Tricia Park | Farmer Veteran

Tricia Park enlisted in the United States Air Force after high school, serving two tours at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey as an Aerospace Ground Equipment Mechanic. Looking back, she calls joining the Air Force “one of the best decisions I ever made,” as she shares in a video tour of her farm.

Farming wasn’t always part of her plan—it began as her husband’s dream. With no prior experience, Tricia stepped into agriculture and quickly found it to be “food for the soul.” Today, she and her husband own Creekside Meadows Farm in New Woodstock, NY, where they raise grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork, chicken, and turkey, along with growing seasonal vegetables, producing maple syrup, and making farmstead soap on 150 acres. She finds joy in seeing something as small as a seed grow into a thriving part of the farm.

To get started, Tricia completed the Northeast Beginning Women Farmers program through the USDA and later connected with the Cornell Small Farms Program. She discovered the Farmer Veteran Coalition in 2015, and by 2017, she had earned a Farmer Veteran Fellowship, which helped her purchase essential equipment.

For veterans considering farming, Tricia advises taking the time to reflect on why they want to enter agriculture. She also emphasizes that farming is more than a lifestyle—it’s a business and should be approached with that mindset.