Merging Farm Life and City Life With Lindsay Eshelman

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we spoke with Lindsay Eshelman of Plow Farms.

Eshelman grew up on the Plowville, Pennsylvania, farm that specializes in Christmas trees, and while she still does work with the farm today, she spends much of her time living in New York City.

"I'm kind of the leading voice in PR and marketing, and more importantly experience," Eshelman said. "My role is to bring the experience to the farm and to create this capsule of joy and Christmas that we have."

One of the biggest ways Eshelman creates joy on the farm is its annual Newfoundland Day.

Each year, hundreds of Newfoundland dogs come to Plow Farms to haul Christmas trees for customers.

What started as an event with a few dogs and handful of attendees has turned into a massive event with people coming from out of state to spend the whole day surrounded by huge, fluffy dogs and Christmas trees.

"I took a video of it and I put it online and we got a million views on this video, which blew my mind. It was a 15-second clip of a dog walking through the snow," Eshelman said. "The Newfoundland has gone from being our pet to basically being the face of the farm."

While Eshelman runs her family farm's marketing, she also works in marketing outside the farm, including previous jobs with celebrities and global food companies.

These experiences led her to a lot of travel, where she's gotten to see firsthand how farming works around the world.

"Seeing how other countries are fostering agriculture in a modern way but also keeping traditions is what I love to take back to the farm," Eshelman said. "One hand meets another. As I get all this global experience it makes me love my farm even more."

Growing up on a farm has benefited her by teaching her the value of hard work. But her time spent living in the city has shown her how important it is to get people to visit farms.

"The more things we can do to get people to the farm and to experience this agro-entertainment I think is really exciting," Eshelman said. "I want to build that as part of Plow Farms' identity and narrative."