Hello, there! 

It’s Ellyn and Jessica, the women behind Rural Soul. While it has been a dream for the both of us for a long time, we finally took the dive and created Rural Soul in January of 2022. We felt this venture would be the first stepping stone to sharing our stories about rural living, farm life, and everything that comes with both in Minnesota.

In 2020, along with our husbands, Jacob and Ben, we formed HyTest Ag LLC – our farming business. We are sixth generation farmers raising corn, soybeans, and Angus cattle in-between Green Isle and Hamburg, Minnesota. As our farming business has grown and developed, we have struggled to figure out exactly what our roles are. While we wholeheartedly support our husbands, we wanted “something” that was ours that embraced the lives we each are living. 

Before we knew it, one day we were chatting about our roles with the farm, how we could get more involved, and how (hopefully someday) we could both have more time to be with our families, help on the farm, and just maybe run a business of our own. We asked ourselves, how do we get this “something” off the ground? We both looked at each other with an “ah-ha!” moment and said, “A blog.” Thus, Rural Soul came to life.

Having to give credit where credit is due, Jacob is actually the one that came up with our tagline, “Rooted in ag, led by faith.” As soon as he said it, we said, “YES! That’s it!” The “rooted in ag” portion explains where we both come from and the values we have built our lives on. “Led by faith” is a nod to this calling God has placed on both of our hearts. Because with Him, anything is possible.

The mission for this blog is to share our real life farm story, connect with both those that live similar and different lives to ours, and advocate for agriculture. If we can help just one person feel connected, learn something new, or better understand agriculture, then our story has a purpose of being shared.  

Rural Soul embodies a diverse range of topics, as we each have a lot of different experiences and knowledge to share. But, the foundation of this blog stems from the pride we both have in our title of “farm wife”.

Thank you for being here. We are extremely grateful for the support and confidence. Big things are on the horizon, and this is just the beginning. Follow along on our journey! 

Rooted in ag and led by faith,

Ellyn & Jess