailblazher magazine, Motherly, and elsewhere. I’m a contributing writer to the book So God Made a Grandma. I’m also on The Mom Hour contributor team.
If you want to read some of my published work, here’s my online portfolio.
I’m still figuring out what I write about—sometimes, I write about farming; sometimes, I write about motherhood. Often, they’re both in the same story. I used to think my writing was only for rural women like myself, but I’ve learned that many of us are living an unexpected life. Our plans don’t always go as we dreamed, but that doesn’t mean it’s a terrible life—it’s just different from what we expected.
If any of that interests you, I hope you’ll follow along here. You can occasionally find me on Instagram. Follow me @stacybronec.
Thanks for being here. 🌱
-Stacy
