Joy Ballard

Clint and Joy Ballard are passionate homesteaders, entrepreneurs, and parents of five who have built a thriving 40-acre family farm in New Blaine, Arkansas, through intentional teamwork, complementary skills, and a shared commitment to self-reliance and real food. 

 

Ten years ago, the Ballards traded an intensive urban homestead—packed with raised beds, bees, rabbits, chickens, fruit trees, and the occasional “illegal” goat—for a slower, more purposeful country life. Raised on a 165-acre Missouri farm where he milked cows and tended a small herd with his father and brothers, Clint brought deep agricultural roots to the move. After retiring from 21 years in the U.S. Army, he embraced the physical rhythms and purpose of full-time farming. His degree in construction engineering has been essential in building the farm’s infrastructure from the ground up.

 

The Ballards’ operation thrives on partnership: Clint expertly tends the animals, milks the 12-cow herd, manages their care, and oversees the large family garden. Joy, a nurse and masterful artisan in the kitchen, transforms that milk into approximately 500 pounds of artisanal cheese each year, along with other dairy products. Together they supply fresh milk, cheese, and eggs to 150 local families weekly.

 

The homestead also features an expanding elderberry patch and growing fruit orchard. Dedicated to raising resilient children and empowering others, the couple weaves animal chores and gardening into family life to teach responsibility, purpose, and reward. They are growing their on-farm classes to show people how to maximize any space—from backyard chickens to full homesteads. At the conference, Joy will teach Farming Resilience through Diversification of Income Streams, Dairy Product Processing, Elderberry Propagation and elderberry processing, and Strategies for Wholistic Animal and Human Wellness Care.