Exploring Life & Business with Samantha Otto of The Woven Trifecta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Otto

Hi Samantha , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am living the dream to put it simply….at least some chaotic version of it…and a beautifully chaotic version at that!
Starting The Woven Trifecta began as a simple dream of wanting to “grow flowers and be happy.” As I sat in high school classes I would doodle those words over and over along with depictions of what that could look like in the margins of my notebooks during class.

As friends dreamed of college, I dreamed of being in nature, growing beautiful things, writing and drawing, and sharing it all with my community. Throughout twists and turns, my adventures and experiences eventually led me to create The Woven Trifecta; a farm-centric ‘trifecta’ business consisting of a certified naturally grown farm, an educational piece offering classes and workshops, and a social piece consisting of a blog and correlating podcast to support the work of the trifecta.

As a first-generation farmer, my journey to this space was far from direct. From the days of dreaming and doodling, I transitioned into creating a business plan based on these dreams while attending my local community college. My business plan attracted praise and interest locally and gave me the confidence to move forward into making it my reality. After developing a business plan I sought out any experience I could…many experiences taught me about the farmer I did not want to be. I spent many years working locally with food access in my community while saving up and making moves to make my dreams a reality. The stars aligned when an organization I was working within unexpectedly went under, leaving me without a job. Living paycheck to paycheck at the time, I chose the bold move of using my last paycheck to file an LLC and seek out land to grow on. I am officially headed into my 6th growing season, and consider this venture to be the wildest adventure I have ever been on.

In current times, I exist as a small community-oriented farmer, a food and farm educator, and an aspiring author’ Doing the work I love, sharing it with others, and documenting it for souls far into the future who need a little inspiration from a little first generation farmer making their dreams come true.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road to our current reality has been far from smooth. So many twists and turns, and what occasionally seem like dead-end directions have filled my path.

The early days of starting the farm consisted of a mix of financial struggle and skepticism from folks throughout the community. Starting the farm forced me to be both resourceful and creative. I had just lost my job, had no money saved, and bills to pay. I worked a lot of extra jobs and side hustles to purchase the bare minimum of what I needed (seeds, soil, and irrigation). Any extras I either went without or often crafted my own version of tools and other solutions to make the work easier and more sustainable. The farm was started on leased land—an urban lot, to be exact. I knew I wouldn’t be there forever, but it was a wonderful space to start. However, it was challenging to invest so much into a space that I would eventually leave.

During this time, I received a lot of thoughts and opinions from folks—some supportive and many rather rude and judgmental. A feeling of needing to “prove myself” often felt evident in these years… so I got to work. And I would say that in those first couple of years, I really did prove myself, creating a successful, sustainable business with great community support.

By the end of year two, I had outgrown this leased space and felt that it was becoming unsustainable to maintain due to the 25-minute drive, continual investment, and limited opportunity for expansion. My husband and I set out to find permanent land to move the farm to. We had been looking for land prior but couldn’t quite find the right space—and we faced the battle of ever-growing prices and the increasing demand for local land.

We eventually found a beautiful parcel that appeared to be perfect and submitted our offer in the fall of 2021. We closed the day before Thanksgiving that year, and I spent every day after connecting with the land, planning the crop season ahead, and prepping spaces to bring these newest dreams to reality. In March of 2022, we were informed that we had been shown and sold the incorrect parcel of land—and what we actually owned was a wooded, boggy swamp. A devastating discovery that left me spiraling… We were already well into the start of our season, planning for April and May plantings. I had sold the majority of my CSA shares already that season and spent every single penny, so taking a season off wasn’t an option. I had no time to slow down or reconsider. Within two days, we were clearing land and planning the future around a new, unfamiliar, and what seemed like an unfarmable space.

Somehow, we managed to get crops in the ground by June—a true miracle! However, we ran into our next problem: we failed to find water. I hand-drove 12 shallow wells in search of water and only had one half-successful well that gave enough water to fill buckets and watering cans, but not enough water pressure to irrigate the field. That well dried up unexpectedly prior to the following season, leaving us with no choice but to dry farm and hand-haul buckets of water from off the farm as we saved up for a well (a price that was more than twice the cost of what we had initially estimated).

These days felt like the lowest lows I have ever experienced. I was working harder than I could ever imagine and had very little to show for it. There was a lot of questioning what the future looked like during this time—a lot of sacrifices made to keep things going and a lot of hope that I would eventually come out on the other side.

In the fall of 2023, I received a grant from the American Farmland Trust that funded about half of the cost of having a well drilled. Another miracle! We scheduled our well to be drilled in the spring of 2024—perfect timing to start the season strong. However, it ended up getting postponed, leaving us without a well until July of 2024. A bit late in the game for that season, but such an uplifting game-changer since.

As we enter the 2025 season, I am feeling rested and recovered from these obstacles and eager for a season of (normalcy?!). The farm still exists off-grid, with no electricity run—typically working by daylight and using little to no external energy. Something that is both beautiful and challenging. I have learned that this adventure is like a good hike—there are always going to be hills and valleys, and I am just out here enjoying all that exists within the adventure.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Woven Trifecta?
The Woven Trifecta is a farm-centric ‘trifecta business’ featuring:

– The Woven Farmstead: A Certified Naturally Grown farm focused on growing chemical-free food, flowers, and fiber. The farm is a regenerative, biodynamic, no-till, human-scale production, focusing on land stewardship and providing access to nutritious local food and opportunities to community members. We are proud to sell our products within 20 miles of where they are grown/raised. We sell mainly direct to consumers through CSA, farmers markets, and local pop-ups. We also are dabbling in farm-to-school sales which we hope to expand on. We are eager to be in the midst of Organic Certification and hope to be USDA-certified as well as Real Organic Certified later this spring.

– Woven Wellness: An educational piece of the. trifecta, offering on farm workshops and classes to community members focused on the idea of wellness (which can have so.many.definitions.) In terms of this work, I consider wellness to be defined as a space where people feel well and welcome. I am not interested in selling “health,” nor am I into promoting the latest fads and buzzwords. Wellness to me is feeling good over connecting with local food, community members, and nature. Through classes and workshops, I aspire to bring folks closer to these topics whether it be a nature walk identifying herbs, a wreath-making class to celebrate through natural farm-created materials, or the chance to connect over a seasonal meal. We are working hard to expand our educational offerings into a 4 season space to engage with folks year-round!

– Woven Words: A social piece that supports the work of the Trifecta. This features my blog and correlating podcast “Woven Words..Thoughts from the field” and features a weekly insight ti my thoughts as I am working in this space. This portion of the Trifecta also houses my written work, which currently consists of an autobiography of sorts and farm-focused children’s books that I have written and illustrated….and am currently navigating the unknown world of publishing with.

I am really proud to have dreamed up this dreamy dream and transformed it into a reality of sorts. As one person navigating a 3 part business, it is challenging to keep up with the expectations of success. I, however, am proud to have found happiness and peace within the work I am doing, and I acknowledge that the dreams will continue to grow over time and that this venture will continue to grow and flourish in new and exciting ways.

As far as what sets us apart from others… there are so many things. I will admit the majority of my ‘competition’ are actually some of my best friends, and each and every one of us in the local industry has a unique twist. For me, I think a lot of this business is land based – focused around good stewardship, deep connection, and always putting the land over profit. This has been very grounding both as a business owner as well as for the business itself, and it is always a highlight to share our work and the way that we are working with those who are curious.

If you think local food/flowers/fiber are cool and/or love a nature-based business focused around nourishment, creativity, and community, I probably want to be your friend! Check out our website for ways to support us (become a CSA member or sign up for an upcoming workshop!) OR visit us at the farmers market! We look forward to welcoming folks to the farm this season!

What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future are to keep on doing what I am doing and to continue to improve and expand on those efforts. Our current focus is on building healthy soils and further streamlining our growing processes. We are currently exploring a deeper dive into season extension on our farm – growing food at scale year-round.

Beyond this, I am currently deep in grant applications seeking to fund a 4 season education space to support our efforts for years to come. I am also setting aside more time for writing and look forward to sharing more of my work with the world.

Pricing:

• https://thewoventrifecta.com/

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thewoventrifecta.com/
• Instagram: @the.woven.trifecta
• Facebook: @the.woven.trifecta