We were lucky to catch up with Sara Mires recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sara, thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
Our farm and business name — Broken Road Farm — actually comes from our love story. My husband and I met in a pretty unconventional way: we were both at rock bottom, doing the hard work of figuring ourselves out in rehab. Our paths to that point were very different, and honestly, you could say they were both a bit broken.
As we got to know each other and eventually fell in love, we needed a wedding song and God Bless the Broken Road fit us perfectly. It spoke to how our individual struggles led us to each other and to a brand new beginning.
Later, as we started a family and eventually the farm, we didn’t know exactly what the farm would become — but we knew we wanted it to be a place for healing, learning, connection, and getting back to the roots of life. A space where all walks of life could come experience the kind of peace, growth, and magic we were finding there ourselves. And every time we tried to name it, we kept circling back to that one phrase: the broken road. So Broken Road Farm was born.
Our logo even tells part of that story — it started as our oldest daughter, Maddie, pulling her sister Letty in a wagon. And when our son Mason came along, he joined the scene too. It’s become a symbol of where we’ve been and what we’re building together.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Honestly, I’m not totally sure how I ended up in this industry — if you can even call it one industry. A lot of random puzzle pieces just kind of clicked into place and brought me here.
My background has always been rooted in the service world. I started off in the typical way — server, then bartender, then manager — and worked my way through all kinds of restaurants and bars. After getting sober, I shifted into managing a golf course and later became the catering operations manager at a large conference and event center. So restaurant management, catering, event coordination — that became my wheelhouse. I thrived in fast pace, insane environments. But it was always for someone else’s vision.
Then in 2020, I finally got my “maybe one day” dream: a two-acre farm. I had no clue what I was going to do with it — just that I needed to find a way to make it support itself… and all the future animals I planned to collect. Enter: Broken Road Farm.
Side jobs and crafty obsessions weren’t new to me (hello, ADHD). I’ve always been someone who dabbles in everything and masters… well, enough to get by. I used to make wood signs, T-shirts, earrings, wreaths — you name it — especially when I was pregnant. So when the farm came along, I just started blending all the things I loved: animals, creating, small businesses, and community.
It began with kids’ classes I called “Future Farmers” — farm time mixed with a hands-on craft. That grew into workshops, ladies’ nights, and collaborative events where I’d invite other makers and small business owners to share their skills with our guests. We built this rhythm of creativity and community. And then, just as things were picking up… the world hit pause. (Thanks, pandemic.)
Oddly enough, that season led us to Texas — a place I always thought maybe we’d end up. We found better land, a better pace of life, and started fresh. Now we’re here, growing roots in Ovilla, Texas, with ten cows, some pigs, goats, chickens, a few calves, dogs, cats, and three kids (ages 3, 6, and 8) and 2 about to be back in school.
On top of the farm and events, I recently helped launch something close to my heart — the Ovilla Chamber of Commerce — where I serve as founding president. It’s a big undertaking, but it’s all about building something bigger than myself: creating a strong, connected, and supportive space for other small businesses, just like the one I dreamed of when I started. To bring a bigger sense of community and community fun to these parts.
If there’s one thing I hope people take away from what I do, it’s this: you don’t have to have it all figured out to build something meaningful. You just need passion, grit and some good people — and maybe a cow or two, a Scottish Highland is my fav.
Through everything I’ve done up to this point, what I’m most proud of isn’t a product or a perfectly run event — it’s the way people tell me how something I said or did made them feel. When someone tells me that my authenticity, my honesty, or just the overall vibe of the farm gave them a good day or a new perspective — that’s everything to me.
I’m super open about my sobriety journey — I’ve been sober for 12 years now — and I talk about it because I know how isolating that road can be. I’m open about loss, too, like when my brother passed away and it completely rocked my world. I’m honest about not having it all figured out — I started this farm not knowing a thing about raising animals or running a farm business. But I’ve been learning as I go, and I let people see that process. I’ve gotten pretty damn good at it I must say, and I mess up all the time. Such as life?
I’m multi-passionate, get wildly excited about weird (and maybe slightly dumb) things, and I know not everyone gets that — but the right people do. And they’re the ones I want to ride this big, weird, muddy, magical farm journey with. I want this to be a place for community — for hanging out, creating, cooking, petting animals, and just feeling a little more grounded. If something I share helps someone feel better, laugh, or see something differently, that’s the biggest compliment I could ever get.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
With the farm, I’ve had to pivot constantly, sometimes out of necessity and sometimes because… well, that’s just how my brain works. I’m naturally full of ideas (and distractions) and not everything sticks — but that’s part of the process. Over time I’ve filtered through what works, what I genuinely enjoy, and what aligns with where I’m growing as a person. Trial and error is kind of the heartbeat of how I run this place.
As my interests evolve, so does the farm. A recent pivot has been my deep dive into mushrooms — I now grow, harvest, dehydrate, and powder several varieties, and I’ve started developing my own supplement blends and tinctures. Some of the herbs I grow myself, others I source from local farms. It all started with a lifestyle shift: I wanted to change how I was taking care of my body and mind. So I researched, experimented, failed, tweaked and kept it moving. Now I’ve built systems around it — dialing in humidity levels, figuring out which varieties are best for focus, gut health, immunity, etc.
That pivot opened up a new layer of offerings — not just selling these remedies, but also teaching others how to make their own. I’ve started planning workshops around herbal tinctures and functional mushrooms, and it feels like a natural extension of what the farm has become: a place where I learn something new, get excited about it, then share it with others in some way — whether through a product, a class, or just a conversation.
And who knows? Next month it might be something totally different. But that’s the beauty of this life — it grows when I do.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
I wish we had some impressive story about initial capital… but does starting in the negative count? Just kidding. (Kind of.)
Truthfully, there was no business plan — not at first. There was no seed funding or perfect launch strategy. It was more like: “How do we get out of the red?” And then figuring it out one step at a time. We built things slowly, learned as we went, and found our rhythm little by little.
It’s definitely been a scrappy kind of start, but that’s also what makes it ours. We’re not rich — far from it — but we’re resourceful, passionate, and still moving onward and upward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Brokenroadfarm.com
- Instagram: @broken_road_farm1
- Facebook: @brokenroadfarmca
