rural resilience
Hello and welcome to our Winter edition. Going into year two of Trailblazher Magazine is all about bringing you some fresh new approaches and ideas for your business and your life. On our cover, we are excited to present Jennifer Sulkowski Pool, a true blue horsewoman, mother, author and teacher in her own one-room farm school. Learn some simple, yet elegant techniques for holiday decorating, put on a family gathering with a beautiful array of appies from the ranch, take a look inside one of the most amazing AirBnB’s you’ll ever see, and learn how-to start a farm store. Our Winter 2021 issue of Trailblazher promises to provide you with hours of quiet time, so get the firewood ready so you can throw another log on the fire!
Winter Issue #5
Holiday Appies
Mindful Beauty
On the Cover
Aggie Armstrong
Winter '21
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Winter Issue Flip through
What's Inside
Aggie Armstrong was born in Manila, Philippines, and moved to London, Canada when she was 18 years old. She received her BA degree with a minor in Art History, at Western University. Armstrong currently resides in Oxford County, about an hour and a half west of Toronto, with her husband and daughter. She works out of an old milk house she and her husband transformed into her art studio, and she is known for her multimedia work that explores various states of female consciousness.
Madisen Young
Aggie Armstrong
feature stories
Aggie Armstrong Fine Art
@aggie_armstrong
Woodstock, Ontario, Canada
aggiearmstrong.com
Madisen Young is a Woodstock, Ontario based photographer. She began Honey & Oak Photography in 2020. Two years later, she’s been published in Score golf magazine and has captured over 200 couples, babies, entrepreneurs, weddings and families. Young is a lifestyle photographer known for capturing candid connection and making anyone feel comfortable in front of the lens.
Honey and Oak Photography
@honeyandoakphoto
Woodstock, Ontario, Canada
honeyandoakphotography.com
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Kathryn Laframboise, a rookie fibre farmer from Treaty One Territory, Manitoba, tends to 20 acres and nearly one hundred lives varying from ducks and geese to horses and alpacas. Her favourite saying is that she is “farming for joy”. Laframboise is wildly passionate about community and embodies that as a middle school teacher and graduate student.
Kristy Hill
Kathryn Laframboise
The Raspberry Roost
@raspberryontheprairie
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba, Canada
theraspberryroost.com
Kristy Hill is a rural Manitoba photographer out of the Interlake who loves the outdoors and hobby farming. Hill loves helping rural entrepreneurs promote and educate people about farming and what they do, through her photography.
Kristine Sarah Photography
@kristinesarahphotography
Argyle, Manitoba, Canada
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Nikki Andrew and husband David purchased their farm on River Road outside Bayfield Ontario 13 years ago, undertaking 120 acres to develop the dream of creating a sustainable brewery on the property that would also be home to themselves and their 4 children. With a love for unique beers and the desire to keep a few animals, they worked to incorporate an environmentally conscious practice with hobby farming. The highland cows are fed spent grain, while the sheep weed the hop yard, reducing the need for harmful chemicals, especially important to Andrew since adding bees to her property. All creatures, no matter how small, are welcome at River Road Brewing. The property has become a labour of her love that is felt by any visitor and in every beer they make.
Brady Carmichael
Nikki Andrew
River Road Brewing and Hops
@riverroadbrewing
Bayfield, Ontario, Canada
riverroadbrewing.com
Brady Carmichael of Lilry Photography is a Canadian worldwide elopement/portrait photographer based in the prettiest little town, Goderich, Ontario. Carmichael is a lover of chasing light, Starbucks coffee, and everything and anything bohemian. She is a free spiritual soul who loves going on adventures and capturing all the authentic moments she can find along the way.
Lilry Photography
@lilryphotography
Goderich, Ontario, Canada
lilryphotography.ca
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Amber Elle is a homeschooling mama to three incredibly adventurous little souls, Director of Family Preparedness for Fieldcraft Survival, and content creator + inspiration for the modern day mama bears. She holds a bachelor's of science in nursing and advocates for a foundation of natural health and wellness, alongside an intentional self reliant lifestyle. Elle spends her days balancing her busy and exciting work travels with the slow and rhythmic life she leads with her children, tending gardens and caring for their animals. Her favorite moments are the ones spent showing her children new places, new recipes, and giving them new experiences.
Erin Wakeman
Amber Elle
@ms.amber.elle
Jennings, Louisiana, USA
amber-elle.com
Erin Wakeman is a traveling photographer/videographer based in Dallas, Texas. She runs her business in a dress and muck boots while raising chickens, cows and three wild, beautiful daughters with her husband, Jake. Wakeman keeps busy by finding joy, following peace and chasing dreams, while encouraging others to do the same!
@erinwakeman
Sulphur Springs, Texas, USA
erinwakeman.com
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Danielle Majeau is a stay-at-home momma to two beautiful little wildlings, Tristan and Autumn. Together they spend their days tending to their animals, adventuring and working hard! Swift is self- employed, an entrepreneur in the world of skulls and bones, serving private clients to corporations, that include Disney.
Danielle Majeau
these hands of mine
primal skull co
@primalskullco
Drayton valley, alberta, canada
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Bobby Jean Yeoman
Wild Rose Photography @wild.rosephotography
Photographer
Brandelyn Tafoya is an entrepreneur, homeschool mom, educator, and wife to former NFL defensive end Joe Tafoya. Tafoya is happily living the farm life on their homestead in the foothills of the Cascade mountains, where she teaches kids and adults about horses and homesteading, along with breeding rare breed poultry and Nigerian Dwarf goats.
Brandelyn Tafoya
Pivot farm llc
@pivotfarm
fall city, washington, usa
pivotfarm.com
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brandelyn tafoya
Photographer
Emma Butler is a 4th generation cattle farmer. She is a full time wife, mother, farmer and entrepreneur. Alongside her husband, Butler raises their three (soon to be four!) children, who are all four years old and under; beef, lamb,chicken and crops on her husband’s 3rd generation farm in Croton, Ontario.
Emma Butler
J&E Meats
@jandemeats @camdentallow
Croton, Ontario, Canada jandemeats.com
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Laurel Ysebaert
Barnbird Photography @barnbirdphotography
Photographer
Brandelyn Tafoya is an entrepreneur, homeschool mom, educator, and wife to former NFL defensive end Joe Tafoya. Tafoya is happily living the farm life on their homestead in the foothills of the Cascade mountains, where she teaches kids and adults about horses and homesteading, along with breeding rare breed poultry and Nigerian Dwarf goats.
Diane Courchesne
My Vintage Flair
@myvintageflair2017
Hamlet of Dalroy, Alberta, Canada
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Morgan Storch
Ranahan Photo
@ranahanphoto
Photographer
Emily and her husband, Andrew, raise corn, soybeans, cover crops, a few chickens, and two farm kids in West Central Illinois. Reuschel is an elementary school teacher, turned nonprofit leader, turned entrepreneur. She is deeply passionate about serving rural women through life coaching, speaking, masterminds, digital content, and the Raising Reuschel Podcast. Reuschel’s personalized habit challenge, #YouDoYou82, helps women build strong, attainable, and consistent habits to show up for the lives that they love. Her joy list includes red dirt country music, iced americanos, snuggling on the couch with her family, personal growth books, and long runs on rural backroads.
Joselyn Monroe
Emily Reuschel
Raising Reuschel
@raisingreuschel
West Central Illinois, USA
Joselyn Monroe is a small town Illinois photographer who loves to travel and find new adventures. Her unique photography style tells her client’s story just as it is, while making them feel beautiful. When not capturing moments through the lens of a camera, you can find her gathering around a table or grilling out with her people. Monroe loves going out to the family farm, exploring the midwest and beyond, and swimming at the lake. Her family likes to keep busy which comes with lots of memories and lots of photos.
Joselyn Rae Photography @joselynrae joselynraephotography.com
cultivate your business
Nikki Wiart found her way back to her parent’s farm in 2017, (after working in journalism), to start Lady’s Hat Farm. Over the years, Wiart fell deeply in love with everything floral and everything fuzzy. She loves these things in a way that also regenerates the land, builds community and encourages other women to pursue a career in farming. Lady’s Hat Farm offers seasonal and sustainable cut flowers for bouquets, weddings and other events, as well as dried florals during the fall and winter. Wiart also raises grass-fed and finished lamb and keeps a few hives.
Melanie Villeneuve
Nikki Wiart
Lady’s Hat Farm
@ladys.hat.farm
Castor, Alberta, Canada
ladyshatfarm.com
Photographer Melanie Villeneuve is a multidisciplinary creative with a strong penchant for strategy. Villeneuve has spent the last ten years helping entrepreneurs and business owners get clear on who they are, what they value, and who they serve best — then leveraging the awesome skills of her team to create killer brands, authentic content and websites that convert using what they discover. Villeneuve believes that design should help solve business problems and break down the walls that are keeping clients from becoming love-struck with your business.
Urtica Design
@weareurtica @melofurtica Parkland County, Alberta, Canada urtica.ca
Make it
Cassandra and Stefanie Lepp are two sisters who run a grain farm in southwest Manitoba. The Tulepps also run the ground crew for their dad’s spray plane operation and manage their personal brand. Their IG account combines farming and fashion, breaks stereotypes and empowers women. The Tulepps focus on promoting agriculture through editorial style photos, with educational and fun messaging. The best kind of feminism is just getting out there and showing the world you can do it. The Lepp sisters hope that little girls see more strong women telling their stories and know that they can do anything they put their mind to.
Stefanie Lepp
Stefanie & Cassandra Lepp
The Tulepps
@thetulepps
Rivers, Manitoba, Canada
Photographer Stefanie Lepp from @thetulepps takes and edits 90% of the photos for the sister’s IG page using a tripod and self-timer, with a Canon EOS T5i. Taking their own photos allows the Lepps to be flexible with their hectic schedules and allows Stefanie to stay involved in photography. When she went to college, Stefanie took a photography class and fell in love with it. She also loves modeling, so their IG page really allows her to do both. The Lepps love working with other photographers as well, when they can, but usually their shoots are very last minute and take 10 minutes out at the farm, or wherever they happen to be, allowing them to be flexible.
one farm, two lepps
Meagan Saum is a momma of 3 kiddos, owner of a 320-acre wellness and working ranch, educator at heart & an entrepreneur of over 17 years. Saum loves to travel, spend time on the back of her horse, in nature, with her family and menagerie of animals, as well as relax with tea and a good book!
Saum’s passion as a heart-centred Life & Business Coach is in supporting individuals that have fallen into patterns that no longer serve them, who feel stuck, exhausted, lost, unclear, under-resourced or unsatisfied in their lives and/or businesses. What fills her soul is empowering her clients to step into their power and claim a new found sense of awareness, clarity, courage & freedom.
Teal Hallaby
Meagan Saum
Life and Business Coach Owner of Silver Valley Ranch @meagansaum
Crossfield, Alberta, Canada
meagansaum.com
Photographer Teal Hallaby, owner of These Four Winds Photography, lives on a ranch northwest of Airdrie, Alberta, with her husband and four kids. Hallaby pursued her dream of photography in 2019. Her life now is a constant balancing act between kids, the farm and her business, but one she is happy to make work in order to allow her children to see how important it is to chase your dreams. Hallaby has been focused on family photography, but is constantly educating herself on new and challenging ways to be creative and expand her knowledge and business.
Four Winds Photography @thesefourwinds
Airdrie, AB, Canada
Grounded in you
Jessica Mose is the owner, maker and prairie herbalist behind Prairie Soap Shack in central Alberta. Her business takes inspiration from the past and the plants of the prairies to create all-natural skin and body care for people who want a modern self-care routine infused with a connection to nature and the nostalgia of their roots. Mose loves finding harmony between being an ambitious entrepreneur, while grain farming and raising two young sons, with her husband Adam. She thrives on creating innovative products and managing her online shop while connecting with others.
Morgan Storch
Jessica Mose
Herbalist
Prairie Soap Shack
@prairiesoapshack
Elnora, Alberta, Canada
prairiesoapshack.com
Morgan Storch is a self taught photographer living outside of Cochrane, Alberta, who loves to travel all over Alberta. She specializes in western and branding shoots. Growing up ranching is where her passion for agriculture and capturing the ranching way of life came to be. An entrepreneur at heart, Storch owns two businesses and puts her most authentic self into all of her work. She finds her passion liberating and moving people with her photography and her ability to capture the genuine emotion, connection and soul in all aspects. Storch prides herself in giving people a new love for themselves through great conversation, personal growth and photography. She looks forward to continuing to grow her businesses, connections and photography portfolio.
Ranahan Photo
@ranahanPhoto
Rockyview County, Alberta, Canada ranahanphoto.mypixieset.com
digging up the roots
Jessica Mose is the owner, maker and prairie herbalist behind Prairie Soap Shack in central Alberta. Her business takes inspiration from the past and the plants of the prairies to create all-natural skin and body care for people who want a modern self-care routine infused with a connection to nature and the nostalgia of their roots. Mose loves finding harmony between being an ambitious entrepreneur, while grain farming and raising two young sons, with her husband Adam. She thrives on creating innovative products and managing her online shop while connecting with others.
Jonathan Cummings
Jessy Bird
Jessy Bird
Stage Coach Farm and Forge @stage_coach_kitchen @stage_coach_farm_forge
Oakland, Oregon, USA
stagecoachforge.com
Jonathan Cummings Photography Oakland, OR, USA
In the Kitchen & Sip it
Vanessa Wrubleski started living a rural life seven years ago with her husband. Since then, she has jumped into the rural lifestyle and self-sufficient living, head first. Between sheep farming with her father-in-law, to canning, welding, and of course gardening, there isn’t much Wrubleski doesn’t do on the farm. Starting a business to support her self- proclaimed mason jar addiction was just the logical next step. Wrubleski is proof that growing up in the city did not stop her from falling in love with life on the farm.
Stephanie Kuzio
Vanessa Wrubleski
Rural at Heart
@vanessajoelle_
Millet, Alberta, Canada
ruralatheart.myshopify.com
Photographer Stephanie Kuzio is the gal behind the lens telling lame and sometimes inappropriate jokes to help her clients loosen up and be themselves in front of the camera. Kuzio is a photographer, but more importantly, a storyteller. With what she creates, her clients are able to revisit their most important moments for a lifetime. Kuzio feels fortunate to be making a living doing what she loves.
Rockwood Photography @rockwoodphotograph Thorsby, Alberta, Canada rockwoodphotography.com
homegrown
Mikaela is a multi-passionate creator, who is finding her place amongst the wilderness of Vancouver Island. She is a mother, partner, environmental consultant, maker, thrifter, & lover of all things environmentally sustainable. When she doesn't have her head down working towards her & her families goals, she's working on herself, which goes hand in hand with creating beautiful one of a kind leather purses and jewelry, & selling hand-picked vintage clothing pieces. A shop of her own is an absolute dream, but for the meantime you can find her creations & collections across Vancouver Island during the summer market seasons.
Amanda Reimer
Mikaela Wiberg
Peace’d Together
@peaced.together
Coombs, British Columbia, Canada
Photographer Amanda is a photographer on Vancouver Island raising her children in the same small town she grew up in. She loves photographing the incredibly special times of maternity, newborn and young families. When she’s not capturing the everyday magic for families, you’ll likely find her combing beaches with her kids, soaking in sunshine wherever she can find it, or snuggled up fireside with her dog and good book.
Amanda Reimer Photography @amandareimerphotography Coombs, British Columbia, Canada amandareimerphotography.com
rural threads
Larae Pierson is an executive coach and facilitator, creating a world of more legendary leaders and teams. She believes everyone has the ability to create an amazing legacy by growing their mindset, tapping into their purpose and strengths, and becoming powerful communicators. Often described as an energizer, Pierson is a creative action driver who believes her life purpose
is to empower others to shine. Her work has led her to places beyond her imagination, working with amazing clients like the Rimrock Resort, Toronto Blue Jays Foundation, Co-op, and more. Pierson’s purpose project is teaching youth about leadership and entrepreneurship.
Brodie Pierson
Larae Pierson
Pierson Collective Inc.
Wardlow, Alberta, Canada
laraepierson.com
Photographer Brodie Pierson is an international leader in brand strategy and digital marketing. He has helped six, seven, and eight figure brands scale online through his mentorship, courses, and his top rated podcast, BRANDED - which has been downloaded in 70+ countries. His #1 speciality is helping businesses with less than 10,000 followers generate customers online.
Pierson Media Inc.
@brodsimages
Wardlow, Alberta, Canada brodiepierson.com
lead-hership
Cassandra Jamieson is a co-owner of McPhail Travel Brandon and the visionary behind Moonlit Canopy. An adventurer, she loves unique, culturally immersive experiences, and supporting locally owned businesses. Jamieson’s goal for Moonlit Canopy is to create a space to escape, recharge and reconnect and then go home and take on the world.
Rhoni Mohanraj
Cassandra Jamieson
Moonlit Canopy
@moonlit_canopy
Glenboro, Manitoba, Canada
moonlitcanopy.com
A division of Trident Music Inc., Trident Films was formed due to the love they have for moving films and the story a picture can tell. We couldn’t be more honored to film the stories of some of the most interesting and innovative businesses. From coming up with the creative, to leveraging our expertise using video and photo, we were able to create and distribute their story across many platforms for the world to see!
Trident Films
@tridentfilms
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada tridentfilms.ca
pack your bags
Brittany Berglund lives on a grain farm/cattle ranch in southeast Saskatchewan with her husband and three boys. She loves early morning coffee, on the deck in the summer or by the wood-burning fireplace in the winter. She has a penchant for good cooking, pottery mugs, Pendleton blankets and nice horses.
Berglund started The Cowboy Project in early 2021, as a way to help support families affected by childhood cancer, after her own son was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2019. You can keep up with what’s happening on the ranch as well as available products for supporting The Cowboy Project by following @thecowboyproject on Instagram.
Tara Funk
Brittany Berglund
The Cowboy Project
@thecowboyproject
Kennedy, Saskatchewan, Canada thecowboyproject.com
Photographer Tara Funk is a photographer based on the Saskatchewan prairies. She currently lives in Regina, but is really a farm girl at heart. While some find the prairies ‘boring’, she is constantly inspired by the open spaces, the textures of the crops and grasses and all the interesting people who come to sit in front of her camera. Her photography style would be described as light and airy.
Random Eyesight Photography @thefunkycamera
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada randomeyesight.com
Her story
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