By Kathy Lynn Gray
Like many small farmers, Julianne McCormick isn’t afraid to jump into new opportunities that can expand her income.
So, it’s no surprise that when she won a $1,500 New Farmer Expansion Grant in the spring of 2025 from the Trumbull County Farm Bureau that she began planting, baking and harvesting for her latest project: A farm stand with expansive offerings including baked goods, vegetables, fresh eggs, flower bouquets and lotions.
McCormick, 32, works full-time at a Burghill, Ohio, dairy farm owned by husband Tim’s uncle, Glenn Brugler, and his four siblings. She and her husband have started a small herd of beef cattle, and McCormick originally planned to use the grant to improve the herd so they can sell freezer beef and some beef cattle.
But the farm stand idea won her over instead and she rolled with it. She planted flowers and vegetables, including a good number of pumpkins, and built the stand. By May, she was up and running and eventually added lip balm and lotions she made herself, as well as baked goods. Soon she was partnering with other businesses for pop-up events that included the farm stand, including coffee-and-a-cow, with a coffee truck and a cow for youngsters to pet.
“It’s way more successful than I ever thought it would be,” McCormick said. “There are endless opportunities for what you can do with it.”
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