EMIGRANT -- Montana is home to hundreds of farmers and ranchers in the state's dominant industry. But most Montanans have never met a TikTok farmer.
Allison Larew and Sage LeBlanc have captured that claim to fame. The business partners operate Yellowstone Farmstead and will appear Thursday, May 29 on the Kelly Clarkson show on CBS.
Watch the video of how they did it below:
The farm, which LeBlanc founded three years ago under the name “Shugabeet Farms,” supplies food to restaurants in Bozeman and Livingston and all through the Paradise Valley.
As the farm has grown, Yellowstone Farmstead has struggled to find good farmhands.
That recently changed after the pair made an appeal on TikTok.
“I remember looking at Sage and we had gone through applications and I was like, ‘gosh, I wish we could grab from a bigger pool. I was like, it’s our time to try TikTok,” Larew explained.
It turned out to be a decision that would pay big dividends. The applications began pouring in from states across the country.
“Four thousand. I’ve never been so overwhelmed in my life,” said LeBlanc.
“We went through every application while we were planting zucchinis,” added Larew.
After conducting interviews, the pair hired 12 new employees, mostly women, to move to their farm in the Paradise Valley. For some of the new hires, it was their first trip to Montana.
“I was scrolling and scrolling. I remember I was the 26th person to like it,” said Adriana Lopez, one of the new hires.
Lopez moved to Montana from the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona. Not only is it her first time in Montana, it’s her first time away from family.
“I’ve never left the desert. First time. My family was like, she’s going where? What is she doing? It was scary. It was a big leap for me,” she said.
However, the use of Tik Tok to find employees is not the only thing that makes Yellowstone Farmstead unique.
Le Blanc and Larew are also young entrepreneurs, both in their late 20s.
“We’re the same on the internet as we are between the squash,” LeBlanc said.
The two connected shortly after Larew quit her job as garden manager at Chico Hot Springs. LeBlanc knew she wanted Larew as her farm manager.
“I was like, finally I’ve met someone as insane as me. This is great,” said Larew, describing their relationship.
Both had a clear vision for the farm they wanted to create. It’s a vision that also revolved around a perk that most other farms could not offer: free housing for employees in exchange for 15 hours of work a week.
Both LeBlanc and Larew knew from their time living in the Paradise Valley, that housing was difficult to find and prevented many from moving to the Livingston area.
“If you think farming is hard, you should try finding housing,” said Larew.
“When we asked our chefs what they needed, they all made the same bad joke and said summer labor,” added LeBlanc.
When they’re not working on the farm, most of Yellowstone Farmstead’s employees work at other businesses, specifically restaurants, up and down the Paradise Valley. In many cases, they are serving the food they help grow on the farm.
“It’s a massive circular system. I love that we can create this big picture and bring it right back to something small,” said LeBlanc.
It’s a business model that took a lot of work. The pair’s first task was securing land for the farm and housing for their workers from a perhaps unlikely partner in Church Universal and Triumphant, once nationally known for its doomsday prophecies.
“Everyone was telling us you should be careful. They’re very scary. Oh my goodness, no,” said Larew.
Larew and LeBlanc spent countless hours renovating what was once church housing into 10 units of apartments for their employees. In addition, they also had to construct greenhouses, plow fields, not to mention planting thousands of seeds.
All that hard work led to a dream come true.
“I pinch myself every single day. I really do. This is my life’s work. I don’t care if I ever make a cent,” said Larew.
LeBlanc and Larew now have contracts to supply produce to restaurants in Yellowstone National Park. It’s a growing operation, feeding mouths and employing workers, and feeding the soul.
“It’s a model based on belief and hope and the support of others and we hope others take this model and do it in their own community,” said Larew.
“We have heart, we have ambition, and we’re two tough girls who love our community. I think that’s sort of the root of all of it,” added LeBlanc.
